We live in a world where everything seems to revolve around social media. We no longer rely on the mainstream media for our news; we can go directly to the horse’s mouth to get all the stories or celebrity gossip. So how can a new enterprise harness the power of these platforms and minimize costs spent on media campaigns?
A start-up can set up a business page on Facebook and join local and national groups to promote it. In addition, there are opportunities for business profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Facebook and Twitter also have relatively low-cost ad packages to get your products in front of your target market. In these ways, you can build up your social media profile and attract customers to try and buy your brand.
The above ideas are all about you selling your idea or product directly to your audience. However, there is another way where you try and get someone else to do the donkey work for you. For example, suppose you can collaborate with an influencer with a large social media following. In that case, you can piggyback on their success and give your business a kick-start.
Influencers come in all shapes and sizes. The mega influencers have millions of followers. Jake Paul, who has 70 million followers on social media, has recently announced a partnership deal with sports betting entrepreneur Joey Levy. They have created Betr, which is a micro sports betting platform focusing on placing bets on individual moments in sports rather than the final result. Paul rose to fame by posting funny sketches on the video-sharing app Vine. Levy will be hoping that Paul’s influence will help propel Betr to be regarded as one of the top online betting sites in the USA.
Not all influencers start on social media. Huda Kattan is the top beauty influencer on Instagram, with 50.1 million followers. She is a professional celebrity makeup artist who worked as a stylist for Revlon. After college, she set up a beauty blog which developed into an Instagram account and then a makeup line. Huda Beauty now sells more than 140 products, from pallets to lipsticks, turning over around $200 million per annum. Huda claims to have never spent any money on advertising.
Barbara Palvin has 17.4 million followers and is a model and actress. Unlike many influencers, she does not have her own label. Instead, she works with big-name brands Victoria’s Secret and Amazon Fashion.
While you may be unable to attract such mega names to your start-up, you can find the right influencer for your business. Betr has partnered with an already successful influencer to build a collaboration that brings a ready-made audience to their proposition. On the other hand, Kattan has used her influence to create her own brand off the back of her expertise. Likewise, Palvin lends her influence to the products she promotes.
You might want to start small and create an unpaid campaign with a micro-influencer. They will have a smaller audience and are more likely to be a regular person. Reach out to them directly and let them know how you would like to work with them and involve them in your brand. You must be clear about what you will get from the partnership. This might be mutual cross-promotion on social media pages or features on your website. If you have a product or service that can benefit them, you can look at offering this as an alternative to payment.
If an influencer does a monthly product post for you to their followers, it will help to spread the word about your brand. In addition, you might want to look at a sales structure that offers a revenue kickback to them for any sales their influence generates. A simple coupon code can do this at the check-out.
The golden guide to influence marketing is to find collaborations that have a natural match and do not look forced.
