Social media has been a powerful marketing tool for businesses of all sizes for over a decade. The use of social media influencers, individuals with large followings on social media, has become a popular way for brands to increase their reputation and awareness. In 2023, the use of social media influencers is expected to continue to grow, as the market for influencer marketing is believed to have grown to $16.4 billion in 2022, according to Influencer Marketing Hub.
There are a lot of things that you need to focus on when you are trying to increase your reputation and awareness as a company through the use of social media. In this article, we will explore how businesses can effectively use social media influencers to increase brand reputation and awareness in 2023.
Identify the Right Influencer
The first step in using social media influencers is to identify the right person to represent your brand. Looking for influencers who align with your brand values is incredibly important, and something you need to work toward as much as possible. A study found that 63% of consumers trust influencers more than what brands say about themselves. This makes it crucial to find influencers who have an authentic connection with their followers and can effectively communicate your brand’s message.
One way to identify potential influencers is to use social media listening tools, which allow you to monitor conversations and mentions of your brand or industry. This can help you identify influencers who are already talking about your brand or products, making it easier to approach them and get the ball rolling.
Develop a Partnership
Once you have identified potential influencers, the next step is to develop a partnership. Work with the influencer to create a plan that aligns with your brand goals and fits with their audience. Teaming up with your chosen influencer, and developing a content plan is hugely important, and there are loads of excellent ways of being able to achieve this moving forward.
Influencer partnerships can be highly effective in increasing brand awareness and reputation, and this is one of the best ways of being able to utilise YouTube marketing and social media stories as much as possible. This is a great way of being able to enhance your reputation and ensure that you appeal to a wider audience of potential customers in the process as well.
Create Authentic Content
One of the key components involved in increasing brand awareness as a company hinges on the creation of authentic content. This is something that plays a massive part in helping to improve your company’s reputation and gives you plenty of opportunity for success. It becomes clear to people when an influencer is not being genuine or authentic about a company and this can be harmful to both themselves and your business reputation.
To create authentic content, give the influencer creative control over the partnership. Allow them to create content that fits with their voice and aligns with your brand goals. This can help to build trust with their followers and increase brand reputation.
Make the Most of Video Content
Video content has become increasingly popular on social media, with a 2023 study from Wyzowl showing that 91% of consumers want to see more online video content from brands. Video is one of the most effective and influential forms of online content marketing that you can use, and this is something that plays a massive part in making the most of this moving forward.
Influencers can create video content that showcases your brand or product, which can be shared on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. Video content is more likely to be shared and can help to increase brand awareness.
Influencer collaborations
Collaborating with social media influencers is one of the most effective ways businesses can increase their brand reputation and awareness. According to a recent survey, 89% of marketers believe that influencer marketing can positively impact how people feel about a brand, which is hugely important for your brand to be making the most of.
Working with an influencer can help businesses increase their reach and exposure to new audiences that they might not have been able to reach otherwise. This strategy is especially effective when the influencer is an expert in the business’s niche or industry.
Sponsored content
Sponsored content involves paying an influencer to promote a business’s product or service on their social media platforms. This is typically done via sites like Twitter, TikTok or Instagram, as well as through YouTube marketing. Sponsored content can be highly effective, and needs to play a key role in any business marketing you might have to deal with.
This strategy can help businesses increase their brand reputation and awareness by reaching new audiences and increasing engagement with existing ones. Sponsored content can come in various forms, including posts, stories, and videos, depending on the influencer’s platform.
Influencer affiliate marketing
Influencer affiliate marketing involves paying influencers a commission for every sale made through their unique affiliate link. Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular and important facets of business marketing that exists, and is certainly something you need to get right as much as possible.
This strategy is effective in increasing brand reputation and awareness because it incentivizes influencers to promote a business’s products or services to their followers. Additionally, it provides businesses with a cost-effective way to increase their sales and reach new audiences.
Micro-influencer marketing
Micro-influencers are another essential part of the influencer marketing pool, and working with them can have a massive impact on your business moving forward. Micro-influencers are typically influencers who have smaller followings, usually between 1,000 and 100,000. According to Forbes, micro-influencers are expected to make a big impact over the coming years, as more and more businesses start to use them.
This strategy is effective in increasing brand reputation and awareness because it allows businesses to reach highly engaged audiences who are more likely to trust the influencer’s recommendations, and you have a higher likelihood of securing more sales and repeat business as a result.
Assess Results
Finally, it is important to measure the results of your influencer partnerships. Use social media analytics tools to track engagement, reach, and the activity of your potential customers. This can help you to refine your strategy and improve future partnerships. 40% of Millennials feel that influencers know them better than their friends do, and this is something you can use to your advantage.
It is also important to take steps to gather feedback from the influencer and their audience, and this can be very eye-opening. This can help you to understand the impact of the partnership and the areas of the business that it improved, meaning you can plan and develop collaborative marketing success over the coming years.
Closing Thoughts
There is no question that the use of social media influencers can be a game-changer for your business. They have a reach, scope, and reputation that is going to help you get your business where it wants to be, and this is something you need to make the most of. It is important to make sure you choose influencers who have a target audience you want to market to, as well as who have values that align with your own.
As the world of business continues to evolve and grow, and technology plays a part in allowing you to be more successful, there are a lot of things that you can do that will help you to achieve this. Teaming up with experts like Creative Marketing Ltd is a great way of getting the ball rolling with this, as we can help you to understand your influencer marketing needs and use them to your advantage.
By embracing influencer marketing you can improve brand loyalty and increase the ways in which you are able to improve and enhance your brand as much as possible moving forward.
