In the digital age, consumer attention is more fragmented than ever. Between robust social platforms like YouTube, Reddit, Twitch, Snapchat, online forums, and more, holding a viewer’s attention is no walk in the park. Luckily, recruiting social influencers can help businesses overcome this challenge. Influencers are individuals with an immense fan base on any social platform. Influencer marketing identifies these individuals and leverages their audience as potential customers.
Every social platform has influencers that produce content for thousands or even millions of users. The art of finding the right influencer(s) does not have to be daunting. It will, however, require a bit more work than simply recruiting an influencer with the most users on any given platform. Finding the right network, and ultimately the right influencer for your campaign requires strategic thinking. Check out this how-to guide for getting started on your influencer marketing campaign.
Find the Right Social Media Network for Your Niche
Think about the channels on which your target demographic remains most active. Be ready to explore new forms of media such as Podcasts, Twitch streams, or Reddit as ecosystems where social influencers hold sway over your potential customers. For example, did you know that Twitch users collectively spend upwards of 18.6 million hours watching a single influencer live stream per month?
Try and think beyond the numbers as you begin searching for the right networks and social influencers. It’s not just about whom your target customers follow, but whom they also respect. Who do they listen to? Who are they engaging with most fervently, and where are they engaging with them? Opening your search up to social platforms you’re less familiar with will allow you to find influencers you didn’t even know existed. Use this new adventure in influencer marketing to expand your reach and gain an understanding of how different platforms can improve your messaging.
Find the Right Social Media Influencer
Once you’ve identified where your target customers spend the most time online, you can begin researching specific social media influencers until you find the one that works best for you. Keep in mind that some influencers have a home platform where their audience is strongest. As such, you may encounter influencers who you want to use for YouTube, but who don’t perform quite as well on Twitter. There are a few approaches you can adopt in this search.
1) Find Traditional Influencers via Social Media Influencer Search Tools
Influencer search tools will provide you with the data necessary to assist in your search. Search engines like InfluencerDB, AspireIQ, and Neoreach offer engagement stats, comparative rankings, and an overview of what each influencer does. These programs are relatively inexpensive and can save precious resources in finding the right social media influencer.
2) Create a Social Media Influencer
Another approach you can take involves creating your own social media influencer. This new social influencer can be someone from your follower base, an industry thought leader, or even member on your own team. This is an incredibly fruitful practice and can drive more sales for agencies and clients.
3) Recruit Your Customers as Social Media Influencers
Do a deep dive of your followers on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest. You may find that some of your followers hold significant influence on multiple social platforms. If you find a satisfied customer with a large following, reach out and create a relationship. A social media influencer already familiar with your products is an absolute best-case scenario.
Getting Started with Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is constantly evolving, so don’t be afraid to get started with the tips and learn more throughout your influencer marketing campaign. Marketers continue to leverage the power of social influencers more effectively with each passing year. Although it can seem daunting to get started on this new frontier, taking a few simple steps will help you tremendously. It’s all about identifying the properties and platforms where your customers are hanging out online and then identifying the individuals on that platform.
Next, you can reach out to influencers in a variety of ways. You can either use existing search engine software to find influencers, recruit influencers who you already familiar with your product, or throw on your entrepreneur hat and create your own influencer. Influencer marketing has become something of a buzzword over the last few years and for good reason. Keep your eyes peeled on Premiere Creative’s blog and website to learn more helpful tips for your next social influencer campaign. Dial (973) 346-8100 to get started with your next influencer marketing campaign today.