Social media influencer guide

Summary/Overview

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade, you will no doubt have encountered your fair share of social media influencers in your regular social media scrolling. As social media becomes more and more an integral part of our daily lives, so too does the presence of social media influencers and their increasingly powerful influence over our wants, wishes, and purchasing decisions. But what is an influencer exactly, how effective are they, and how can you get involved?

According to data, 82% of people claim to trust social media networks to guide their purchasing decisions, while 60% of consumers claim they have already been influenced to make a purchase decision based on something they saw via social media or via a blog. These stats highlight the sway that influencers can have over their following, as well as the opportunity for brands looking to leverage the power of a social media influencer to expand their brand awareness, and ultimately win more customers.

What is a social media influencer?

So, what is an influencer? In short, a social media influencer is an individual with a large and loyal social media following over whom they have great… well… influence. Their following are generally fairly engaged and have a genuine interest in the opinion of the influencer.

Social media influencers who have managed to build up a large amount of trust from their following (and are able to maintain that level of trust) are the ones who are likely to be the most successful long-term and will be the best marketing tools for brands looking to partner up.

A social media influencer who has an authentic social media presence will be able to recommend products without raising suspicions from their following that they may be promoting a product only because they have been incentivized to do so and not because they actually use or enjoy the product.

Types of social media influencers

Social media influencer types by following size

• Mega-influencers - These are social superstars with more than a million followers. These are often celebrities and are the best for achieving ultimate reach.
• Macro-influencers - These are influencers with between 100,000 and 1 million followers. Due to the nature of their following, they're also most likely to get you the most eyes on your brand.
• Micro-influencers - A micro-influencer is someone who has between 1,000 and 100,000 followers. While their following may be small(ish), their authenticity is high and will provide greater, genuine engagements. They'll also more likely have a relationship with their audience.
• Nano-influencers - This is somebody with fewer than 1,000 followers who has immense influence, in an extremely niche subject area. When using multiple nano-influencers, you can still get a great deal of impact as their audience is more likely to trust what they are saying.

Social media influencer types by content

• Bloggers - Bloggers and especially micro-bloggers often have the most authentic relationships with their readership. There are many influential blogs on the web at this moment in a variety of niches including finances, health, music, and more. Brands looking to connect with influential blogs may offer to write a guest blog or to come to an agreement with the blogger where they create content that heavily focuses on the products or services of the brand.
• YouTubers - It’s incredibly common for brands to connect with popular YouTubers to promote their business within their video content. Video is always an extremely popular form of content so finding a YouTube influencer that is appropriate to promote your brand could do wonders for growing your customer base and expanding brand awareness.
• Podcasters - Podcasting has really risen in popularity over the last few years with some podcast hosts now becoming household names. Again, another great channel to leverage for influencer marketing.
• Social media - Of course, all of the above often make use of social media to promote when they have new content coming out and have more of an interactive back and forth with their audience. This means that many bloggers, podcasts, etc. are simultaneously social media influencers who can also be utilized for their social media popularity.

Social media influencer types by level of influence

• Celebrities - Influencer marketing was born out of celebrity endorsements. However, in the modern day it’s debatable as to how much influence these celebrities really have over the buying patterns of their social media following. The product that a celebrity endorses should be relevant to their persona for the recommendation to come off as authentic and believable. For example, a model might recommend a specific make-up item or a musician a brand of instrument. Regardless, brands looking to get a celebrity endorsement would likely need to spend a fair bit of their budget as a part of the agreement. It’s important to keep in mind that non-celebrity social media influencers may cost less and prove just as — if not more — effective.
• Thought leaders - Thought leaders and industry leaders can also be used for influencer marketing. Journalists, industry experts, and academics will have built followings based on respect and credibility due to expertise. As a result, anything positive they may say about your brand would be influential in creating a positive perception of your brand in the minds of anyone who follows the thought leader. Keep in mind, however, that many thought leaders will have built their influence in an offline setting and may not always have the largest of followings.

When influencer marketing goes wrong

We've all seen an influencer marketing disaster that has made us cringe. Whether it's writing the copy on behalf of an influencer and seeing a "please post at 4pm" left in the caption, or a careless product promotion from someone who definitely doesn't use it...these disasters can break your reputation pretty quickly.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make with influencer marketing is to treat your influencers like a walking billboard. People buy from people, but if the pitch doesn't sound authentic, you're quickly going to lose your audience's trust.

Would a pregnant person really be drinking detox laxative tea? Does a billionaire really clean their own house using these specific products? No.

Once you've broken your audience’s trust, no matter how authentic your other content may be, people will not hesitate to scroll right past.

A great example of an influencer who seamlessly adapts sponsored posts into their organic content is Dave Gerhardt, a B2B marketer who posts naturally every day about life in marketing, to the point where his sponsored posts don't appear sponsored — they just seem like something he would say. People trust influencers that aren't all about the money.

How to keep influencer marketing posts authentic.

• Find an influencer who aligns with your brand vision, don't use them just because they're popular.
• Using 10 micro-influencers can be more powerful than using one big influencer. Having a “real” person promote your product makes the pitch feel more genuine as they're more likely to have a strong relationship with their followers.
• Look at your influencer's audience as well as your own. Creators own their audience, but their audience demographics might be different from their own persona.

How to become an influencer

It’s time to explore the other side of the coin. If you’re not a brand looking to make the most of influencer marketing but are instead wondering how to become an influencer yourself, then we have some advice for you, too.

Social media influencers may look like they’re effortlessly growing their online communities by posting beach pictures and doing Q&As in their Instagram Stories. In reality, there’s a lot of work that goes into growing a following and keeping it.

8 steps to getting started as an online influencer

1. Find your niche

You might have a great personality, but this alone is not enough to grow your social media audience (no offence). You need to find one or more areas to specialize in and become known for in the social media space.

The most popular categories for social media influence are:

• Fashion
• Food
• Gaming and technology
• Health and fitness
• Home improvement
• Travel

However, keep in mind that specializing in a popular area isn’t always optimal. If you choose an already popular niche, you’ll have other influencers to compete with for attention. The competition may make it tricky to stand out. The best approach is to be yourself and focus on the things you are truly passionate about.

Once you know your focus, begin to formulate your brand persona. Is it serious and kind like Malala? Approachable-chic like beauty influencer Michelle Phan? The choice is yours. If you need some guidance on how to package yourself, check out this step-by-step guide to defining a winning online identity.

2. Identify your target audience

If you’re wondering how to become an influencer, a key step is identifying your target audience. As an influencer, you’re a brand. That means you need to do the same audience-identifying exercises as any business. Then you need to create content for and market to your target audience.

3. Optimize all the right social media channels

Now that you know your audience, you need to meet them where they are. That means exploring all the social media platforms, finding out if your community is there (hint: they probably are), and creating and managing channels on each platform. Follow The Complete Guide to Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses to help you get there because this leads to the next important step.

4. Create exciting, marketable content

Here’s where the hard work begins. In order to stay relevant to your audience, you have to stay top of mind. That means posting quality content regularly and often. And yes, this is easier said than done.

Half of the burden of creating quality content is totally on you. There’s no shortcut or automated program that can conceptualize the right influencer content for you. You’re going to have to come up with ideas that attract YouTube or TikTok viewers, Facebook or Instagram users, or all of the above social media accounts.

If you’re wondering how to become an influencer on Instagram, it’s important to keep in mind that much, if not all, of your content will be visual. You’ll need to have a strategy for main grid aka feed posts and be willing to often give updates on this and that via your Instagram Story. It would even be beneficial to consider hosting Live streams via Instagram and creating longer Reels to really engage your audience.

Need a little help getting started? Explore handy features on Adobe Express that will help you make and schedule your social media content. Get started now.

5. Use algorithm-friendly titles and tags

Sure, your existing followers may see your “how to make a vegan steak” video. But you’re missing a world of new viewers if you don’t use keywords in your video or post titles and add relevant tags wherever you can. Make sure to optimize for Google search with names and tags. Learn more about best practices for keywords and other SEO marketing tactics here.

6. Engage with your audience and peers

It’s called “social” media for a reason. Part of creating a loyal community is interacting with your people. Like and reply to comments. Give shoutouts. Partner with other bloggers, vloggers, or influencers. Do TikTok duets. Every personal exchange you have makes your followers that much more excited to engage with you.

7. Actively build your audience

Once you cross the 1K follower threshold, you’re headed for influencer status. But successful influencers know there’s no such thing as a large enough following, so you have to work all the angles to capture a bigger audience.

How? Leverage other social media platforms to promote yourself and gain more of an audience, even if your primary platform is YouTube or Instagram. When you post your sure-to-be-viral video of you explaining the 2020 pandemic to your past, then-oblivious self, you can tease it on other platforms and drive traffic. And like followers, traffic equals money. Brush up on how to social media market here.

Speaking of, let’s wrap up with how to cash in on your hard work.

8. Explore Potential Revenue Streams

There are several ways to make money as a social media influencer. All of them require you either have followers, traffic, or both. Let’s start simple — with traffic.

If you’re on YouTube and activate their ad-server, Adsense, ads will automatically be integrated into your videos. The more views you get, the more money you make. Learn more about Adsense here.

How to make money through social media followers:

• Sell sponsored posts: You can charge companies a per-post fee to create a sponsored post or get paid to be a brand ambassador. At a minimum, you’ll get free products. But a decent number (think 5K or more) of engaged followers enables you to negotiate fees. If you’re just starting out, join an influencer network; they’ll do the selling for you and include you in their influencer marketing campaigns. Learn all about selling posts and influencer networks here.
• Sell your own products: You can perpetuate your brand and generate revenue by selling items that align with you or your specialty or expertise. If you’re an artist or musician, sell art or music. If you’re a “personality” or an owner of a famous dog on Instagram, sell a custom T-shirt. Are you a master gardener? Open an online store selling your favorite tools.
• Make appearances: Why not dream big? Get enough followers and people will pay you to show up on red carpets, launch parties, and more.

Now it’s your turn to become an influencer

The moral of the story here is never to underestimate the power of a social media influencer. For brands looking to bring in new customers, and grow brand awareness, finding the right social media influencer to talk about your business can do absolute wonders. If you haven’t tried influencer marketing yet, it’s time to get onboard.

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