What is Influencer Marketing? - Tips and Tricks
What is Influencer Marketing?
10 Very Good Reasons Why You Should Become an Influencer
An influencer is someone that has the power to influence the thoughts and opinions of a large audience. This is typically someone on Instagram or YouTube with a large, highly engaged following. This kind of person is highly valuable to advertisers and to marketers alike as they have the ability to sway purchasing decisions, increase brand awareness, and even set trends and define what is Òcool.Ó
You can earn a huge amount as an influencer, but thatÕs not the only reason to aim for this target.
Here are just some of the incredible perks that come from being an influencer:
# Getting recognized in the street Ð not only is this highly rewarding, but it also means you often get freebies or even the option to skip queues! And itÕs great when youÕre on a date and you get recognizedÉ
# Being able to make money from nearly anything you do. Selling signed t-shirts? Giving a talk? The possibilities are endless!
# Being given exciting opportunities Ð chances to appear on talk shows, give interviews, write books, travel etc. One influencer called Joe Suggs was last year invited to take part in the UK TV show ÒStrictly Come Dancing.Ó He is now a huge celebrity and recalls the experience as one of the best times in his life.
# Being sent freebies to review. If you choose a niche you love, those will be products youÕd probably have paid for yourself!
# Being able to earn huge amounts of money for a sponsored post.
# Having a huge army of loyal fans that will buy into anything you sell.
# Being able to generate interest/funds for any cause thatÕs important to you.
# Being able to direct huge amounts of traffic and customers to products you want to sell.
# STILL also generating a passive income and living the lifestyle you have dreamed of.
# Getting feedback and praise for writing and posting things that you love and are passionate about!
LetÕs put it another way. When you have 100,000 subscribers on YouTube or 200,000 followers on Instagram, the going rate for a sponsored post is $1,000. If you have 2M followers on Instagram then, a single post could earn you $10,000. ThatÕs just to take a photo.
And if marketers are willing to pay that much, then imagine what you could earn by selling your own products this way!
Interested? Time to become an influencer Ð anyone can do it!
2 Tips for Creating Sharable Content for Influencers
The point is that too many people think that having a big network of contacts on a social media site is enough to ensure that their content will spread. The strategy for many of them it seems is to simply develop a large number of ÒfollowersÓ or ÒfriendsÓ and then to just share everything they create and hope for the best.
The problem is that not everything is well suited to that kind of viral sharing, and like the link bait articles that SEO gurus use, a better strategy would be to devise articles from the outset that will be more likely to get shared. Here we will look at how to do that...
>Write Articles With an Emotional Hook
The first thing you need to do if you hope for your article links to spread quickly is to give them some kind of emotional resonance. If someone reads your article and they come away thinking 'wow' or even feeling angry, then they will be more likely to share, comment or interact with that content in some way.
>Write Articles With a Catchy Title
For someone to share your article they first need to read it, and the only weapon you have at your disposal as far as that's concerned is the strength of your title. While you could write an entire article just one that, the tenets you should follow are to make your title descriptive of your article so that people know what it's going to be about, to make it engaging in some way (again by making it emotional, or by asking a question or making a statement) and to use hyperbole (the 'ultimate' list, not 'a very good' list).
4 Tips for Better Influencer Blog Posts
Creating a blog is one of the best ways to position yourself as an influencer. A blog will allow you to promote yourself and demonstrate your expertise, thereby creating a large and engaged audience. The challenge? Standing out among the crowd and getting noticed. In other words, creating content that is not just good, but GREAT. Here are four tips to help you do that.
>Have a Narrative Structure
There is a saying in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) circles that said Òstorytelling is SEO for the human brain.Ó What that means is that the human brain is actually optimized to hear stories, and this is true in a far more literal sense than you might expect. ThatÕs because we evolved telling stories around campfires, and in a time before the internet or movies, this was how we understood things and passed on knowledge. Stories create emotional stakes, they help us to feel as though we ÒknowÓ the writer, and they build suspense to keep us hooked.
>Have Your Audience in Mind
If you were developing a product as a business, then you would first make a point of carrying out market research to make sure that there were people out there willing to pay for a product like yours. Think of your articles then as products, and make sure you've thought about who will actually be reading your article. Of course the larger your audience, and the more connected that demographic, the better chance of spreading your article will have.
>Write Articles That Are Easy to Skim
People have short attention spans and in the world of social media this is exacerbated - when we check Facebook it's normally a distraction so we don't have time to sit down and read pages and pages of text. Make sure then that your articles are easy to skim through and that you use headers and bullet points so that people can quickly glance over your pieces and get drawn in.
>Know Your Topic Inside Out
The worst thing you can do is to hire a writer to write your content that doesnÕt know about the topic. Even if theyÕre the best writer in the world, if they arenÕt passionate about the niche/subject matter, then they wonÕt have anything new to say or to bring to the discussion. The result will be content that is bland, vanilla, and safe.
Know your topic inside out and only that way can you create and share NEW ideas. THAT is how you become a thought LEADER.
Alternatives to Using Your Own Name as an Influencer
Becoming an influencer will often mean creating a personal brand. A personal brand is a brand that places you as the creator front and center. That means that youÕll be using your name on the website, on the social media accounts, and in any marketing. This is one of the smartest decisions you can make from a business standpoint, as it will help to make you seem more like a Òreal personÓ and far more accessible.
People will therefore be more likely to order your services or products, because theyÕll feel as though they know you and theyÕll be able to get a response from you should anything goes wrong.
But this strategy is not for everyone.
When you create your social media account or blog using your own name as your branding, you might find that this makes you feel somewhat anxious. Many people are shy to put themselves out there, and might even worry about security and privacy issues.
This is something that you should aim to overcome. After all, if you are too shy for your friends to see your content and know it is yours, then there is a good chance that you need to rethink your strategy!
But there are genuine occasions where using your own name might not be ideal. In these circumstances you have a few options:
# Create a Òscreen name.Ó This can be an obvious username you might pick for YouTube or Instagram that is used in addition to your real name Ð you then make your real name harder to find.
# Use a pseudonym. There is no reason this canÕt work Ð just make sure it is believable. Of course things like WhoIs information might give you away though.
# Create a brand name but make yourself more prominent. A good example of this is Pat Flynn, who is the owner of SmartPassiveIncome.com. That website is a brand in itself, but Pat is also ÒknownÓ to the users.
# Create a brand that is the Òinfluencer.Ó This is much harder to do, but is achievable if you are smart and lucky.
# Team up! A great way to protect yourself is through strength in numbers. If you have friends with a similar interest, then you can all create a website or social account together and this way give your audience multiple people to respond to. This can be a great strategy because it helps to start that sense of community early on.
All these tips work well, but wherever possibleÉ use your own name!
Creating a Personal Brand & How Internet Marketing Can Change Your Life
Often internet marketing involves creating a brand and then selling products through that brand. That brand will often be cold, detached, and alien to the users.
But have you considered that this brand does not have to be a bland corporate brand? It doesnÕt need to be Òfaceless.Ó
You donÕt need to have a fancy logo or to have some meaningless and hip name. Another option is to make yourself the brand. This is whatÕs called Òpersonal brandingÓ and itÕs a fantastic strategy for anyone thatÕs looking to promote a product online and that doesnÕt mind putting themselves out there.
What is Personal Branding?
Personal branding means that youÕre turning yourself into the figurehead of your business in a very public manner. This can mean either that you are the business and you trade under your own name (it saves you money on trademarks at least!) or it could just mean that youÕre featured front and center on your website and social media.
A good example of this would be the Smart Passive Income Blog where anyone who reads the blog regularly will recognize Pat Flynn. Likewise, you have the Four Hour Blog where Tim Ferriss is front and center. These are examples of personal brands that have worked very well.
Advantages
One advantage of a personal brand is that it can make you famous. Sure, some people will see this more as a disadvantage but if youÕre the sort of person who likes the limelight it may well appeal.
Another advantage is that it lets people feel as though they know you and it gives your brand personality. This means that when you interact with someone on Twitter or Facebook, theyÕll feel like theyÕre talking to an actual human being rather than just being the recipient of market speak. They thus become FAR more likely to buy from you in future.
With a personal brand youÕll also be able to aim to become an influencer. That means you can get paid by brands to create sponsored content. ItÕs common for an influencer on Instagram to get paid $1,000 for every 200,000 followers they have. If you have 1M followers, you can get paid $5,000 for something that takes literally five minutes. ThatÕs pretty good hourly rates!
ItÕs definitely worth considering and if youÕre interested, pay close attention to the webÕs big names to see how theyÕre making it work for them!
Creating a Spot to Film In for YouTube Influencers
Becoming a YouTube influencer means creating lots of content that looks professional and that provides value. This can take a LOT of time, and be difficult if you arenÕt a natural presenter.
What makes life much easier is to create a permanent spot in your home for doing this Ð a spot that will always be ready for you to just step into and start filming, and a spot that will look great on film. Let's look at how to create such a thing.
Choosing Your Spot
Dressing Up Your Spot
This last point is important. If you're creating a YouTube channel that you hope will be able to promote your site and your business, then you need to make sure that it looks professional and that you are Òselling the dream.Ó That means your home should look great, so make sure that you pick a room that makes you look like someone worth listening to/emulating.
At the same time, you should also think about how the area matches the niche of your site. In other words, if your site is about bodybuilding then a weights room or a kitchen will make more sense than a living room. Likewise, if you're vlogging about video games then you might want to do it in a man-cave filled with games memorabilia.
Here you are basically trying to make your space into a backdrop that is fitting for your topic. That might require you to hang a poster, or it might mean installing LED lights. When creating this set up, spend a day shopping around for items that might help it to look better and you'll find that your videos become much more popular.
How to Choose the Sponsors You Want to Work With
If you have been putting a lot of work into becoming an influencer, then chances are that you are hoping to get sponsors. A sponsor is of course a company or individual that is willing to pay you to endorse their product. That might mean doing a shout-out at the start of a YouTube video to say how great the product is, but it could also mean simply wearing a piece of merchandise or using it casually in your video.
You can earn a LOT of money doing this, and it is a very resilient and easy way to earn cash. The problem is that it can also involve Òselling out.Ó You might find that by choosing the wrong sponsors, you actually end up driving away the very followers that you rely on. Or at the very least, just feeling a little bit dirty and wrong.
So, how do you choose the sponsors to work with? Here are some tips.
Do You Believe in the Message?
The first and most important thing to consider, is whether you believe in the product itselfÉ but also the message that the company is pushing. Do you agree with the ethos of the business and more importantly, does that ethos agree with the ethos of the brand youÕve created?
Ideally you should pick something that you actually use. Better yet, you should pick something that your target audience is likely to find useful and that fits your niche. But most important is that you feel that the message is on brand.
If you can genuinely say that the two are aligned, then that business is a good fit for you.
Is it Worthwhile?
The other thing to ask is whether the partnership properly benefits you. That is to say: does it offer you anything in terms of financial remuneration? And are you being fully compensated for the work youÕre putting in?
Most importantly, be dubious of companies that primarily offer commission. This often means that the value is limited and will benefit them a lot more than you!
DonÕt be Scared and Know Your Worth
The mistake a lot of influencers will make is to jump at the first opportunity they are offered, being afraid that they otherwise might not get another chance. This of course is a big mistake, and so you should make sure that you are calm and collected and know your own worth. Do some research!