Top 5 of the Most Useful Ways to Work With Social Media Influencers

The first of its type to start was celebrity endorsements via advertisements. Now, social content creators can offer more value to a brand. These Social Media Influencers can promote any brand using their own set of social media followers. More than half of the world’s brands are already using influencer marketing and many of these organizations are known to spend about 10% or more of their marketing budget on the same.

Recent studies indicate that more than 30% of Instagram users based in the US bought a product or service which was recommended by an influencer. Instagram is recommended as one of the most important channels for influencer marketing and is preferred by about 90% of marketers. About 25% of Facebook users have made purchases based on an influencer reccomendation, which goes up to about 30% in the case of Twitter users.

The right social media influencer can reach out to your target audience, build brand trust, and drive consumer engagement. They create original and engaging content using their own creativity. They won’t need to follow a template or advertising style as already used for the brand but develop a unique way of placing the brand in the public eye through their own content.

It is thus better to work with a social media influencer whose content aligns with your own, though they will have a distinctive style of putting their points across. There are more than 500k influencers actively promoting campaigns on Instagram alone. While that means you have a wide array of influencers to choose from, it also means that a lot of effort needs to go into the selection of the correct influencer for your campaign.

Five out of the many ways to work with a Social Media Influencer are as discussed below.

Gifts to Social Media Influencers

Once the influencer is decided upon and it is ascertained that they share your passion for the same it needs to be understood if they like your product. If they like your product you can offer them a gift hamper. They in turn will share their happiness on what they received with their followers by providing exposure and sharing their liking about the gift.

The best way is to inform them prior to the gifts being sent to make them aware of it. This works particularly well as they might or might not provide the required exposure. Informing them and agreeing to the collaboration will provide that communication platform between the influencer and the organization’s marketing team or lead.

Once a go is established there can be definitive goals set to go ahead with the campaign. This will help decide the level of exposure and promotion planned for the same. Also, once the influencer has marketed the brand, product, or service the outcome can be measured in accordance with the plan, and the further path of the campaign be decided upon.

Giveaways

Almost all social media influencers do contests and giveaways to their viewers. This is similar to gifting but rather than the influencer the gifts are received by the viewers. Which of the viewers will receive the gifts is decided out of contests or easy competitions. Easy to attempt means it will be attempted by a majority of the fan base.

This is a very effective method as the demand for the product is created even before the viewers get to touch it or hold it in their hands. Basically, this creates a buzz where the viewers want to hold the product in their hands or avail the service. Everybody has a chance to win but some win it. The ones who win it feels the desire to win even more and the ones who were near to winning have that burning desire generated to get it. Both are a win-win situation for all involved parties i.e. influencer, brand, and the customer.

Videos

Video content is the most effective and has a huge impact on the viewer base. About 30% of heard information is retained by the human mind, 50% of seen information and about 70% of the information is seen and heard at the same time. YouTube and Facebook videos have a huge impact on fans and their influencers have a massive captive fan or follower base. It can create a buzz around your product or service in a very less time.

A recent survey indicates that about 5 billion views are an everyday affair on YouTube. Collaborating with a video-based content creator or influencer will give unlimited exposure and a considerable boost. Presented creatively and uniquely the brand can gain popularity with entertaining and exciting content. Videos also have a higher rate of driving awareness and also boosting SEO.

Sponsored Posts

Instagram and YouTube is a great place to collaborate with a social media influencer. It needs to be ascertained if the influencer not only has a large following but a high engagement index. A large number of followers would ideally translate into a high number of likes, shares, and comments on the influencer’s post.

Once you find the correct influencer for your brand, product, or service, you would need to develop a campaign that releases many posts in-turn appealing to a large audience.

Blog Posts and Reviews

Blog posts and reviews are another way to generate more exposure. Trustworthy influencers can create the required talking point for the campaign by offering them to use the product or service in exchange for an honest review through a written blog.

The placement of keywords is an important factor to properly utilize SEO. An SEO expert can help you deal with the same effect.

Social Media Influencers can take your brand, product, or service to new heights by effective marketing. A relationship with the right influencer having the same target audience is proven to be effective. Experimenting with different strategies and tracking performance is the best way to determine what works best for your brand.