Local social media influencers should be your best friend, especially when launching a new brand. But why?
Social Media influencers give you access to an entire audience you would not have access to in the form of their large social media following. But how do you find them? There is no master list on Google that tells you where or who they are, so that means, you must conduct primary research for yourself to find these accounts.
At HEEDGROUP, we like to use Twitter lists as they are a great way to find social media accounts that are either like your brand or are based in your area. Our preference is to use local influencers, especially if you have a highly targeted audience as they will resonate with your audience more, thus better metrics and results for your campaigns.
Step One:
Using Twitter from your laptop or desktop look to your left and under Bookmarks, you will see “Lists”. If you are using the Twitter app from your iOS or Android device, it will be located under “Profile”. Once you find it, click on it.
Step Two:
Locate the little notepad with a small arrow. Click it! This is where you can start building your new list
Step Three
Once you click that note pad, name your Twitter list and create a description for your list. Pay very very close attention to your description, and include specific keywords related to your brand, or what type of account you want to find as this is what Twitter will use to show you a list of accounts, they think you will like or be interested in adding to your list.
Step Four
Comb through the suggested accounts Twitter gives you – from here, you are likely to find an influencer or two!
Step Five
Direct message them if they allow that, or directly tweet at them! Introduce yourself and use a common fact that you share with them IE you are in the same city or state.
Step Six
Check for them to reach back out to you and see if you can continue your conversation via email or phone – odds are they will, as they are in the business of making money. From here, you will be able to start scheduling posts with your new local social media influencer. Generally, this is a seamless process, and all done online via a scheduling tool on their side.
The last thing we want to mention is there is often a belief that working with social media influencers is very costly...but we are here to tell you that is not the case! We have worked with local social media influencers that offer posts as low as $7 for Facebook and Twitter ads that are live for 24 hours.
Now go and watch your followers and page traffic grow! But remember, you must work with these local influencers on a regular basis – especially at the start of your campaign. Just posting with them once or twice will not do much for your brand – people must see things multiple times before you can reap the benefits of local social media influencers.
Happy influencing!