The world of influencer marketing has erupted with even influencers with moderately large followings being hounded to partner with various brands. There are brands that can further the reputation of an influencer while others can tarnish a reputation. In today’s world seeing specific ads on pages almost guarantee there will be spammy ads flooding the influencers page in a matter of months. The best thing an influencer can do is continually create content and engage with their followers. Creating a sense of community leads to influencers all brands want to partner with as they have the trust of their follower-base. The following are best practices and what to keep in mind when developing your personal influencer brand.
Pick A Niche You Are Both Knowledgeable And Passionate About
Picking a niche that you are willing to create content daily on is going to be difficult. You might have a passion that you know an immense amount about like that of fishing or outdoor sports. This is the perfect opportunity to start to garner a following then profit from the knowledge that you impart on your followers daily. Once you have established your niche, do not try to do too much in terms of branching out. Followers do not like influencers that try their hand at nearly everything as it does not seem genuine.
Your Website Should Be As Unique As You Are
A website with SVG animation or other tasteful touches can be exactly what an influencer needs to stand apart. The website should host all content created and be the place where a link to your podcast should be. If you do not currently have a podcast start now as it will take time to get the hang of talking out loud to your recording device or interviewing a relevant personality in your niche. The website should also be easy to navigate as a follower might only like one type of content you produce. Take the time to make this easily searchable and in the header bar content should be able to be found. The goal of the website is to host content as well as exposure content that has been created on all of your channels.
Only Partner With Brands In Line With Your Following
Do not partner with a makeup brand if you are promoting men’s bodybuilding as followers will look at this like spam on their social media feeds. Partner with brands that are not only in line with what you promote but also are high quality. An influencer can lose the trust of their followers if promoting a product that is not high quality in the slightest. Many lower quality products try to make up for this in sales by doing excessive amounts of marketing using the money they saved by producing a product with defects.
Never Lower Content Quality Just Because A Post Is Sponsored
Partnerships do not mean that you should lower content quality as even sponsored posts can provide entertainment or knowledge. Most brands are going to be willing to collaborate with an influencer so pitching a few ideas is ideal. The last thing anyone wants is to lose thousands of followers due to a post being obviously sponsored which has no value for anyone that follows the account. Followers should be treated like the individuals they are and too many ads is a recipe for disaster with nearly everyone that uses social media regularly.
As you can see you need to grow a base of followers carefully without sacrificing your personal influencer brand. Take the time to grow your base organically then watch the offers from brands pour in. There are platforms to check out that will help brands find an influencer which does the selling for you!