Truly Content

Since influencer marketing appeared on our handheld screens a few years ago, the industry has boomed. For brands, influencer marketing is a great tactic to get your product or service in front of a highly targeted demographic. For small businesses, influencers can expand your overall reach and project your product into the world of cyberspace. By aligning a personal connection with your brand through a relationship with a well-known personality, your target market is likely already looking for products and services such as yours – but that only applies if you truly do your research and find the right influencer for you! Social media campaigns like this can be high risk, but done right, can be incredibly rewarding. By utilising endorsements and product-placement strategies, influencer marketing can be highly effective.

Choosing the Most Positive Influencer

The first step of successfully utilising an influencer into your brand is by carefully selecting a personality who matches the same ethos and ethics of your business, so that they can effectively promote not only your product or services, but they can accurately represent your brand in a way that you want it to be seen. There have been challenges faced by many brands that have been extensively covered in the media about influencers who have become associated with certain brands, but who have then been found out to possess incompatible or unfavourable views – this mismatch of interests can cause a catastrophic devastation of reputation for the brand, and is a rare example of when social media influencer marketing backfires. It’s vital to be incredibly thorough with your research when looking for an appropriate social media influencer, and to effectively manage your budget and expectations. If you’re about to spend a large chunk of your marketing budget on a social media influencer’s endorsement, first consider if they really are the right match for your company, and whether there may be any conflicts of interest – both in and outside of business.

    Regulating a Social Media Minefield

    Similarly, the social media influencer industry is now a highly regulated field. This is fantastic in terms of having outlined processes that brands and influencers must follow, but also means that not all campaigns will work as effectively as you might hope. By tailoring your strategy to not only your brand, but also your influencer and the necessary regulations, you can be sure to find and engage your specific target demographic. But, this is a mammoth task, which is best left to social media professionals! Being transparent in the social media marketing industry is incredibly important, and many celebrities and brands have been fined large sums of money for failing to highlight which posts are sponsored and which are not. To avoid fines and lawsuits, it’s best to be transparent with your demographic, who should trust and respect your honesty.

    Keep Things Ethical

    Similarly, keeping your campaign honest and ethically positive will also avoid any social backlash. From online trolls to competing or opposing influencers, maintaining a positive societal message in your campaign is truly important for developing and spreading a trustworthy company image. Nothing ruins a brand’s reputation quite like a public humiliation, being highlighted for not being attuned to your demographic’s needs and interests! In this sense, it’s a great idea to not only sell your products or services through social media stars, but rather encourage social media users to acknowledge your brand’s core values, and the ethics of your business that you’re passionate about or proud of. Are all your products vegan-friendly? Great! Do you make a point of only working with businesses that are committed to equal pay? Fantastic. Social media influencing doesn’t have to be flat product-placement, but rather can elicit an emotional connection between you and your market, through a familiar online face.

    If you’d like to navigate the social media marketing minefield, and think that influencers could boost your brand to the next level, why not speak to a professional before going ahead? At Truly Content, we’ll be able to give you fine-tuned advice that’s specific to you, and can handle the process of hiring influencers from start to finish, ensuring you are getting the right message across through the right people – and to the right people! Speak to us today by clicking here – we can’t wait to hear from you!

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