With the expansion of social media popularity, new trends have emerged, and one that stands out is the increased number of influencers.
Who is considered an influencer?
An Influencer is a person who has the ability to significantly impact the purchase decision of consumers. These influencers are usually aware of the psychological impact on successful sales and based on that they strategically use social media as a targeted tool to make their effect on people tangible. Influencers do not sell; however, they strongly impact the purchase decision of the payer. Here are 4 strategic ways influencers use to increase visibility.
- Strategic Online Content: In order to build credibility influencers need to build reliable content, and because they are seeking after “the consumer” their content has to be strategic. Random content does not bring results, so the first thing they do is research their market in order to find out consumer needs. Once that is clarified, influencers start writing content that will either create awareness or provide information about that new product or service they aim to impact others with.
- Use Social Media: Influencers use different types of social media to send their message out. They use content in text, images, videos, audio…. with compatibility on different devices. So we see them writing blogs, continuously coming up with V-log ideas, creating adage, publishing podcasts… all with a purpose to build an audience and engage with them on a daily basis.
- Collect followers: Once the content is created and published on different platforms, influencers have to be creative in finding ways to create engagement. Engagement is key, and engaging with other influencers will give credibility to the published content. This engagement also acts as a tool to increase their following and subscriptions as the engagers start following the content they have engaged in.
- Collect Reviews: Finally, a very important aspect of engaging with the audience is helping them realize the importance of reading and writing reviews. Collecting reviews to an influencer is key because it casts credibility to their content; which in turn encourages consumers to read their content.
Grace Kusta Nasralla, Founder of Ontario Small Business Network (OSBN®) and owner of HUDDLESPACE™.