Influencer marketing continues to be a hot topic as social media has grown in popularity.
Influencers can have a significant impact on the buying decisions of consumers, holding sway over their personal audience. Businesses value this power and will invest in influencer marketing to reach a target audience that won’t always respond to traditional ads. Becoming an influencer is not as easy as just posting content on social media, though, with a planned approach required to make a mark. The following tools can play a crucial role in helping a person grow their social following and build a brand:
1. SocialBee
SocialBee is a popular social media tool, enabling you to control all your social media accounts from a single location. You can schedule posts across all platforms, including Facebook profiles, fan pages, and even Facebook groups, allowing your content publishing to stay in sync. Additionally, you can have multiple workspaces and multiple users, (in case you hire virtual assistants from services like Fiverr or FreeeUp) allowing you to control all your brands from the same place, making it easy to stay consistent with your social media content. The detailed analytics also makes it possible to see what is working and what needs to be adjusted for the future.
2. Display Purposes
Hashtags are an important part of growing your influence. Users search for specific hashtags they are interested in, allowing you to reach them with quality content. Many social media users just guess an appropriate hashtag, but a tool like Display Purposes will offer suggestions based on levels of engagement going on in real-time. Display Purposes will even pre-format your caption for you so that the hashtags are nice, neat, and ‘hidden’ when you post.
3. AppSumo
AppSumo is a daily deals website for digital software and online services particularly catered to entrepreneurs and freelancers. If I’m being honest, I love AppSumo – it’s almost an addiction. I’ve gotten thousands of dollars worth of marketing software and social tools from AppSumo and it almost feels like stealing. However – it’s not! It’s wonderful because by purchasing these “lifetime” deals for super cheap, you get lifetime access to great software tools that can help you with your marketing and branding, while simultaneously helping that company grow their revenue and their customer base. Appsumo is doing a great thing, and you should check out their current offers here. Take action quickly though, because each offer they publish has a time limit on how long the deal is available. Don’t get addicted!
4. Deposit Photos
Imagery is an integral part of standing out on social media. Mediocre images will do damage to your credibility, reducing the level of authority you have in your industry. Pablo by Buffer is a free tool that simplifies the process of creating quality graphics. You can choose from their templates, add filters, change the text overlay, and resize to fit all the major social networks.
5. Thinkific
Thinkific is an LMS (Learning Management System) that allows you to package and sell your own course. It’s far superior to other platforms like Kajabi and Udemy. You may find that your followers truly like your video content and want to learn more from you, so you can adjust your content schedule to publish more videos through a paid membership platform like Thinkific. Thinkific is used by many industry leaders such as Lewis Howes, Carl Pullein, Mari Juliette, and others.
6. TapInfluence
TapInfluence is a marketplace for both brands and influencers. Influencers can sign up, create a profile, and link it to the main social media accounts. Brands can then get in touch to discuss collaborations. Influencers can take on the jobs they are most interested in, setting their expected rates in advance. The service offers brands access to plenty of data, so they can focus on people who will be a good match for their business. Now, depending on your experience level and the size of your audience, this one could be a reach – because not every influencer is approved for the platform.
7. Launchfame
Launchfame is a Viral Social Giveaway platform that can help you grow your followers on social media by partnering with A-List celebrities. The service engages with brokers and talent to find celebrities and other influencers with millions of followers, and then offers opportunities to the public to collaborate with them. Have you ever seen those giveaways on Instagram where an influencer tells you to go follow a page and ‘follow’ everyone that page is following? Launchfame helps orchestrate these deals and turns YOU into the account that all of those people are now following. It uses leverage and credibility of others to help you grow your audience. The price can be steep, but it’s worth it when most tools based on follower growth today use fake followers, but Launchfame guarantees real followers and real engagement.
As long as social media remains popular, influencer marketing is here to stay. Businesses can struggle to reach people using traditional advertising methods, with consumers tuning out banner ads and other intrusive methods. A carefully considered influencer campaign, though, can speak to target audiences in an authentic manner. Anyone aiming to cultivate an audience of their own should consider using some of these tools. With the assistance of specialist tools, it is possible to speed up the process of growing your following, making you an obvious target for brands.
