We all have crossed paths with them at some point.

Our social media feeds are full of #ads—posts from influencers who are paid to promote brands, products and services.

It looks like a pretty fun way to be creative and earn some extra cash, right? But how do you set up as a social media influencer? And how many followers do you need to get started?

And are the freebies of accommodation, food and beverage worth it?

First we need to define what an influencer is

An influencer is someone with a loyal and larger than average social media following. Some influencers have as few as 3,000 followers!

Influencers are paid by brands to create and post promotional content.

How many followers do you need to be called an influencer?

There’s no simple answer to this question. Influencers fall into a number of different categories, depending on the number of followers they have, but we have the following:

• Nano influencer 1000 – 5000 followers
  • Nano influencers create content as their side hustle; but their authenticity and relatability mean they have some of the most loyal followers around.
  • They’re seen as the guy or gal next door — so people trust what they have to say. This means brands can count on unbeatable levels of engagement.
• Micro influencer 3000 – 100 000 followers
  • Micro influencers occupy somewhat of an influencer marketing sweet spot.
  • Their services are reasonably priced, they have decent reach and they offer great levels of engagement because they generally have a niche following.
• Macro influencer 100 000 + followers
  • Macro influencers have reached internet celebrity status. They have loads of followers.
  • This means they probably don’t engage with their followers as much as nano and micro influencers do, but brands can count on impressive reach for any promotional content posted.
• Mega influencer 1000 000 + followers
  • When working with mega influencers, brands accept that engagement won’t be particularly high. Mega influencer followers tend to be a disparate group so only a small proportion will be at all interested by a particular brand.
  • However, brands know that their promotional post will reach millions of potential customers, so some are prepared to pay big bucks for this privilege.

Quality or quantity?

When working with influencers, brands choose to prioritise quantity OR quality.

Some brands want to reach the largest number of people possible. Others focus on creating fewer, high-quality leads that are more likely to convert into sales.

This means that as long as you have at least 3,000 followers, it’s possible to find brands who will be super happy to collaborate with you.

So the next time an influencer knocks on your door ask them:

• How many followers do they have
• On which platform
• What is their engagement with the followers
• What is the age and demographics of the followers

And if the answers fit your property’s target market, you will be able to make some impact in partnering with the influencer.

Remember to agree on targets and/our outcome of the ‘deal’ such as engagement, website hits directed from their platform, and work out estimate revenue numbers and make it a contracted agreement.

If you don’t, you will be taken for a free ride, literally

My best

Jaco

(content in collaboration with tribegroup.co)