How Can You Identify Influencers in Social Media?
- Digital Marketing
Thirupathi- 11 minutes read
Social Media marketing runs by influencers nowadays. In case you are planning to enhance your social media marketing or make it more engaging, you can go for influencer marketing. And in order to do so, you need to identify influencers who are related to your niche. Here is a full guide on identifying influencers in social media.
Table of Contents
What Is an Influencer?
The term ‘influencer’ itself tells a little much about who is an influencer. The person who can influence some people is an influencer. But it is a bit different for social media. In social media, an influencer is that person who has a list of people following him or her. Those people on their followers listen and believe what the influencers have to say. Influencers have the power to shape those people’s thinking. Based on the influencer’s usage, review, and beliefs, their loyal followers also change their interests and opinions.
Who can be an influencer?
An influencer can be any of the following
- Celebrity
- Blogger
- Social Media Personality
- Thought leader
- Lifestyle brand
- Industry expert
- Most famous entrepreneurs
How To Identify Influencers In Social Media
Here is a step-by-step guide to identify influencers in social media.
#1 Identify your goals before starting
Finding an influencer does not mean you need to only focus on identifying an influencer. It is about identifying the right influencer for your industry. In order to find the right one, you need to know what you want and whatnot. The right influencer will help you to reach your targeted audiences.
So, first set your marketing objectives.
- Building brand identity
- Brand awareness
- Engagement
- Audience building
- Lead generation
- Link building
- Customer loyalty
- Sales
Once you set or identify your initial goal, the task of finding influencers, building a relationship, and determining whether they will be able to help you achieve your goals or not.
#2 Identify the types of influencer you want
Knowing the type of influencer that you want for your influencer campaign is a crucial one. Here is a list of different types of influencer campaigns
- Guest posting: an influencer who will allow you to write on his or her blog.
- Gifting: offering gifts to influencers and, in return, asking them to make a post or mention your brand.
- Giveaways and contests: declare contests as an incentive to get influencers to share your content or mention your brand.
- Sponsored content: paying an influencer for sharing your content or creating content related to your industry.
- Discount codes: let influencers offer discount codes for your offering to their followers and fans.
- Affiliates: give affiliate codes to influencers to earn money every time someone makes a purchase of your brand through their funnel
- Influencer takeover: allow an influencer to take over your social media account for a certain period
- Brand Ambassador: we all know a little bit about it. It is partnering with an influencer who will regularly promote your brand in exchange for discounts and other perks from your brand.
#3 Search your industry related influencers
Start with well-known or famous figures of your industry to find influencers of your niche. Industry influencers can help you in spreading your message and enhance your brand awareness in your targeted market. In order to do so, you can set a Google alert for some specific industry-related terms. This way, you will be able to check who is writing content about vital topics from your industry. You also can check forums to find who is actively answering your industry-related questions.
#4 Search influencers who promote your competitors
Influencers who are already working with brands similar to yours are more likely to collaborate with you. It is also easy to find those influencers that share posts and content related to your niche. Search with industry-related hashtags on social media, and you will get the posts related to your industry, from there; you can find influencers of your niche. Always remember, influencers who have not mentioned any brand of your niche will be less likely to mention your brand than those influencers who have already mentioned similar brands.
#5 Identify influencers with your audience
It is not necessary to find an influencer that is directly tied with your industry. An influencer who has the same audience you are targeting will also give you the same output as your industry influencer. This way, you will get access to those audiences that your competitors do not have. This way, you can reach more audiences. A target audience analysis is necessary here. Know your ideal audience, their interests, needs, and also other sites they visit. This will help you to identify non-industry-related influencers who are followed by your audiences.
#6 research about the authority of the influencer
Influencer analysis is a vital part here. Before finalizing your influencer, it is crucial to check whether that person will give you the result you are hoping for. Does he or she have enough audience or not. Analyze the authority of the influencer.
Here are the factors that you can consider while checking an influencer’s authority
- Engagement rate of followers
- The number of followers they have
- The quality of the content
- The depth of niche coverage
#7 Use some tools
Many tools are available in the market that can help you find influencers in your industry. You can directly get the information about their social media handles as well. This will save you time and also work efficiently. All you need to do is provide the necessary information.
Final tip
Implement the things that we have mentioned earlier while you are finding influencers for your brand. During this process, you also get to know or discover your way of doing this task more efficiently. Social media influencers drive influencer marketing campaigns. So, be very particular while making your final selection. You also can use the tools. For more details, visit Wix Review.