Do you aspire to become a social media influencer?
Do you want to join the big league and become a major influencer and a go-to-leader in your industry?
Chances are, there are several other influencers in your space that are dominating the industry and that you are looking up to. But how can you replicate their success and ultimately surpass them?
In this article, we’ll reverse-engineer the top influencers to understand how they have come to the place where they are now and see how you as a micro-influencer can replicate their success.
These tips apply to anyone and any industry
1. Establish a theme and stick to it
Being an influencer means being unique and going your own path.
If you look at the top influencers, you’ll be able to mention a few things that all define them and make them unique.
Nobody remembers a copycat, but everyone remembers someone who dares to go their own path.
Therefore, you want to begin by creating your own theme that is coherent and appealing.
And most importantly, unique.
When you keep a coherent visual theme and style, people will be able to recognize you from miles away due to your unique nature and style, which in the long run make you an icon and a person that is always associated with the niche you’re in.
For instance, if you think about fast food, chances are, you’ll think of McDonald’s.
It’s not so strange, they’re industry giants and industry leaders.
And when you come to the point where you are associated in the industry you’re operating in, that’s when you’ll have the leverage – no matter if you have fewer or more followers than other influencers in your space. It can be difficult if you are in a less exciting niche such as canister vacuum cleaners and you may struggle for content, for this, it works well to look at a related niche such as mommy bloggers for inspiration
Remember that your visual theme resembles who you are, and also which people that will resonate with you.
Make sure you stay true to yourself because this is something that all influencers are doing.
Be consistent
If there’s something that all social media influencers have in common, it is that they share daily and on a regular basis.
And of course, they do. The vast majority of top influencers, have it as their job, and therefore, they take it very seriously. And those who don’t are still passionate about it.
And if you want to become like them, or even surpass them, you have to do the same.
Consistency is key for all type of social media success, and it is the foundation to great performing content.
By posting at the same time every day, people will know when they can expect posts from you, and start tuning it at that time every day.
Don’t be like regular users on social media who shares tons of images within a short period of time when they actually have interesting things to post, and then stay quiet for half a year.
If you know you won’t be able to keep a consistent schedule, then don’t give your audience that promise, because you’ll just give them false expectations and they’ll lose trust in you.
It’s better to post 5 posts a day consistently than it is to post 7 times a day at inconsistent times. Consistency really is key here.
Run giveaways
When your audience engaged with you, supports you, and give you their support, they bring you value.
But what are you giving them in return?
Sure, you provide them with content (hopefully it’s great), but if you want to take it one step further and really give back to your community to show your appreciation for their support, why not run a giveaway?
The best part about being a micro-influencer is that many brands will want to team up with you for running a giveaway, which means you won’t have to buy the gifts you’re giving away.
People love free stuff, and this also goes for your own social media followers.
If you’ve seen other influencers rn giveaways, you’ve probably also noticed that those are the most that generate the highest engagement.
That’s because a precondition for winning is often to engage with the post.
Remember that the better the price is, the more people are going to join. This is especially important when you demand your audience to do a lot to join, for instance, sign up for your newsletter, tag 5 friends, and so on.
The better price you give away, and the easier it is to join, the more contestants you’ll get, and the more you’ll be able to increase your influence.
Not only do you increase your following with the help of giveaways, but you also increase your audience’s loyalty to you, because they feel like you’re actually giving something back to your community.
Value your reputation greatly
Your reputation is tremendously important as a micro-influencer.
It is what will affect how people will perceive you, how much people will look up to you, and how influential you’ll be in the industry you’re operating in.
If there’s something you need to value above everything else, it is your reputation.
Because if you damage your reputation. you’re harming the trust people have in you, and if people’s trust in you is harmed, people won’t trust your brand recommendations, and when they don’t trust your brand recommendations, you’ll generate lousy results for the brands you partner with, and in the long run, no brand will want to partner with you.
See how it’s all connected?
As an influencer, your reputation and your audience are all you have, so don’t throw that away just because you are greedy for a few bucks.
There are examples of brands who both do this and don’t do this.
Influencers are often much better at this than celebrity influencers, and regular influencers are often much better at protecting and valuing their own reputation, and saying no to brand deals they feel won’t resonate with their personality.
Not only is it important that you only promote brands that resonate with your personality, but it is also important that you only promote ethical brands.
The best example of the worst influencer marketing campaign that had a huge negative effect on a celebrity influencer’s reputation is Scott Disick.
When he promoted a brand, the band wrote the caption for him, which only that is a big mistake as it removes the personality of the influencer. But the big problem was that he accidentally copied everything the brand has sent him.
Including the instructions for the post.
Or.. when Naomi Campbell committed the same mistake:
Just because you’re a micro-influencer, doesn’t mean you don’t have the right to choose which brands you want to partner with.
Because losing credibility and trust is tremendously harmful to influencers, most of them are highly selective with the brands they partner with.
This is something you need to be too!
If you get approached by brands, don’t say yes in a heartbeat just because you make a few bucks.
Because in the long run, a partnership that harms your credibility and reputation won’t be worth a few bucks.
Create top-notch content
You’ve probably noticed that the influencers who create the best content on social media are most often the top influencers on social media.
You could speculate a lot about the reasons for this, but I’d dare to say that the main reason is that the top influencers have been doing social media for a long time, they’ve learnt how to produce quality content, and they’ve learnt what their audience like so they can create content that resonates with them, and thus granting them better results.
On social media, content is everything.
If you don’t have any content, good luck with driving any results.
Content on social media is your value proposition, and it is what will ultimately help you build an audience.
The reason people follow you on social media is that you share content that brings them value in one way or another, and that inspires them.
This is why you need to emphasize content like nothing else.
If you can produce higher quality content than the top influencers in your industry, at least then, you deserve to be a top influencer.
And when you deserve to be one, the audience will come.
You just have to execute consistently and engage with your audience on a regular basis.
Creating content is time-consuming and hard. This is the most common excuse that marketers have. The problem many faces is that they either compromise on quality or they compromise on the quantity. And both are actually crucial for success.
If your main content is written content, but you struggle to find the time to create it, you can always use freelance websites that help you create top-notch content that your audience will love.
Conclusion
These are five of the best techniques you should learn from top influencers. They can help you grow your following, and income as a micro-influencer.
You need to attract brands and relevant followers with unique and consistent aesthetics as well as a consistent posting schedule. You also need to use trending hashtags to attract even more relevant followers to your content.
Try hosting your own giveaways to engage your audience, and boost their perception of you. And finally, be selective about the brands you work with, right from the start so you don’t associate yourself with any brands that could damage your reputation or credibility.
