What is a Social Media Influencer?

A social media influencer has access to a large audience and can persuade others by virtue of their authenticity and reach. A good influencer can gain more followers. This is a form of marketing that is placed on the person of influence rather than a target group.

There are very popular influencers on social media such as Kim Kardashian.  One of her latest posts is from Instagram for “Appetite Suppressant Lollipops”.

Another is YouTube gaming star DanTDM, or Dan Middleton. He is one of the highest-paid social media influencers, bringing in around $16.5 million per year, according to Business Insider. He started his YouTube channel by focusing on daily Minecraft plays, but has since expanded to other games.

Kayla Itsines, the fitness blogger behind the Bikini Body Guide, earned around $17 million from her app in 2016, according to Marie Claire. She reportedly commands around $150,000 per sponsored post.

A few benefits to working with social media influencers:

Having the right social influencer can build trust and reach your target audience by creating great content that fits with their personal brand.

Working with influencers will help create more backlinks to your website which in turn helps raise your site ranking.

It will raise your brand awareness and promote engagement.

Using influencers will help you keep fresh new content and help bring new content to your website.

The Three Levels of Influencers

Mega

These are considered celebrities such as actors, singers, social media icons that have one million or more followers. These are the most famous influencers that can reach a huge audience to spread your brand, but the engagement is low.

Marco

They are more powerful influencers. Their engagement is higher and their following is anywhere between ten thousand and a million.  These influencers usually have certain niches that can group target audiences.

Micro

These influencers have the most engagement because their following is listed between about five hundred and ten thousand.

What a Social Media Influencer Does

A social media influencer is able to set niche content based around what they like. For instance, over the past 10 years blogging has become very big in the social media sphere. Bloggers choose what type of content or niche they want to focus on. Some write about fashion only while others center on specific items like purses or shoes. So if you have a new brand of handbags or business dress, these two bloggers may be great influencers for your brand. The best social media influencers will more than likely share similar content to your brand.

Using social media influencers is another form of digital marketing. Every time you scroll through websites and product listings, think about how many brands have someone promoting their brand. Though it can be a challenge to find the right influencer, many consumers consider influencers to be experts on certain topics. Social media influencers are part of the digital marketing future.

Finding Influencers

Without spending a great deal of money, you can search platforms using keywords that are related to your business.  You can use search engines like you would look for anything else. It can be time consuming, however, so you should really hire a virtual assistant to do the research for you.

You can also do a manual search through magazines, attend conferences, and survey close friends and family and neighbors to see what content attracts them.

I also came across this website that helps you find influencers by using their software.  Their websites contains over 1.2 million influencers and over 250 industries. Influencers are big business, so there are now websites like this that rank influencers so businesses can make more informed decisions.

Think about reaching different platforms even in other countries like China and Asia. BiliBili, for example, is a popular video sharing site in China, much like YouTube, and Weibo is considered the Chinese Twitter.

If you are starting out with your brand or business, take small steps to ensure your success. Make sure that the influencer you choose is the right fit for your brand. Strategies in business are trial and error. Do not harm your brand with an influencer that has less tasteful humor or offensive content. Check to see how the influencer communicates with their audience and presents their content. Always protect yourself and your brand.

Paying Influencers

One of the biggest issues with social media influencers is how much to pay or if you should pay them at all. Paying influencers is usually based on what type of project you want them to work on, how many followers they have, and their engagement rate.  Top influencers like Kim Kardashian can be paid as much as $500,000 per post.

Again, some research can give you a good idea of what you will be paying for this or that type and level of social media influencer.

Whatever you do, don’t sell yourself short. Believe in yourself and your business. Show others just how great your brand is and they will be attracted to that energy and your product’s potential.

John Bullard has over 30 years experience with trade shows, public speaking, author, and of course entrepreneur. He understands and knows the ends and outs of running a fulfillment center and the ends and outs of Amazon and their requirements for shipping. John created Prosellertalk about 3 years ago and hosts weekly webinars to bring new strategies and updated information to small business owners and entrepreneurs geared toward E commerce.