What is an influencer: am I an influencer or how do I become an influencer?
The word influencer, whether you have negative thoughts or not, the power of influencing is HUGE in marketing. But the thing we must share with you is, you could actually be an influencer – like right now!
So, what is an influencer in the world or social media? Are you an influencer or how do you actually become an influencer?
We will go through the ins and outs of influencer marketing! In all honesty, you will be surprised, influencing isn’t all about selling products directly, it is about informing, educating and inspiring an audience.
Listen below!
What does it mean to be an influencer?
So, let’s just make this clear. Influencing might not 100% be what you think it is. It isn’t all about “put in my promo code for 40% off”. If you are creating content as either a business owner, entrepreneur or just a general content creator, you are aiming to have an influence on someone else.
You are informing and educating so people can make an educated decision! So, let’s just get the “Influences in the Wild” Instagram out of our heads and start thinking about how important influencing is in the world of marketing. It is SUCH a power tool when it comes to content marketing.
What is influencer marketing?
Well, to put it simply, influencer marketing is all about using influence to market a product, service or brand.
You can take part in influencer marketing by:
Collaborating with an influencer to promote
Influence yourself through online content
Influencer marketing does not have to be an overengineered term. It simply means to influence people to make a choice or to think a certain way about a topic. But of course, to dive into more about influencer marketing, please click here.
What is micro influencing and nano influencing?
The terms of micro and nano influencing stem from the amount of people influenced by a certain individual or brand.
Of course, when it comes to finding an influencer for your brand, numbers aren’t everything. It is all about how the person connects with their audience.
Same goes for becoming an influencer, you don’t need to have the big followers to make big impact, this shouldn’t hinder you to get started - chances are if you create content, you have already started!
But, if we are using followers on social media to break down the type of influencer people are, based on their followers, this is how it is labelled (these do not include bigger scale).
Micro have 1,000 to 100,000 followers
Nano have less than 1,000
But this doesn’t mean much when it comes down to the results you get from either being an influencer or hiring someone to help! If you want to learn more about how these are labelled for social media, please click here.
Stop - the vanity metrics don’t mean a lot
Now you know how followers categorise the type of influencer, that is IT! Stop looking at the vanity metrics. We are seeing people with less than 1,000 followers make HUGE impact!
A like reaction doesn’t determine a person or a business! So, when it comes to evaluating your content, use the statistics, the ROI (return on investment – if applicable) and the engagement levels. Not how many followers you have or how many likes you go! It is all about the end goals and the result.
Classic example, I see coaches who make over $100k per month with less than 10,000 followers. How crazy this!! It is all about the aligned following you make!
How can you become an influencer?
The biggest tip Neal gave in the podcast episode, CREATE CONTENT!! Create content your audience LOVES! Be consistent and collaborate with people you need to collaborate with. Influencing can be as simple as featuring on a podcast episode.
Being an influencer is all about being your own PR professional. It is also SO important to know your brand and the audience who sits under your brand. If you don’t know who they are, how can you market to them! It all comes down to doing your research and knowing what your audience likes, then deliver the content to complement it!
There are 4 types of content creation for an influencer, per medium you could show up on. These include:
Speaking (podcasts)
Video (YouTube)
Photos (Instagram)
Text (blog articles)
This is where having a core platforms helps establish what type of influencer you are!
What you need to complement with this is a strategy around how you will influence, when you will post content to inspire and engage! A strategy + creating + collaboration = influencer marketing success!
Which one do you use? Or want to use? Come over to IG and tell me!
How can being an influencer benefit your business
Well, how does being an influencer help your business?? We call this the content marketing circle!! The more influence you have on your audience, the more likely they will buy from you.
So, look at it like this. Creating content builds brand awareness, which helps them to consider you as someone to buy from, and then bang, conversion. The more engaging and informative content you create, the higher chance you have of building awareness and gaining more of an aligned following to your brand.
Creating things like blogs, podcasts and social media content (all with consistency), helps you to build more influence for you and your brand! Whether you are a personal brand or not, you need to start becoming an influencer in your niche!!
One thing to remember, don’t tap into influencing and being an influencer because you want to make money!! DO it because you want to help educate others and give them the best solutions for their problems!
How you can engage with an influencer
Of course, we probably don’t need to write much on this but an influencer (a good influencer) can drive traffic to your site, awareness around your business and so much more!
You just need to do the research and find an influencer who will work with you to create amazing content and influence the right audience for you!! You can do this through:
Keyword and hashtag research (finding the influencers under there)
Looking at who is following your competition (find the influencers that way)
Podcast chart searching
Google searching (for blog content)
There is a lot of different ways you can find an influencer for your business, it all comes down to knowing your target audience and using online platforms to engage with the right people to collaborate with!!
You can even do things like guest blogging and being on a podcast, which counts as opposed to the paying per promotional post!
Final thoughts
Influencer = content creator! To be an influencer or to create more influence as a brand, you need to create content.
When looking for an influencer to engage with, look at their content and do the research! Influencer marketing isn’t all bikini shots and “use my discount code”, it is about educating and audience and using your knowledge, respect your followers and create engaging content to not just sell, but to create a long, sustainable business that is built off trust and loyalty.
If you are looking to become an influencer, ask yourself why and go in with that approach! This is the process of an influencer:
Do these things and you already are having an influence on your audience. If you are a business looking to work with an influencer, don’t look for the obvious. Remember most content creators are influencers, they are just too embarrassed to say the title.
An influencer really isn’t what you think right??