Ghanaian social media Influencer, Sneaker Nyame, Who is widely know on Twitter talks social media influencing as he write;
SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCING
“Over the past few years, one of the words that has flooded the media and especially social media space is the term “Influencer”. This term, though common, is just being thrown around without a proper context. Making many people wonder who an influencer is. “
Is an influencer a celebrity, but just on social media? Is an influencer someone who has many followers on social media? Is an influencer someone who is popular on the various social media platforms? How many followers does one need to have to become an influencer?
There seem to be lots of questions surrounding this new found term and it is just about time we set the definition straight to promote the use of this term, in its rightful context.
An influencer, as defined by the Oxford dictionary is a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media.
Social media influencers usually have large followers on their accounts and are able to leverage on this influence to get people to buy into an idea, a product or service.
A social media influencer may have developed some level of credibility in their space. This enables them to easily convince their followers to buy into a concept or idea.
In recent times, most businesses and companies are allocating a percentage of their marketing budget to social media influencers. In choosing a social media influencer to work with, companies usually have certain key indicators they look out for ;
1. Number of followers: The number of people following a particular account says a lot about the person behind that account. There has to be something that person is doing right to gain such a huge number of followers.
2. Engagements on post: In as much as having a huge followership is necessary, the number of people engaging on your post and the comments under the post say a lot about the personality of the account holder. It has been discovered that most people either buy followers or are followed by bots. This means that, even though the person might have a huge following, only a handful are actual human beings and potential customers. And this is not good for business. You need to ensure you have a healthy and impressive engagement rate whilst building organic followership.
3. Nature of posts: Most brands do not want to be associated with persons who have a bad reputation on social media. Before contracting an “Influencer” to promote their brand, businesses usually go through the page of the influencer. Looking out for posts that might contradict the brand’s values whilst also ensuring there are no posts promoting hate or other human right infringements.
It must however be explicitly stated that having lots of people following your account doesn’t automatically make you an influencer. Unless you are able to influence people to buy into an idea or product, you cannot fully take on the title of an influencer. Also, it must be noted that influencers usually play a huge part in customer decisions. Their reviews on a product or service goes a long way in shaping the customer’s view on a product.
Many brands and businesses are buying into the marketing idea of using social media influencers. By far, companies who have used influencers to push their brand have had great feedback. However, one major problem they face is identifying influencers whose followers are real instead of bots. A few brands have recorded bad experiences with influencers whose followers are inorganic. They are unable to get returns on their investment and their brands have not been promoted in any way to a large audience. Despite all these, Social media influencing is the current and next big thing in marketing. Brands and companies should begin incorporating it into their marketing budget and make allocations as deemed fit.”