The power of social media marketing is undeniable in this day and age.
Influencers and brands alike can benefit massively from collaborating and promoting each other, so it’s no surprise virtually everyone is jumping on this bandwagon.
Naturally the market becomes very saturated and competitive, and any influencer looking to be successful needs to stand out.
Media intelligence provider Meltwater “listens” to users and customers to collect data and determine trend.
Using this information and their expertise, they have published an eBook on Social Media Marketing. (Also, be sure to read our article on influencer-brand collaborations here.)
We’ve condensed their knowledge into five main tips all influencers and content creators need to follow to be successful.
Understand your audience and trends
The first, crucial step is to learn everything possible about your audience and the current trends.
You want to know you they are, what their interests and values are, their buying patterns, and communication habits.
You also want to monitor past trends, audience responses/reactions, topics that are the most popular, topics that get the highest engagement, caveats that may not have been explored yet, and more.
Now there are a plethora of media listening companies and services available to get insight into audiences and trends.
Be sure you’re always well-versed with your analytics before devising a strategy for your personal brand.
Pick and prioritise social channels
The old mantra of “quality over quantity” resounds here.
It’s inefficient to spread yourself over almost every social platform just for the sake of ticking all the boxes.
Pick a few key social channels to dedicate yourself to and then you can apply your full efforts to them consistently.
When choosing your top platforms, look at your demographic; if you appeal to an older audience, using Snapchat may not be the most suitable option.
Also consider your content; is it largely visuals-based? Instagram might be a good shout. Video content? YouTube is your go-to.
This way you can specialise in select platforms, garnering higher engagement rates and boost your profile.
See our steps on how to become a pro at using YouTube SEO tools for more details.
Create an editorial calendar
After you’ve determined your main 3-5 topics of interest based on your research, set about scheduling how you plan, create, review and publish your content.
Spread your content over a variety of media; dedicate some time to longer pieces of information, pad out with smaller post like photographs, or maybe post a video every now and then.
After you have created your content, set a pre-determined time to publish similar content so everything you post is streamlined.
Integrate a review option if necessary; this is most suitable when working with brands, or if you need stakeholders to approve content before it goes live.
Engage effectively and reliably
Regularly creating and uploading good content isn’t enough to make it big in this highly ambitious environment.
You need to demonstrate consistent engagement with your audience.
This means not only getting likes, comments and shares, but also replying to comments and direct messages where possible.
If you get frequently asked questions, maybe consider having standard answers pre-planned to save you some brain power.
This takes time but you will build up an invaluable trust with your audience, and a reliable reputation that will have the propensity to attract brands.
Make sure you always engage with integrity; check out our article on how content creators can deal with the more unsavoury audience interactions…
Become a great social media manager
Brands are looking for ambassadors that have an innate grasp on their values, and know how to integrate these seamlessly into campaigns and trending topics.
Cultivate these three skills and you will become an ideal candidate for brand collaborations.
Sharp critical skills
Almost anyone can craft a single media post.
What helps influencers stand out is the ability to establish a longer-term scheme that incorporates their own taste, what their audience wants, brand endorsement and sometimes trending topics.
It seems overwhelming but we break down how to tell a continuous story on you social media in this article.
Outgoing
This is the crux of success in online marketing; developing genuine relationships with customers.
As an influencer you have to truly love interacting with your audience because you need to do it every day.
Being extroverted is also useful in terms of leveraging connections, as networking will be a lot easier if you are friendly and likeable.
Brand Understanding
After you’ve established your own image, the next step is identifying with a brand.
If you can prove to them you have a deep awareness of their core values and goals, they will instinctively trust you to represent them.
They will have confidence in you to make decisive marketing moves that capture their essence well.
To download the full Meltware eBook, click here.
What did you think of our tips? Let us know in the comments below.