Influencer marketing is a major buzzword in today’s marketing world. This is when brands work with an individual (or group) that has influence in their industry on social media. And studies have shown that consumers trust, and are more likely to purchase, from someone whose opinions they value, like an influencer.
A social media takeover is a branch of influencer marketing where an influencer uses your brand’s social media to speak directly to your audience, increasing your exposure and giving your brand a new spin and voice. Many major brands use social media takeovers to connect with their target market in a more natural way. If you’re considering bringing an influencer on board for a takeover, consider the following tips:
Take Care of Your Team
Of course, before you launch any influencer marketing campaigns, your internal organization and management have to be up to par. After all, your teams are your eyes and ears on the ground. They’ll be helping you shape your influencer strategy by identifying the right influencers, brainstorming the best way to attract your target market, designing marketing materials, and analyzing metrics to better understand your results.
For this reason, it’s critical that you hire the right team, work on company culture to ensure a higher level of productivity, and utilize a leave management application to better manage their vacation policies and other days off—which ultimately keeps them happier. When your staff is happy, they’re more likely to be effective in determining the best takeover strategies.
Choose Your Network(s)
The three social networks you should focus on are Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook (Live). Each of these makes it easy to connect with consumers via video, which deepens the trust from one source the next. The network you choose should reflect the audience goals you’ve set for yourself. Ask yourself where your target market is at most, and let the answer steer you in the right direction.
Create a Guideline
Once you’ve chosen the network you want to focus on, it’s time to start creating a guideline. What do you want your influencer to focus on? A new product launch? An updated product? An announcement? A merger? Create one central key thought for the influencer to communicate.
During this process, you’ll also focus on how you want your influencer to portray the brand, and this includes the type of language they’ll use. It helps to have a conversation about the influencer regarding your brand voice and to provide concrete examples of that voice. This gives your influencer an idea of how flexible they can be.
However, you want to be careful not to strip your influencer of their creative control. After all, you chose them for the brand they’ve cultivated for themselves, to allow them to let that shine through in their work with you.
During this time, you’ll also want to decide on any relevant hashtags. Work with your team to research and come up with the best possibilities, and you can even ask your influencer what they suggest as well.
Think About the Logistics
So, you’ve chosen your influencer and created a guideline. Now, it’s time to think about logistics. First and foremost, you’ll need to arrange to set up a password transfer. In many cases, especially with Stories, you’ll need to give the passwords up. In this case, you might consider changing your password to a complicated keychain password during the duration of their takeover, and changing the password back after the takeover is complete. You can also limit posting permissions on Facebook, and share login access with them.
Promote Your Social Media Takeover
Now that you’ve decided on your influencer and considered the logistics, it’s time for some promotion. By promoting your takeover in advance, your engagement will be higher. Discuss promotion strategies with your influencer—how will both the brand and influencer bring attention to the future takeover? Social media posts, marketing newsletters, and stories all help promote.
Take a Look at Other Social Media Takeovers
One way to gauge whether social media takeovers are for you is to take a look at what others have been doing. This will also provide you with valuable insight into what works when doing a social media takeover of your own. You’ll also notice how those influencers managed to convey a brand that you know well yourself, which can offer clues about how to work with an influencer to capture your brand’s identity. Take a look at these amazing Instagram takeovers and what made them work.
