With social media’s entry into our lives, everything changed. Literally, everything, think about it. We now use our phones more. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Instagram are like Google’s alternatives to us. We share videos and images and learn so much. The amount of information is so readily available and so quickly right in the palm of our hands thanks to social media. Why then should the marketing remain old and regressive? Yesteryears saw movie stars and models promoting products and services through organized advertisements – that looked and felt like clear cut ads. These models and movie stars though spiked sale, also took away a lot from the profits in the form of their fees. Here is where social media influencer became readily available as a cheaper alternative. Let’s find out their role in our lives.
Social media influencers: how do we define them?
An influencer is someone who through his words and actions and dialogues can influence/sway/motivate/persuade/have power over people to get them buy or do things they otherwise wouldn’t. Sometimes this is in the favor of the people in question, (like using a condom for safe sex) at other times, people just do it to impress society (like buy a car). A social media influencer is someone similar. He/she is not a star per say, but has “influence” over a large (maybe millions or definitely a few ten thousand) number of people. This makes him/her a social media star. Once someone gathers this kind of a crowd through his own works and by publishing his own content – could be videos or images of things done – the brands start pouring in. it is the same concept as that of movie/soap stars, but the only thing changing here is the media medium. Just as a hit movie of an actor allows him to become a brand ambassador or a virtual seller of products, something similar happens in the case of social media influencers. They have a large audience and a huge fan following. Brands pay them money to market their products in the form of direct or indirect advertisements.
How to become a social media influencer?
In order to become a social media influencer you have to be social media famous first. You can be either Facebook famous or Instagram famous and have lots of subscribers on your YouTube channel or all of the above. And how do you do this? Simple. By being consistent in your content. You upload one video or post one blog and disappear for months and then make reappearance is not going to work for you. Decide your frequency and produce content accordingly. Is it going to be once a week or twice or all days of the week is your call. People must love your work and keep coming back to your posts and videos. They should love it so much that they should share it with their friends and on other groups and pages. This is what makes your content go viral or reach a large number of people.
To be a social media influencer you can start off with a few 1000 followers as well. The point is you should have a brand name and a well recognized name. Brand building takes time. It does not happen overnight. You should be all over the place on almost all social media platforms. Doing just one of the social Medias well and ignoring the others is a negative approach of doing this.
Engage with your audience: “speak” to your audience. You can do this by responding to their messages. Even “liking” some of the comments has a desired positive effect.
Be true to yourself and your brand. It will show on the content you produce. The audience notice if you really care or if you are a fake.
What happens next?
Well, if you have managed to build a large, loyal audience, you can start approaching brands that are looking for social media influencers to market their products. If you are too famous, as close to being a celebrity, these brands will approach you. Either way, if you get paid by others, you can consider your social media strategy a success. You have indeed made a name for yourself and now people are looking out to hire you.
What is the job of a social media influencer?
Let’s say you are passionate about makeup and have been doing vlogs, blogs videos, about the best makeup practices or teaching others how to do their makeup online – you could be an influencer for a brand that sells makeup. They will ask you to do a video with their products and pay you for it. This is something like a paid partnership in which both you and the brand benefits. The audience that looks up to will go and buy the product that you say is best and who’s video you show to them. This is one way to market and get things done. These videos are not just limited to your audience. With enough “shares” you will have newer people joining your network if they like the content you have produced.
Conclusion
Social media is a world of its own. Some are here just for fun and others for information. However there are few who rule the internet through their own content. From a place to simply make friends and see their pictures and know what’s happening in their lives, social media now dominates how the world thinks and acts and what they buy and use in their lives.