Are you influencing the influencers?

Online and social media marketing success is an ongoing and daily battle that every small business must engage in. Those who are not extending their reach through their social media marketing will be soon be overtaken by their rivals. It is not a hobby; it is an investment in the future success of your business.

•  One of the newest, and most effective, ways of converting your site traffic into sales is through people known as Influencers and your social media marketing needs to be paying attention to them. They are the blog writers and social media marvels who have huge followings. Their expertise is a wide and as varied as can be and can cover most products and services. These Influencers are highly regarded with regard to what they have to say. Many of these blogs and social media posts can make or break a product or a company.
• The two youngest generations, Generation X and Generation Y, also known as the Millennials, greatly rely on these Influencers as well as word of mouth and online recommendations, comments and reviews. If this is your target demographic (age range being the coveted 18-40 year old slice) then you need to figure out a social media marketing strategy for reaching those who are influencing their decisions to buy.
• Recent research continues to pound home the fact that pretty much 100% of these two generations, both male and female, head out online to research a product or service before buying. When they head to your site, your office, or your store, they are well informed and know what they want. Often, you will see many of them checking in with their mobile devices while they are in your store.
• The two major swing factors are trust and perceiving you as being what they refer to as “authentic”. The hard sell will not work with these groups. They need to see what others have experienced with you and your products. Positive reviews greatly influence their decisions to come to you so your social media marketing strategy must encourage positive reviews and comments.

One of the pivotal points in your social media marketing strategy has to be to identify the Influencers in your particular industry. You must try to influence them with a strong brand awareness campaign. In addition, you need to keep a constant and watchful eye on everything being written about your business out online in general and out at the social media platforms in particular.