5 Things to look for in an Online Influencer.

When it comes to building your business and increasing sales, online content and social conversations account for more than you think.

As business owners we create content in the hope that it will engage with our target audience, but our modern customers are very dubious on anything that hints it may be an ad. People do not like being sold too and as Marketers it is time we find out what really influences our customers to buy.

In our blog post ‘What is Social Selling’ we explained the impact of customer reviews and testimonials and how positive recommendations prove that many other customers are enjoying your products or services. This tactic can outweigh any content that you create.

This is why Social Media Marketing now relies on recommendations from bloggers.

Bloggers have a loyal following and are extremely social-savvy when it comes to promoting a brand. They often specialise within a certain area and have specific followers. This is known as ‘Influencer Marketing’ and a strategy that your business needs to get involved with for successful brand promotion.

It is not difficult to come across bloggers, but the best thing to do is find the RIGHT blogger for your business.

So, what should you look for in an online influencer?

1.Bloggers Content

Read through the articles featured on the bloggers website to get an understanding on the type of blogger they are, their style of writing and how aligned the content is to your business. The chances are if the influencer produced high quality content, then the feature about your brand will be of the same calibre. You do not want to jeopardise your brand image with poorly written content.

2.Engagement

Does the blogger have a fan base who respond to published articles and leave comments? This is far more important than judging the blogger on how many followers they have. You want to see the content they do produce is responsive. This means that when they publish your article, you will have people engage with it and want to know more.

3.Reach

Before working with a blogger, ask them for their website statistics. Find out how many average monthly visitors they get and through what source of media. If their most successful channel is Instagram, but you have a product that is not visual and you want to direct the customer to your website, then you need to reconsider your blogger for one that has more success on a social media channel that can include hyperlinks.

4.Frequency

Look at how often the blogger is updating new content. If it is not very frequent then the chances are that blogger has a high turnover of viewers and this is NOT what you want. You want a blogger who posts regularly and has regular, loyal visitors coming back.

5.Authenticity

Like any business, bloggers need to be authentic and trustworthy. One way to determine if your selected blogger is authentic is to find out if they are mentioning brands within their posts or if they are writing reviews. The more personal and genuine the post is, the more believable it is as opposed to a forced review.

If you would like help identifying the right influencer's for your business, email hi@gemmediamk.com