QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“If people like you, they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.” —Zig Ziglar

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Have you ever wondered how you could use social media influencers to connect with your prospects and spread the good word about your business?

Or maybe you're already using influencers to generate leads or close sales, but you're wondering if you should start leveraging AI and switch to virtual influencers instead?

Social media influencer marketing has exploded over the past three years, especially fueled by the pandemic and a captive audience stuck at home consuming and creating unimaginable levels of content. With their large followings and established credibility, real or virtual influencers can help your company increase your brand equity, engagement, and, ultimately, sales.

If you're looking to leverage social media influencers in your marketing strategy, should you use humans or should you use virtual social media influencers?

You might wonder who would trust a virtual influencer instead of an actual human. Why would consumers even look favorably upon virtual influencers commenting about real products?

Over the past few years, many companies have used virtual influencers to boost their social media presence because it can make a brand seem more fun, technologically savvy, and innovative – plus it also usually costs less and can provide more flexibility with less management headaches than the human alternative.

According to a recent study by the Alberta School of Business, human influencers are still the best at creating an emotional connection to a product or service.

Still, virtual influencers are as effective as humans when providing factual descriptions of a product or attributes.

So, as tempting as it may be to start using AI-generated virtual influencers (like this somewhat creepy one created

by SoulMachine,) know that, as of now, nothing is as effective as the right human social media influencer for creating the next-level trust connection.

Here are some tips to kick-start your human social media influencer strategy:

1. Define your goals and target audience: Before you start reaching out to influencers, it's important to define what you want to achieve and who you want to reach. Do you want to increase brand awareness, drive sales, or engage with a specific audience? What demographics and interests do your ideal customers have? These factors will help you identify the right influencers to work with.

2. Research and vet potential influencers: Once you know your goals and target audience, you can start researching and vetting potential influencers. Look for creators who align with your brand values, have a loyal following, and regularly engage with their audience. Check their engagement rate (likes, comments, shares, etc.) to ensure that their followers are genuinely interested in their content.

3. Develop a partnership strategy: When partnering with influencers, it's important to establish clear goals, expectations, and compensation. Will you provide them with free products, pay them a flat fee, or offer commission-based compensation? Will they create sponsored posts, product reviews, or Instagram Stories? Be clear about what you expect in return and provide them with the creative freedom to create content that aligns with your brand.

4. Measure and evaluate the results: Once your campaign is underway, regularly measure and evaluate the results. Use tracking tools to monitor engagement, website traffic, and, ultimately, sales. Analyze which influencer content performed best, and which channels drove the most traffic, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

5. Stay compliant: Finally, ensure that you and your influencers follow all legal and ethical guidelines. In the US, for example, the Federal Trade Commission requires influencers to disclose their sponsored content. Make it clear to your influencers that they must disclose sponsored content to remain transparent with their followers.

In conclusion, using the right social media influencers can create a valuable sales and marketing channel for your company - think of it as a referral marketing strategy on steroids. Using human influencers is the gold standard for harnessing people's emotional decision to buy, providing you have the right people, the right messaging, and the right followers. But virtual influencers can also play a valuable role in educating your prospects about product benefits and features.

One thing's for sure - if your business relies on word-of-mouth referrals, then it's also time you started leveraging influencer marketing and growing your online brand presence.

On a Personal Note

I'm off to Tuscany next week for some carb-loading, fine wine and great shopping. I'll have some good stories when I get back.

Hope you have a great week!
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(Below a picture of Flapjack (Carolina ditch dog), Tate the bulldog and a partial of Lila the Rottie, happy to be heading to the lake over the weekend.)

Julie Guest
Marketing Consultant & Chief Strategist
​Bolder&Louder - Extraordinary Advertising​
​Premier Physician Marketing​

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