Social Media Influencers

Social Media Influencers are people who has the credibility to attract large amount of audience in a specific field. Their word of mouth has the potential to influence buyers and can persuade the audience by their recommendations to buy a particular product.

Definition

The word social media has reached unbelievable heights.  The basic reason behind this is consumer awareness. Consumer now are no longer go by celebrity endorsements. They do their own research work and seek product and service recommendations before selecting a product. And those qualities today come via the medium of social media.  Hence Social Media Influencer is a user on social media who has established credibility in a specific industry. A social media influencer has access to a large audience and can persuade others by virtue of their authenticity and reach.

Who is an influencer??

They are people like you and me who have come into picture because of their expertise and transparency. Celebrities are mostly found endorsing the products on social media, television etc, but the influencers achieve their fame due to the qualitative knowledge and information they share on the social media which gives them an increase in the number of followers

Who Are Influencers in Social Media?

Around 40% of the world’s population are now using social media. They do look up for influencers in social media to help them making decision

Influencers are people in social media channels who have built a reputation for their knowledge and expertise on various topics. They via medium of social media engage large number of followers/. They have the skill and ability to keep their viewers engaged by their writing.

Types of Social Media Influencers

Majority of influencers fall in the below categories:

1. Celebrities
2. Industry experts and thought leaders
3. Bloggers and content creators
4. Micro Influencers

Celebrities

Celebrities as marketing influencers are the very basis of this category. Business houses have used celebrities to endorse their products since many years. However this option has turned out to be quite expensive as the Company has to pay huge amounts to endorse their products via celebrities. Celebrities may have many fans and gigantic social media followings. However, it is debatable exactly how much real influence they hold over those who follow them

 Industry Experts and Thought Leaders

These experts mainly includes, Journalists, Academics, Industry experts and professional advisors. This has dual aspect. A popular journalist may be good in his writing and is associated with a well-known newspaper Company will definitely be a good influencer. If a Company gains attention of a journalist in a national newspaper who in turn also talks about your products will definitely help to gain more eyes, hence other influencers in this category have their share in influencing people customers in their respective fields

Bloggers and Content Creators

Blogging is a very popular medium of sharing information in social media. There are bloggers who posts their views and writing on various topics as health & fitness, children upbringing, travelling etc. They also have lots of followers and regular readers. If a popular blogger recommends your product which related to his blog will definitely help you to increase business. There are also guest posting option available on a big blogger. There is also an option to post videos in the blogs which also quite useful

Micro Influencers

Micro influencers are people having followers from 1000 to 10,00,000 followers and are considered experts in their fields. They can be food bloggers, fitness experts. They may be having lesser number of followers then other influencers but the efficiency is better than others. This is because unlike other influencers they are able to connect better to the audiences.

Why to use Influencer :

Many people know that social media influencers are  a popular medium to increase sales but they do not know the exact benefits of and why should they engage them. Here are some important benefits listed:

• Build brand image : Influencers work as a bridge between a brand and its market awareness. They help to build brand image. They help to create leads and boost up sales by engaging people on the social media .
• Trusted voice: Influencers are trusted by the customers because of their reputation in the market. Hence one can easily endorse their products via their medium
• Power to influence purchase: Around 80% of the consumers are driven by reading about a blog. Thus they do influence purchase
• Value for money: Engaging an influencer is cheaper medium of marketing rather then for eg engaging celebrities. Personal connect with the consumers helps to build the trust.
• Driving traffic: Driving traffic to the website plays a very important role in driving the consumers towards the sales funnel. They lead to more leads and in turn more business.  
• Improve SEO: When people are fond of some influencers they search for the same on the search engine. Thus increasing the chances for driving the traffic to your website as well
• Audience connect : They build better audience connect due to personalised approach. They are able to reach to the people who spend maximum time on social media platforms.

Hence one needs to do thorough research before engaging the type of influencer and his niche. One needs to identify his proficiency in the field of marketing and then try to utilize him to the fullest .