The way purchasing decisions are being made has changed since the age of social media and Influencer Marketing has skyrocketed since it first made its mark. The behavior of today's customers have shifted from sales presentations to collective recommendations from honest and credible people who have had an experience with the product.
"These qualities represent more of a trust in peers as compared with industry experts. And today, these are being transpired by influencers on social media."
Now with technology being easily accessible by every modern consumer, the landscape for sales and marketing is evolving.
Influencer marketing is important, however being an influencer in your own field is pure gold. Do not confuse being an influencer to being a celebrity. Influencers are not celebrities, they represent a group of ordinary people who have earned a loyal following because of either their expertise and/or transparency. While celebrities actively endorse products or services, influencers share valuable information with their followers.
The shorter strategy would be to advertise through influencers, however being your own social media influencer has great upside potential for you.
In this post, we will explore the necessary steps for you to become a social media influencer.
What are the steps you should take to become an influencer on social media in your industry?
Step 1: Find your niche
First, decide on a specific niche where you want to be known. This can be challenging as there are many topics that can be covered, but it is important to only focus on a specific niche. Normally, what sets different influencers apart is the tendency for an influencer to be known on a particular niche within the industry that they are truly passionate about.
To narrow down your topic of influence you can ask yourself what are the challenges your ideal reader faces and how you can help by sharing more on the topic to help solve and address this.
Step 2: Break the status quo
Commonly most people reason based on what happened in the past, what was successfully done, or what something no one else is doing. The evidence for this is everywhere. All you have to do is take notice of any particular industry, they are doing nearly the same thing, talking about the same topics, and even using similar formats when it comes to publishing and promoting their content.
Alternatively, you could break the status quo by following Elon Musk's thinking process instead. This forcefully makes you disregard the status quo, the main objective of doing this. As mentioned you want to set yourself apart from other celebrities and especially influencers in your niche.
Stand out with new and fresh information for your target audience.
Step 3: Choose your channel
Social media comes in different forms and delivery. For example, YouTube allows you to share video, Instagram is a great place to share photos, LinkedIn keeps you connected professionally, and more.
Although every channel has varying statistics on performance, (click-through-rates, reach, engagement, etc.) having the best statistically performing social channel may not be right for your target audience.
Your ideal audience may spend most of their time researching through blogs (learn how you can start online with web hosting here), learning about latest trends and events through Instagram, and following a walkthrough on YouTube. Knowing where your ideal audience is in the stages of their consumer behavior will help you position your valuable information.
Step 4: Develop your content strategy
As you know influencers may not be celebrities, and what sets them apart is their intent to share valuable information with their followers.
There are many effective suggestions on content strategy, however what we've found is giving a balance of informative and personal content is effective in developing a successful content strategy.
Here is a great read on how to become a great content creator.
Step 5: Distribute your content
Your content is only as good as how many people it has helped. If you are not getting people to see it and engage with it, it is not exactly useful.
It's just as critical to know how to distribute your content, as developing great content. Here's a great way to learn how you can make your social sharing explode.
Post snippets of your content on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc. and customise your message depending on the social media channel you are interacting with.
A great place to share this is through LinkedIn as you continue to be a thought leader.
Step 6: Be consistent
This doesn't just apply to when your followers leave a question or comment on your posts, take the time to acknowledge and respond to them.
A major factor on most platforms is consistency. Quality does matter but you need to ensure that you deliver quality on a consistent basis. If you don't online platforms will assume your low engagement is a sign of a lack of relevance.
What are you doing to be an influencer in your industry?
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