Social media is an incredibly valuable tool for individuals and businesses in the modern age. With the rise of social media as a business tool, a new wave of social media influencers have utilized their platforms to generate a unique and profitable way of advertising. Social media influencers hold incredible marketing sway when it comes to advertising products and businesses on their platforms through sponsorships and brand deals. In today’s day and age, becoming a social media influencer has become extremely accessible to anyone who uses social media. While it is becoming easier for members of the general public to become influencers, building a brand as a successful influencer requires time, planning, and education.
A couple of important things to consider when building a brand as a social media influencer are ensuring that you have identified your target audience and how you are preparing content to promote. Once you identify your target market, promoting appropriate and targeted content to your audience can help increase engagement. Utilizing scheduling programs can help with consistently posting content to engage with your audience three to four times per week. Increased engagement can increase follower counts, improve brand awareness, and foster connections with new brands. Measuring engagement can be made easy with the use of social media management and analytics sites like JetStream Social. Additionally, tracking your engagement on Twitter, creating a direct messaging box, and using a follower filter can all have positive effects on engagement and brand image.
Hearing from other social media influencers can also help you develop your own brand. Learning what works for other people could aid you in finding out the best method of attack for yourself.
Emilia Ciezaldo is a Chicago native attending the University of Alabama. She has a sizable following on Instagram, with over 4.4k followers. She is also a social media brand ambassador for Curtsy. Chloe Giuliani is another student influencer at the University of Alabama. She is a New Jersey native with over 11.4k followers on Instagram. She is a brand ambassador for Nectar Clothing.
JetStream Social hosted a Q&A session with these two influencers to find out how they’ve built their brand on social media, as well as what ways they work to improve engagement on their platforms.
What has been the hardest part of building a brand?
Emilia: I would say the hardest part of building the brand is staying on top of trends quickly. Trends can arise so quickly, and if you are too late to hop on, you might not get maximum engagement on your posts.
Chloe: The hardest part of building my brand is revamping my social media platforms. I have always used my social media as a way to express myself by posting memories and funny things that show my personality. But, since I’ve started building a brand for myself, I’ve had to start revamping my platforms to be less personal and more content creation. This has been a difficult transition for me and I’m still working on it.
How have you been able to generate engagement?
Emilia: Generating engagement is all about finding a demographic to stick to, and marketing to them. If you are constantly marketing to different demographics, consumers could get thrown off and not as interested. Engagement is also highest on more popular platforms such as TikTok or Instagram since these platforms are literally configured to boost content towards your specific niche.
Chloe: I generate engagement by posting a lot! Posting every day is supposed to up your engagement and attract a new audience. This has been fun because I’ve connected with so many girls from other schools doing the same thing, but it’s bittersweet because my audience has shifted from my peers to more fashion bloggers.
In what ways do you track engagement?
Emilia: There are multiple ways to track engagement, but the easiest is to use the built-in setting on the platform you use. For example, if you convert to an Instagram business account, you are able to see how many accounts you’ve reached, where they are from, and what age group they are. This is so important because you can see if you’re hitting your target audience with your posts, and then make adjustments to your content.
Chloe: I don’t use anything specific, but I do regularly check my insights on Instagram and TikTok to see what content works best for me.
From this session, there are some clear takeaways to help build a brand and increase engagement. First and foremost, in order to develop a brand, it is vital to stay on top of trends to maximize your engagement and relevancy. It is also crucial to focus your platform on content creation, rather than using it as a personal account. When it comes to engagement, it is crucial to find your target demographic and stick to your niche. Posting consistently every day is invaluable, as it helps in attracting new audiences. Finally, keeping up with your engagement by tracking analytics and monitoring your demographic information is crucial to hitting your target audience and building a following. By using management and analytics sites like JetStream Social, you can discover insights to help decide what changes need to be made to your content to hit the right audience and maximize your engagement.