What is a Social Media Influencer?

In the age of social media, a brand’s presence on these platforms is crucial to recognition, marketing and engagement. Social media creates a channel of communication between a consumer and a brand, raises awareness of products, and can boost conversion rates on your website.

But how do you incorporate social media into your marketing strategy? Cue: the social media influencer.

Social media influencers are relatively new phenomena that have taken the marketing world by storm. If you’ve got a young brand and you’re looking to get your message out there, a social media influencer campaign may be just the trick you’re looking for.

Read on now to find out what an influencer is, what types of influencers you can work with, and how creating campaigns with a social media influencer is like gold dust for your marketing strategy.

What is an Influencer?

A social media influencer is an individual with a large platform on a social media site, like Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. They tend to have larger followings than the average user and are considered experts in their individual niches.

They are often innovators or early adopters of trends. Influencers will also share opinions, create content with their expert knowledge, and work with brands within this niche.

A social media influencer can be someone who gained popularity on social media, without previously having been known but they may also be a celebrity-turned-influencer too.

There are a few different types of social media influencers that you should be aware of. We’ve taken a look at them in the next section.

Types of Social Media Influencers

The type of social media influencer that you work with can be the make or break of your campaign. While it may seem like the obvious choice to only work with the biggest influencers on the social media platform you choose, there are benefits to working with smaller influencers. It all depends on your brand and what you want to achieve. 

We’ve broken down the types of influencers below.

• Nano-influencers: Usually a person with up to 1000 followers. They have a smaller audience but are usually highly specialized in their area and followed for their expert content. They make for highly-authentic partners in niche areas.
• Micro-influencers: Will likely have a following between 1000 and 50,000 followers. They have a growing audience that interacts consistently. This is the most common kind of social media influencer across platforms.
• Macro-influencers: These accounts will have up to 1 million followers and often have industry expertise to share. They reach a much wider audience than other influencers and are usually professionals and experts in their field.
• Mega-influencers: More than 1 million followers. Often offer endorsements of brands. They are usually celebrities, athletes, and other popular and well-known figures.

While you will want to reach a large audience with your campaign, think about your industry and your own values too. How would your consumer base respond to you working with a mega influencer? Would they think you had sold out or would it increase your credibility? Is your niche highly-specialised and would working with a nano-influencer in the industry be more effective than an influencer who isn’t as specialised?

Like with any aspect of marketing, it is important that you hold true to your core values and ensure that the choice you make is right for the brand as a whole.

How Can Working With a Social Media Influencer Help Your Brand?

Working with a social media influencer is, first and foremost, a way to get your brand out there. If you’re an entirely new business, you want people to see your products and an influencer can ensure this happens.

Working with an influencer whose opinion is valued is a great way of increasing trust too. If they’re saying they use your products and that they actually work, their followers are more likely to check out your stuff too. 

If you choose to work with an influencer as a brand ambassador, it will also give you access to their followers. This means you have a more informal channel of communication with your consumer base and can evolve your brand to fit what your market actually wants. Comments, likes, and conversions from a campaign can give you a really good idea of whether your products are working for them or not.

Lastly, most social media campaigns now give you up-to-the-minute insights to see how the campaign is working. Unlike with a billboard advertisement, you can actually count how many people see your advert and how many then click through onto your site and shop with you. It’s a fantastic way to find out more about your consumer base and develop your marketing accordingly.

5 Social Media Influencer Campaigns to Consider

There are tonnes of social media influencer campaigns that you could try, and we have taken a look at five great ways to involve social media influencers in your marketing strategy below.

1. Social Media Shoutouts
This is probably the most simple and oldest of the social media campaigns, and it’s really easy to pull off. It requires you to send influencers free samples and a bit of information about your brand in return for a shoutout on social media.

2. Reviews
If you choose to work with a blogger, you could have them write a review of your product to be read by their subscribers. This is a great way for you to get a more in-depth look at your product out there so that interested parties can have a more thorough understanding of what it is you do.

3. Sponsored Posts
Whether you’re sponsoring a YouTube video or a podcast, sponsorship is a tried and tested way to get your brand out there. You could even consider giving the listeners or viewers a discount code to get them onto your site.

4. Ambassadors
This campaign will usually run over an extended period and involves the influencer receiving products from you to shout out on social media, create posts about, and just generally talk about when it fits with their content.

Having an influencer wear or use your products (and tag them) can spark interest, even in the most passive of their followers.

5. Product Launches
Have you got a new product coming out? Do you want to create a buzz about it? Have influencers use it, share it, and talk about it online in the run-up to the launch. This will get their followers on board and ensure they purchase it when it comes out.

Final Thoughts

Social media influencers are one of the best ways to market your products to a large audience. They can create campaigns, work with you over long periods, and even support new product launches. Consider working with them in your next marketing campaign.

If you’re looking to boost your marketing strategy or enhance your social media presence, Rokir Media should be your first call. We’ve got tonnes of experience in reinvigorating brands, boosting social media engagement, and helping companies to convert social media views into purchases. Get in touch now to find out how we can help you.