“Social media influencers.” You’re already cringing just thinking about them. After all, they’re just Instagram fashion models, video game fanatics and soccer moms with too much time on their hands – right?
Wrong. Influencers are actually quite diverse, and they’re a great addition to your credit union or community bank’s social media marketing plan.
Let’s go over how social media influencers can help your brand.
Find the Right Type of Influencer
What do I mean? I mean effective influencers don’t need to be a celebrity or have a huge follower count.
Partner with a micro-influencer instead! These influencers have anywhere between 1,000 and 100,000 followers. They’re not as well known as celebrity personas, but they’re usually more specialized. Their recommendations are also more impactful; they have 150 percent the engagement rate of celebrity partnerships.
But how can they be more effective than celebrities? The answer: trust. Their smaller sizes and hyper-local focus make them more relatable to their audiences. They’re “normal people,” not kings and queens.
For example, Kisha Knight (2,030 Instagram followers) has an understanding of the Dallas-area real estate market endearing to local buyers. Who has that type of sway in your town? A car enthusiast who could help promote auto loans? A local business owner who could speak to your services?
Share a Brand Personality
As always, your credit union or community bank should link your marketing to your overall strategy. Your new influencer needs to match your brand values and appeal to your niche.
One exercise we do with our branding clients asks if their brand is more of a traditional bank or hip coffee shop. If you’re more traditional, you wouldn’t want an influencer who is too zany or unconventional (and vice versa).
Don’t settle. Find the perfect brand personality match. It’s more natural for an influencer to speak your brand language if they already share your voice and values. That’s why Sony partnered with gaming influencers to promote their virtual reality headset. It’s a natural fit.
And it should be a natural fit for your target consumers too. Do they know who the influencer is? If not, there’s little point to the partnership. If your brand is upbeat and targets Millennial Moms, don’t just find an upbeat influencer. Find an upbeat influencer Millennial Moms love.
Build a Long-Lasting Relationship
But how do these partnerships work anyway?
Well, they’re usually paid partnerships. If you want to explore influencer marketing, you need to put it in the budget.
More importantly, you want these partnerships to be long-term relationships. Show your influencer who you are. Make them fall in love with you. That’ll just make their promotion of your services all the more passionate.
Think of it this way - rather than a one-off celebrity appearance, you get a popular spokesperson. Rather than a Tom Brady, you get someone more like Flo from Progressive.
So, are you interested in influencer marketing? Or maybe just improving your social media generally? As part of our creative retainer, we’ll help you with your social media strategy and execution to increase engagement. Ask about our creative retainer today!
