Are you searching for ways to monetize your web presence? It’s easier to get started than you think. You can get started by learning the ins and outs of influencer marketing.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is a form of marketing strategy where thought leaders of a given industry or niche promote the products or services of brands. Unlike traditional advertising, influencer marketing revolves around a social web and learning how buyers or consumers discover branded content. The influencer, you, help build good relationships with brands from the consumers standpoint.
How do brands find influencers?
The brand(s) select(s) influencers based on their target audiences’ needs and wants. Once a brand or brands know(s) the audience (s), the brand searches for influencers or leaders who are persuasive enough to inspire the target audiences to buy or connect with the given brand(s).
Brands and consumers like influencers more than traditional advertisement outlets because the interaction is more personal. Brands also like knowing the exact value they are getting from influencers. Traditional advertising does not offer exact value because the traditional advertising requires brands to pay for unknown value to promote business messaging. With influencers, you know number of followers, their leverage, and more to gain an understanding of the value of their perceived reach as well as the sales conversions you gain from them.
The first influencer marketing personality Fromgirltogirl recalls: reality TV personality Paris Hilton. Yes, Pariscame from a wealthy family, but she branded herself within a social web to sell perfuming, fashion, and promote events as well as brands during the early 2000’s.
What is the purpose of influencer marketing?
The goal is to build an engaged audience around a brand. No, you do not have to be the most popular or biggest personality to get brands to collaborate with you as an influencer. The only thing that matters in influencer marketing is this: you can reach a brand’s target audiences and persuade them to take specified actions such as trying or buying a product or service.
As an influencer, you need to become as credible as possible with the target audiences of brands. You should have opinions and known for being trust worthy. Moreover, you should get active on social media. If you are not a regular social media user, consider becoming a blogger or vlogger ( a blogger who creates videos and not typing blogs). Using such platforms will help you connect better with target audiences because people trust people when they feel connected to anyone presenting information to them.
What Fromgirltogirl likes about working with influencers is that they are very creative and inventive when it comes to promoting brands, products, and services. They also help brands better meet business goals or marketing objectives because the vision becomes clearer when influencers try out products and services to offer feedback.
So how can you get brands to discover you?
- Build up your web presence as much as you can. Often brands will start looking for influencers through an internet search on a major search engine such as Google. Brands search websites, read blog posts, watch videos, and more to find the right influencers for them. No, you do not always need a big social media following to get noticed.
- Sign up for an influencer marketplace like Glamabassador for a VIP account, where you build up a profile for brands to check out and send requests to you for pay or free product exchange. With a VIP account, you will have unlimited access to brands who will pay you or offer a product exchange. You can also find big brands by signing up for Fiverr. The key is creating a fiverr gig to offer your influencer marketing services.
- Begin conversations within niche industries to help you get discovered through social media monitoring. Often brands use applications like BuzzSumo to find influencers talking about topics which matter to their target audiences. Yes, use hashtags on your posts when you are talking about your favorite topics. This is how you get discovered and finally land partnerships.
As you get use to influencer marketing protocols, you will want to take notes on :
- How you present brand information to target audiences
- The reaction target audiences have with branded content
- Make a list of other brands target audiences promote and how often they are willing to promote the branded content
You can become an influencer marketer through:
- A Product review
- A giveaway or content
- A native ad for a product
- A tweet promoting a product or service
- Attending a live event where you promote a product or service
- Video sharing, including your experience with the product or service
None of the above should be too scripted. Influencer marketing is all about authenticity. You should always be loyal to your audience and never give up that loyalty to please brands. Be honest with your audience. If a product or service is not as good as you thought, let them know this information and why you feel that way.
Only accept the following compensation for influencer marketing:
- Cash
- Product exchange
- Sales commission
- Promotion of your website or social media pages
Want to learn more about influencer marketing? Subscribe to Fromgirltogirl.com and connect with Briana Booker on Linkedin.