She Owns It

Celebrating, Connecting, and Supporting Women Entrepreneurs

Decoding the Concept of Influencer Activation by @shane_barker

by Leave a Comment

Decoding the Concept of Influencer Activation

Social media has become an indispensable part of our lives. People are spending more time than ever on their favorite social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and others.

With increased user activity on social channels, marketers are trying new ways to reach audiences on social media.

One of the easiest ways to do that is by using social media advertisements. However, people are no longer responsive to brands that blatantly promote their products without actually offering value.

So social ads alone aren’t enough to reach new prospects. That’s why influencer activation is becoming increasingly popular, with more brands using influencers to gain attention and trust.

What is Influencer Activation?

Influencer activation is a marketing initiative that leverages the power of social media influencers to endorse the products or services offered by a business.

Influencers are real people who have a loyal following of niche audiences. A recommendation from an influencer is a great way to build brand trust, engagement, and sales.

How to Start Doing Influencer Activation

Influencer activation helps you gain more exposure as a brand. Follow the below tips to start doing influencer activation:

  • Define and document the type of influencers that your business should hire and why.
  • Define your audience personas and select the right influencers who match the personas of your target audience. You can search for influencers on the world’s largest influencer marketing community, influence.co using your defined criteria.
  • Set clear terms and conditions in your agreement.
  • Your business values must match the ideals of the influencer.
  • Understand that every influencer is different. Avoid unrealistic goals.
  • Use proper tracking tools to measure the ROI from influencer activation campaigns.

Advantages of Influencer Activation

Influencer activation sets your brand in motion and helps to build authentic relationships with your prospects as well as existing customers. The advantages of influencer activation are:

1. Builds Authenticity, Trust, and Value

Influencer activation is one of the quickest ways to build brand awareness.

People trust the words of influencers more than ads. They take recommendations from influencers seriously. Influencers can also help to build positive sentiments about your brand and add more value to your business.

When you connect with influencers, you are actually connecting with their communities.

Advantages of Influencer Activation

Source

2. Generates Leads

With influencer activation, you reach niche audiences who are already looking for a service or product similar to yours. All you need is a positive recommendation from an influencer and people will start taking your brand more seriously. This will then result in an increase in the number of leads.

3. Increases Engagement

Brand publicity is not just about direct leads. You also need to improve overall engagement because engagement helps people to remember your brand. A business that stays in the minds of their customer sells more.

When influencers create and share content on your brand’s behalf, then people start to respond to it. Better engagement leads to more sharing and it expands the overall reach of your business.

4. Retains Your Customer Base

Always remember that your competitors are not sitting idle. They are always thinking of new and improved strategies to take your customers away. Working with relevant influencers helps ensure that you retain your existing customer base.

When people see that the person they follow is associated with your brand, they may feel less inclined to leave your for your competition.

5. Saves Money

Influencer activation is not as expensive as you might think. The best part of influencer marketing is that you can reach a niche audience at a fraction of the cost of regular social advertising.

Even smaller businesses or startups on a fixed budget can start working with micro-influencers. They normally charge less as compared to macro-influencers.

Advantages of Influencer Activation

Source

6. Fosters Innovation

Every influencer thinks differently. When you start working with one, you are actually fostering innovation. The influencer works with your content or sales team to produce innovative content and presents it before a niche audience.

Innovation is a great way to differentiate your business from your competitors and influencer activation does that for you.

7. Boosts SEO

Influencer marketing boosts your SEO efforts. Search engines take into account the popularity of a business while ranking sites. If your business is popular on social media,then it is an indirect signal to the search engines that your business is trusted by the people.

What’s Next?

Now that you understand the concept of influencer activation, start using the power of influencers in an innovative manner to reach your target audience.

Influencers not only attract customers but also help to convert them. They can help drive consumers further down your sales funnel.

They can also help you build long-lasting relationships with your customers. So, what are you waiting for? Get started and find influencers, collaborate with them, and reach your business goals now.

Influencer Marketing for Solopreneurs by @DONNAAMOS

by Leave a Comment

by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

Word of mouth marketing is still a powerful method for a single reason: it works. Consumers trust the word of other authentic consumers about what they have bought and used or services they have enjoyed. Influencer marketing is based on this fact. And because the average online user suffers through approximately 3,000 brand messages each day, people don’t trust brands. They know brands are out to sell them something.

Influencers are not just celebrities, whom people are trusting less and less. They can be anyone who has earned a certain authority in some area. They are open to trying new things relating to their area of expertise, they share an honest appraisal, and they are motivated to serve the public. Because of this, they have earned the right to be heard and believed.

Why Influencer Marketing?

I remember my father driving into town and doing business on a handshake with people he knew. Because they had an established relationship, he knew he could trust them. He also told me of the businesses in town that could not be trusted, and why. I grew up learning an important lesson: only do business with people you can trust.

Trust is still an important factor in marketing and sales, even more now in the realm of digital marketing. I cannot see and shake hands with the person I’m doing business with; I have to take the word of what is printed on his or her website. So, I really don’t know who I’m doing business with; I and most people don’t like that.

But grasp this important statistic: 70% of millennial consumers are influenced to purchase by recommendations of their peers. Enter Influencer Marketing. An influencer is a person who has worked to gain the trust of a large audience. They are viewed by their followers as a trusted peer, and they have tremendous persuasive power. Their word can be trusted.

Is influencer marketing really a thing? Can this method of marketing really work? Absolutely. Imforza reports that “86% of the most-watched videos on YouTube about beauty were made by influencers, compared to a mere 14% from brands.” This is just in a single industry. Where brands focus on promoting why you need their stuff, even if you don’t, a trusted influencer will allegedly tell you the truth about a product or service and leave the decision-making up to you.

The Best Influencers for Solopreneurs

Now as a solopreneur, it is not likely that you can convince a celebrity influencer or popular author to review and recommend your business; nor could you probably afford their fees. Solopreneurs can still benefit from influencer marketing. But we must choose a level of influencer that will reach our target audience and fit our marketing budget.

For example, you may benefit from a local influencer if your business is primarily targeting a local audience. This could even be a popular TV personality, radio personality, or some such person whom the public trusts. Sometimes, the influencer may have a local TV or radio program of their own where your business could be featured if you meet their standards and criteria.

Some authority figures are on a level where they could reach your target audience, but not be so influential as to demand a national audience and a corresponding astronomical fee. Some authors fit this bill, as would hometown sports heroes or favorite sons. These will also usually have a strong social media following, which is an added benefit if your audience is not limited to a certain locale.

Micro-influencers have a social media following around 10,000, which is large enough to have influence, but small enough to be within a solopreneur’s reach. You can do some research on Instagram and/or YouTube for influencers in your particular niche and quickly locate some on this level.

How to Select and Engage the Right Influencer for Your Solopreneur Business

As you research micro-influencers or local influencers, try to determine if they have supported solopreneurs in the past. Some may have a proclivity for solopreneur businesses and this can help you make a connection. Also, some may be against solopreneurs, and so knowing this and steering clear of them will save you time.

Ask yourself some questions when choosing the right influencer to approach:

  • Are their followers the right audience for my business?
  • Is there high engagement between the influencer and their followers?
  • Does the influencer have enough followers to be worth my efforts (minimum 5,000 and maximum 10,000)?
  • What are some other businesses they have endorsed? Do I approve or disapprove?
  • Do I find them honorable, trustworthy, and yet informative and entertaining?
  • Can I trust them to give an honest appraisal and represent my business well?

Here are some suggested actions to engage with influencers:

  1. Start by interacting on social media so they can get to know about you. If they are not responsive to comments on their posts, find another influencer who engages better with his or her audience.
  2. Be genuine with your engagement. Follow them on social media channels, like their posts, and offer intelligent comments. Share their posts, videos, and other content. Look for common ground in their content that you can talk about in your responses.
  3. Give before you take. Share a popular piece of their content on your own media channels or in an article. Drop them a personal email to let them know and express appreciation for the information in their material. Share genuine appreciation for their work and influence. Good influencers that you want to work with will have worked hard to earn their reputation, and they will appreciate you recognizing that fact.
  4. After establishing a relationship of mutual respect in this manner, formally approach them and ask about their influencer relationships and how you might apply. Be sure to express respect for their opinion and efforts.

Solopreneurs can profit from a relationship with the right influencer, or influencers. Just be sure to take the appropriate amount of time establishing a relationship of mutual respect before making an offer or request. A minimum of six months of researching and cultivating an influencer should give you an idea if the time is right.

Are you a solopreneur who already benefits from influencer marketing? How did you get started? How did you choose the right influencer for your business? Share your counsel and suggestions in the comments below!

 

The millennial riddle: how to successfully market to Gen Ys by @tangsdesignjewellery

by Leave a Comment

by Jemima Ashleigh

Ahhhhh Millennials…riddles wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in an enigma. Or at least that how it feels trying to market to them. Their loyalty is mercurial, their tastes appear fickle and the minute they feel they’re being marketed to they shut up shop quicker than a startled echidna.

But there is a way into their wily hearts and it really is at your fingertips.
I have two words for you. Social. Media. If your social is not on fleek then you need to get busy.

According to Kantar TNS Research, the average Millennial (aged 16-30) with internet access, spends 3.1 hours a day on their mobile devices – the equivalent of 21.7 hours – almost a whole day – every week. That’s 47 days over the course of a year. 47 days!

And these folks are listening to someone – you need to jump on board and wring the hell out of that opportunity.

The importance of influence

Using relevant key influencers, especially when it comes to Instagram, is waaaaay up there in terms of importance. People scouring, following and interacting on Insta are going to be swayed by what their fave people are doing, saying, and buying. Do not be scared to approach your chosen Influencer with the idea of getting them to help you out with spreading the word.

But don’t just jump blindly into thinking someone with 1.5 million followers is definitely your best bet – check out their engagement stats before you send off anything. Someone with a lower number of followers, say only 5000 but an engagement rate of 30% is a much better bet than your 1.5 million follower Influencer who can only dredge up 0.2% engagement. Hate to point this out but your mother was right – always look for quality over quantity. Don’t you just detest it when that happens?

Your more Micro Influencers are also less likely to want cold, hard cash for their blessings, but it doesn’t hurt to offer a little somethin’, somethin’. Always, and I mean always, offer your product or service for free to them and make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to expectations of how many posts, links in their bio to your site and so on..

Choose your weapon

Now here’s a thing…guess what social platform Millennials jump onto first thing when they wake up?

Insta? Nah.
Facebook? Nope.
Snapchat? Bingo!

If you want to reach your M peeps – than you gotta get snappy about it! Millennials account for 7 out of 10 Snapchatters. If you can afford to walk away from a platform 70% of your target market is sitting on…. well you’re a bigger (wo)man than me.

So I hear you have a beauuuuttifuulllll website? Hate to break this to you – well no I actually I don’t, it’s my job – but unless you are spruiking a link to your website through social media then Millennials ain’t going to visit. They get their online cues from social platforms and don’t just do random searches. That was so yesterday. They buy through Insta and Facebook and they are heavily influenced through Snapchat. Having a website without social media drivers to it is the same giving a bicycle to a fish. You get my drift.

Final word
You need to incorporate your brand seamlessly into the social world these Millennials inhabit. Straight up advertising doesn’t work with them, you’ll be ignored and at worse slammed by them. Just ask Kendall Jenner.

 

SOURCES:
http://www.tnsglobal.com/us/press-release/tns-millenials_study_111915
https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Want-Reach-Millennials-Say-Hello-Snapchat/1011871

 

———————————————————————

Jemimah is the Creative Director of Tangs Design and one half of The Business Experiment podcast. Jemimah is passionate about breaking through myths and misconceptions of entrepreneur-hood and thrives on helping other females in business succeed.

Jemimah has extensive studies in the fields of security, intelligence and speaks several languages. She is an astute, engaging entrepreneur with a one-of-a-kind skillset, including a finely honed understanding of emotion and behaviour that she puts to good use in her business career.

Jemimah works as a mentor, comedy writer, a speaker and a social media guru. She is also blogger and a regular contributor to multiple media outlets. Jemimah brings an original, quirky sense of humour and a fun loving attitude to everything she does. She is passionate about helping people to express their individuality and creativity.

Save

Save

Save

Save