Everyone is talking about influencer marketing, which is now a mainstream part of digital marketing. Even more so, it is no longer limited to a select few established brands or agencies but has become a core part of marketing efforts.
Influencers have emerged in almost every significant business. Now, more than ever, brands are utilizing them. It’s no surprise that everyone wants to be an influencer in their own fields because it’s become so lucrative. In their fields, yes! An influencer has to be differentiated from an inflater.
But who is an inflater anyway? They are influencers who aren’t genuinely influential especially for your brand. They may have a big number of followers, but the most they can offer is dissemination, reach, and impression, and they have much less on conversion. Now, this is not bad at all, if what the brand wants is only dissemination and reach, and it has no interest at all in the business of influence and it would rather invest in dissemination business.
On the other hand, an influencer is someone with an influence on a certain audience. An even better one would be an influencer who can influence a very specific audience. For example, those who can be identified to belong to specific sectors such as hospitality, B2B, Foods, Fashion, Photography, Sustainable Development Goals, Human Rights and Justice, Women Empowerment and Gender Equality and so forth. One individual cannot be all this and when they are, high chances are that they belong to an inflater group.
Let’s go back to today’s conversation. You’ve arrived at the perfect location if you want to become an influencer. We’ll go over how to become an influencer step by step in this post. I have collected 7 tips for you to become a good social media influencer, read with me;
1. Select your Niche
You must first choose your niche before embarking on your journey to becoming an influencer. You should pick a niche that you are passionate about and can consistently produce content for. To position yourself as an influencer, you should also have some level of experience in the topic.
As an influencer, you will have to research and post content in your selected interest area. As a result, it’s critical to pick something you’re enthusiastic about and something you’ll enjoy spending your time on.
You must discover your calling, whether you enjoy talking about human rights, travel, cooking and tasting new foods, technology and innovation, or you are more into B2B and so forth. Think of Fahad Fuhad for example, he has solely focused on Travel and photography influencing, and that is what he is passionately working in.
You might also choose a combination of two or three interests, but don’t go too wide.
2. Create a community around your niche while being true to your brand
Building a community around your niche allows you to stay on your brand—the first thoughts that come into your client’s or audience’s heads when they think about you. Think of Gillsaint, for example. What did you first think about him? Probably a prominent digital marketer, a to-go Twitter account for someone who wishes to learn digital skills or brands that wishes to recruit a digital consultant. He has been consistently identified so for many years, and if he chose to be an influencer, he could make an outstanding one in the areas of marketing, digital marketing and influencer marketing in Tanzania.
Or think of Given Edward, he talks about youth, technology and innovation ecosystem, so he would make a good influencer in those areas. Why? Because he has created a community of followers and peers in the ecosystem who identifies him with that, and they value his opinion.
3. Make sure your social media profiles are in tip-top shape.
After you’ve decided on a speciality, you’ll need to choose your preferred social media channels and create or optimize your profiles. The majority of influencers are only well-known on one or two social media sites. As a result, it’s preferable to concentrate your efforts on just a couple of channels.
After you’ve chosen your channels, you’ll need to either establish new profiles or improve the ones you already have.
Here are a few things you can do to make your profiles more optimized:
Change your account to a business account.
If you want to be an influencer, you should upgrade to a business account because it gives you a lot more possibilities. In the profile settings of most networks, such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, you can create a business account.
Create an Interesting Bio
When someone visits your profile, the first thing they see is your bio, which is why it’s so vital to make a good first impression. Your biography should be able to explain your narrative in a compelling way. It should also include all relevant information about you, such as your full name, contacts if possible, and areas of experience.
Include a profile photo and a cover photo.
You should also include a profile photo and a cover photo, as these are crucial components of your own brand identification. People frequently recognize a social network profile by its profile photo, so choose one carefully. Also, make sure your face is visible and the quality of the photo is good.
4. Know who you are trying to influence/Your audience
While this is a much-overlooked exercise for brands and influencers alike, it is important to have consumer or audience insight before diving into the business of influencing. You need to know who your target audience is before you start developing content or publishing on social media. Influencers wield power over their followers and maintain strong relationships with them. That’s because they don’t appeal to everyone, but rather to people who share similar interests in a certain niche.
To become an influencer, you must first identify your target audience and then execute your strategy effectively in order to gain a loyal following. To acquire a better understanding of your audience, look at the demographics and interests of your present followers.
Most social media platforms have an analytics tool built-in that may give you information about your current activities and your audience. On Twitter, it is called Twitter Analytics while on Facebook and Instagram the feature is called Facebook Insights and Instagram Insights respectively.
5. Create and share content that is relevant to your audience.
The next step in being an influencer is to provide your audience with useful and relevant material. More people will be influenced by your ideas and recommendations if you are able to engage with your audience. The fact that your followers truly listen to you is the most critical criterion for being an influencer.
You must devise a content strategy and employ a variety of content formats, particularly those that your target audience prefers. Some influencers’ feeds are devoted entirely to their particular subject of interest, such as food, travel, fashion, or beauty. Such influencers don’t mix personal posts with their specialized posts, and their content is solely focused on their niche.
A food influencer may share recipes, images from restaurant visits, reviews, and even brand promotions.
Take, for example, photography influencer Osse Greca Sinare on Instagram— not so sure that he considers himself an influencer in photography but some of his works indicate so. His entire feed and website are dedicated to photography and travel and every product or brand he promotes has to relate back to his work as a professional photographer. He writes reviews for skincare products, in relation to his work as a photographer.
6. Maintain a regular and consistent schedule.
After you’ve decided what kinds of content you’ll upload, you’ll need to settle on a posting schedule and frequency. The algorithms on most social media platforms favour accounts that post frequently. This is especially true for Instagram, where higher-visibility necessitates a consistent posting schedule. It’s also the most popular platform for influencer marketing in the world, however, it may be different based on localities, such as Tanzania where Twitter seems to be attracting more influencing business.
You can choose to post once a day, once a week, or as often as you’d like. Before making a decision, you should think about the platform. Some sites, such as Twitter, are more dynamic in nature, and if you want to become an influencer on it, you’ll need to post more frequently.
You can get away with publishing once or twice a week on other social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Select the days and hours when you will post, and stick to them.
According to a study conducted by Sprout Social, there are specific days and times of the week when you can get the most engagement on your posts. The highest engagement rates may be found on most platforms during the late morning and afternoon hours of the week. For most platforms, Wednesday is the ideal day to post. Check out the optimal times to post for your platform of choice and adjust your posting schedule accordingly.
7. Make an effort to engage with your target audience.
You will receive a lot of likes and comments on your posts once you start publishing content on social media. Because it is vital for an influencer to engage with their followers, their comments and replies should not be ignored.
Replying to comments and answering any queries your followers is an excellent habit you should develop. To express your gratitude, you may simply “like” their comments/replies and whenever possible engage with them, ask genuine questions for genuine conversations
Asking a question and starting a conversation about a topic of mutual interest is another approach to interact with your audience. Interactions like this help you form personal bonds with your audience and establish your authority as a thought leader.
Conclusion
These are tried-and-true professional recommendations for becoming an influencer in your field. If you follow these instructions and give it enough time, you will see the desired effects.
Keep in mind that getting results is a process that takes time and effort. As a result, you shouldn’t expect to become a social media influencer overnight. However, if you continue to follow these tips, you will be able to become an influencer and earn money online while staying relevant for a long period of time.
Would you like me or my Company to Consult You?
You are a business, government or NGO and you want to know how you can best optimize influencer marketing in Tanzania? Over the past 8 years in a personal capacity and as a company, I have advised corporations, NGOs, and the government on various areas of Marketing and Strategic Communications with the highest rate of success, designing, devising and executing strategies that work and bring results.
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