Influencer marketing is huge. With brands trying to target a digital and social media savvy generation, it's becoming more common for brands to advertise with influencers. Rather than placing ads on pages where they might not be acknowledged, advertisers are taking to social media to promote their products.
There’s something about influencers’ trustworthiness and genuine attitude that attracts customers. Without even knowing it, you’ve probably scrolled past paid advertisements by influencers (and maybe even liked a few, too).
Social media influencers are definitely changing the marketing game. But how exactly do you become a social media influencer? Here are five tips.
1. Find Your Niche
First things first, decide what you’re going to do. Base this off of your passions and what you enjoy doing, and become the go-to person in that industry.
More times than I’d like to admit, I’ve bought new makeup or clothing because I saw an influencer on social media promoting it. Maybe Desi Perkins just loves MAC’s “Give Me Sun” bronzer, or Sarah Lindner absolutely adores her new sweater, which just so happens to come in three colors and is on sale! The influencers I follow tell their audience about new makeup products, recommend Caribbean resorts, and spill on all the amazing sales Nordstrom is having (get ready for the #nsale!).
It doesn’t have to be something common like makeup or fitness either. Perhaps you enjoy DIY projects or have a cute dog that travels everywhere with you. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you’re always providing value. That takes us to my next tip: Be unique.
2. Be Unique
Focus on a new way of doing things, or do something in a way that hasn’t been done before. There are so many upcoming influencers out there, that you don’t want to get lost in the mix. Find a way to make yourself stand out from the rest. To be successful in a world of influencers, you need to be different than your competition.
A great example is Accidental Icon, a unique influencer.
Accidental Icon is changing the game. She’s not your typical fashion and lifestyle influencer. She’s fashion forward, keeps it fun, and isn’t afraid to take risks and show off her lively personality. It’s obvious why she has almost half a million followers, her bright character just shines through each image she post.
3. Choose Your Platforms
There are so many social media platforms out there, so take your pick. Decide who your target audience will be and choose channels that will reach your audience best.
Narrow in on two to four main platforms and use them simultaneously. Make sure the platforms you choose can be used together to achieve your goals. For example, makeup influencers often use YouTube along with Instagram. They might post a picture of a recent makeup look and then encourage their followers to head over to their YouTube channel to see how they created the look.
Many fashion bloggers use Instagram along with the LiketoKnow.it app. It’s common for fashion bloggers to host giveaways in which you need to follow them on the LtK.it app and follow them on Instagram and “like” their three most recent pictures. Notice the caption of this giveaway post.
It’s all about promoting yourself and your other outlets through different platforms. The trick is to get all of your channels to work together.
4. Plan Ahead and Be Consistent
To get attention, you need to plan your posts in advance and remember to post regularly. For platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, it’s best to post once or twice each day. For YouTube, you might want to post once or twice per week. (Although I have seen some YouTubers post every single day.) Your consistency determines how visible you will be to your audience.
Make sure you have a strategy; don’t just wing it. Use a feed planner to plan weeks, or even months in advance. Planoly is a great app for planning your Instagram feed, but if you’re using other platforms, Hootsuite is another great program, too.
5. Engage With Other Influencers
Influencers want to engage with others! Even accounts with a million followers have made it a priority to engage with their audience. If you “like” and comment on their content, you’ll increase your exposure to more people. Influencers love to interact with their followers, and if you’re upcoming in their same industry, it’d be beneficial to stop by one of their photos and chat.
Tag brands and other influencers in your content. If you’re a makeup enthusiast, you could get recognition by tagging the makeup brands you used in your look. Many popular makeup brands, including Anastasia Beverly Hills, build their Instagram feeds with reposted photos of customers wearing their products.
If you’re a fashion influencer, tag boutiques or stores you shopped at to complete your look. If you’re a travel influencer, tag resorts or hotels you stayed at or services you used. This method might get you noticed by big brands, and could land you on their pages, giving you exposure to millions more people.
Here, travel instagrammer Jay Alvarrez relaxes at this exclusive oceansideresort. But did you see what he did there? He tagged the resort in his caption and in the actual photo, giving that resort exposure to his almost 6 million followers. Like every influencer dreams, he was probably paid a decent sum of money to advertise this resort.
Influencing is hard, and you have to climb the ladder to become as established as the influencers I mentioned here. It takes time and dedication, but it can be done. Use these five tips to help you gain success in the influencer world and build your personal brand like you always imagined.
