Love or hate them, influencers are now an integral part of the market, convincing a segment of the population why they should or should not buy something. Here is how you can become one.
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By Randi Zimmerman from the Symphonic Blog
However you feel about influencers, there’s no avoiding them. They’re selling everything and anything on the market and legitimately making a living off of it. But how?
Simply put, they have influence. (I know, like duh, but bear with me here…)
By influence, I don’t mean they’re famous or have a ton of followers. I mean they have the power to influence the actions of their followers, whether it’s buying a product they’re promoting or liking and sharing their content.
Anyone can be a social media influencer with the right strategy.
It’s a common misconception that you must have thousands of followers to truly be an influencer. If you have a couple hundred dedicated followers who regularly interact with your content, that’s way more valuable than someone with 100,000 followers who never engage. The point is to not just strive to be an “influencer”, but to actually aim to influence the actions of your audience in a more meaningful way.
Here’s how to improve your influence on social media:
Establish Trust
Nobody likes to feel like they’re constantly being sold to. When an audience actively interacts with a creator, it’s because they feel comfortable enough to do so and trust what you have to say. When your audience trusts you, they’ll be more likely to tell their friends about you, show up to your events, share your content, and support your endeavors. Respond to comments, ask questions, and interact with your audience organically. To build your credibility as a creator, you have to be honest, humble, and most importantly, human. If your audience doesn’t trust what you have to say, you won’t be influencing anybody.
Find Your Niche
What do you identify with most? Most of us have a lot of different interests, but it’s important to identify what you stand for and who you are/want to be on your platform so your audience has something to relate to. Know your audience and what they want to see. Setting your sights too broadly will just make it harder for you to stand out among the thousands of other people also trying to stand out. Your individuality is your greatest asset!
Be Consistent
The most important step, by far, is to be consistent with how often you post. It’s simply not enough to post randomly or only once a week. If you never post, how can your audience get to know you? The more consistent interactions you have with your audience, the better. Not only does posting consistently build a sense of reliability between you and your audience, it increases your exposure to more people. Do your research to find out what days/times the most people will see your content and commit to regularly scheduling posts during those times. You’ll immediately see a difference in your engagement.
Connect With Other Influencers
Brands connect with influencers to try and expand their audience and, in turn, increase sales. You want to essentially do the same thing. Find other influencers you relate to or share a similar community with. Reach out to them to collaborate on something together or share a post of theirs and tag them in it. You’re going for anything that will benefit both you and them. This way, you’ll be exposed to a whole other audience that is already interested in what you have to offer and just needed to be introduced to you.
Whoever you collab with will be just as thankful for the interaction as you are. Just like in a traditional networking setting, you’ll learn about and be introduced to other creators (and consumers) who you may not have met otherwise. Teamwork makes the dream work!
Being a successful influencer is all about branding yourself and interacting with your audience. Be genuine, be attentive, and put the work in. Think about the influencers you follow. Does it feel like they’re forcing you to feel a certain way? Or does it feel like you’re interacting with a friend? You can’t force trust. It has to be earned. By following these steps, you can do just that.
Share your message, be yourself, and the trust will start to build.
You got this!