Ever heard about social media influencer?
If not, then keep reading.
Social Media Influencer is a person who knows a lot of people and can influence them by their reach and authenticity. They can be industry experts, bloggers, celebrities, YouTube users etc.
Digital world has given rise to influencer marketing which has replaced the use of radio or TV ads. Businesses have started using influencer marketing where they promote there products/services through different influencer channels. According to Izea, 54% of companies have a stand alone budget for sponsored social for their brand.
Role of Social Media Influencers
Now this is interesting. They work with various companies on certain projects and create campaigns that make people aware about a company’s brand and increases the sales of a company by promoting it’s products/services to influencer’s audience.
There are 3 steps which an influencer has to perform.
Make
As an influencer, you have to make valuable content regarding a company’s product/service to share it with your audience through various social channels. For example, Geeky Ranjit makes videos about latest tech gadgets available around the globe.
Post
After you have created the content, you can post that content on various social channels for your audience. Content can be in the form of pictures, videos, info-graphics etc. For example, Geeky Ranjit posts it’s videos on YouTube about latest tech gadgets available around the globe.
Convince
The content should be posted on various social channels so as to increase the awareness regarding a company’s product/service. Content should be convincing enough to make a person buy a company’s product/service. For example, Geeky Ranjit shares a gadget’s pros & cons with his audience so as to convince them to buy that product according to their need.
Generally influencers are paid monetarily by the company or are given free samples of a product. For example, Geeky Ranjit takes his payment in cash/cheque for a promoting a company’s product/service.
How to find influencers?
Finding suitable influencers is important for your business. This is because an influencer should be interested in your business (product/service) only then he/she will be able to convince his/her audience to buy your product/service. Mainly there are 2 ways to find influencers.
Influencer marketplace
Here you can find plenty of influencers and choose the suitable influencer for your business and work on the campaign.
Influencer Agency
These agencies help companies to promote there products/services through influencers. These agencies find influencers for companies and charge a fees in return. Examples of such agencies are Viral Nation, Socialite etc. Also there are few tools through which you can find suitable influencers. They are as follows:
Little Bird
It was founded by Marshall Kirkpatrick. It is a paid tool that helps you to find suitable influencers for your business. This tool supports social sales, competitive intelligence, content marketing etc.
Peer Index
It is also a paid tool. Here you can find an influencer based on the topic that you have searched. Other examples of tools are Linkdex, Buzzsumo, Traackr etc.
The importance of influencer marketing has increased with time. It is one of the quickest ways of promoting your products/services.