Building a loyal following on social media is one of the hardest struggles a brand can face. There’s so much competition and standing out is hard. However, social media is the perfect place to increase brand visibility, attract new leads, and cement your business as one of the best in the industry.

It’s hard to ignore the benefits that a big social following can bring – more leads, more sales, and loyal fans who shout about your products from the rooftops.

This is where influencers come into play.

Influencers in your industry who already have an established following who trust them. When you team up with influencers on your social channels, that trust is automatically transferred to your brand, making it easier to grow your following and attract new leads.

Here are a few key ways you can incorporate influencers into your social media marketing strategy.

 

Build relationships

First things first, you have to connect with influencers and plant your brand firmly on their radar. This involves identifying who the best-fit influencers are for your brand. As well as checking top hashtags in your industry, run a Google search for “top influencers in [X NICHE]” or use a tool that identifies accounts within your niche.

 

 

Then, instead of going straight in asking influencers who barely know you to share your product, work on building a relationship with them. Share their posts, comment on their updates, and start a conversation with them wherever you can.

They will start to notice you and be more open to collaborating further down the line.

 

Bring on influencers for Q&As

Podcasts regularly bring on big-name guests to share their stories, and this can easily be transferred to other social channels.

Connect with influencers in your niche and invite them to take part in a Q&A on your social channels.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a Q&A, though. You can have a live interview with them or invite them to be on a panel for your latest Instagram Stories or IGTV . When influencers are a part of something, they’re much more likely to share it across their social channels, exposing you to their audience and increasing your visibility.

 

Run takeovers

Takeovers are a popular way for brands to partner up with influencers. They involve handing over your social accounts for the day or week and allowing your chosen influencer to share their content with your audience.

On Instagram, this might mean an influencer taking over your Stories for the week to share content about their latest trip, or it might mean handing over your feed to several different influencers to celebrate the launch of your latest product line.

You don’t have to hand over your password details here – don’t worry! Instead, ask the influencers to share the content with you privately so you can upload it yourself. The best part is they are highly likely to share the takeover with their loyal fans, which means you’ll supercharge your following during the takeover.

 

Showcase Your Products

Instead of inviting influencers to post on  your feed, why not encourage them to share your products or services in their feeds? This is where their followers are hanging out and where they have the most clout.

Start by building relationships and then reach out to your favourite influencers asking them to share a photo or video of your product. You can offer the product as a freebie or provide payment in exchange for the exposure.

 

Turn influencers into ambassadors

Ambassadors are long-term promoters of your brand who regularly share your products and services with their followers.

The key here is to cherry pick a couple of potential ambassadors and work hard to build deep relationships with them. It might mean working with them as influencers on a number of campaigns first and then inviting them to become an ambassador.

It’s important to have a contract in place with ambassadors – how often will they post about your products? What will they say about them? How will you make sure social views turn into leads and sales?

Ambassadors can be a great addition to your social media marketing strategy by expanding your reach and transferring trust from their established accounts to yours.

Work with micro-influencers

When we talk about influencer marketing, lots of people automatically think of big-name celebrities, but this doesn’t have to be the case. After all, reaching out to household names to promote a new brand will often be a wasted effort, not to mention incredibly expensive.

 

Instead, identify smaller influencers in your industry. These are known as micro-influencers and tend to have between 1,000 and 10,000 followers. Often, they have laser-focused audiences and high engagement levels, which brings with it an increased sense of trust and an incredibly loyal following.

 

Working with micro-influencers can reap a high ROI as the cost is worth the levels of engagement these accounts tend to have.

 

Get started with influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a great way to grow your social media following by working  with well-known names in your industry. These accounts have established followings and, by tapping into them, you can transfer the trust to your brand almost instantly.

Just make sure you choose the right influencers for your brand and work hard to build solid relationships before reaching out to ask about collaboration opportunities.

If you’d like to start working with influencers as part of your social media strategy, why not check out our free trial where you’ll be able to work with up to five influencers for free!