Using Social Media Influencers to Boost Your Online Store Traffic
Ever feel like your posts on social media just go unnoticed? It can be tough to stand out, especially when it comes to getting people to click on your shared links.
But listen up, because I’ve got a game-changing idea for you – why not team up with social media influencers? Trust me, it’s an awesome way to drive more clicks and ultimately boost your sales through social media.
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So, What’s an Influencer Anyway?
Well, picture this: an influencer is someone who has a huge impact on a particular industry. You know, like a big-shot movie critic, Roger Ebert. People trust his opinion when it comes to films.
In most industries, influencers are usually bloggers, writers, speakers, or even top executives. But here’s the thing – anyone with a massive following on their blog, newsletter, or social networks can become an influencer. It’s all about the numbers, baby!
How Can Influencers Boost Traffic to Your Online Store?
Did you know that influencers can play a big role in attracting more people to your online store? It’s true! They have the power to sway people’s opinions and influence their decisions. By recommending your products or sharing your content, they can bring in a ton of new visitors and even help you make more sales.
But you might be wondering, does it actually work? Well, research shows that 90% of us trust recommendations from our friends and peers when it comes to choosing products and brands.
So, how can you make the most of this opportunity? In this article, I’ll share with you a simple 8-step process to get influencers on social media to drive traffic to your online store.
Step 1: Find Your Influencers
When it comes to finding important people in your industry and influential customers, a social media search can be really helpful. Nowadays, your customers can be some of your most powerful influencers. They are passionate about your brand and can easily spread the word about you through social media.
If you want to find the top users who are talking about your keywords, take a look at popular niche hashtags. Once you find them, go ahead and follow them.
If you’re looking for influencers specifically on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter, you should check out Buzzsumo. It’s a great tool that ranks influencers based on the number of followers and interactions they have. Just provide your keyword, and Buzzsumo will do the rest!
Step 2: Make Influencer Lists
Once you’ve found the people who influence you, create Lists to keep up with their updates. You can make a few different lists, such as:
- Leaders in our field
- Important partners
- Customers who have a big impact
Step 3: Get to know them better
Before you start interacting with your influencers, take some time to observe them on social media. Watch how they like to communicate and when they’re most active. Pay attention to the types of posts they like to share and reply to, as this will give you insight into how to get their attention.
Step 4: Engage with them
Step 4: @Mention them
Don’t forget to click the link in the bio to check out all the cool stuff they’re working on and give them a follow on other platforms. It’s a great way to learn more about your target audience and understand your niche better.
Show your favorite influencers some love by reading their articles and letting them know you appreciate their knowledge. Give them a shoutout with your own positive comments to create a more personal connection.
5. Ask Some Questions
- Influencers love sharing their expert opinions and knowledge. If you ask them a thoughtful question, they’ll be thrilled to dive into the discussion.
- It could even turn into a real conversation and potentially lead to a collaboration. Plus, it’ll boost your visibility to the influencer’s followers.
- What do you think will happen with [Blank]?
- Have you seen [Blank]? How do you feel about it?
- I’m having a problem with [Blank]. Can you give me any advice?
6. Write a blog post about them and tag them
Nothing makes someone happier than reading something positive about themselves. If you haven’t already, create a blog on your website and write an article that mentions the influencers you want to attract.
You can keep it simple by writing a Top 10 Quotes article, where you share recent quotes from the influencers. Or you can delve deeper and review or expand on a piece of content they have recently written. These types of articles are great for co-citations, which means associating your brand with well-known individuals.
Let me give you an example. Imagine an influencer tried out a product and gave some cool ideas on how to use it. Well, you could write about your own experience trying out those ideas and how they worked for you.
After you’ve written about it, you can send the influencer a short message telling them what you wrote and ask for their thoughts. Sometimes they might not reply right away, so it’s totally fine to follow up with them a few times to try and get a response.
Now here’s an idea: Give influencers your product for free
Contact the influencers and offer them your product for free. Just ask them to share what they like about it, and include a link to your online store’s product page.
If you have a brand-new product that hasn’t been released yet, it can be incredibly impactful to get influencers to try it out and talk about it. Influencers love being the first to experience something new, and offering them this exclusive opportunity will likely result in a high response rate.
8. Collaborate with them
If you have a list of a few thousand past customers or email newsletter subscribers, that can be a valuable asset to convince influencers to collaborate with you. In many cases, influencers offer services or books that complement the products you sell in your online store.
Let’s talk about collaborations. They can be as simple as a webinar, where we both share advice and insights about our products and how they can be used. It’s a great opportunity for us to promote each other to our customers.
Once we feel more comfortable with our community of influencers, we can take things a step further and arrange in-person events and meetups. There’s nothing quite like meeting face-to-face to build loyalty. Take Hari Ravichandran, for example, who built a billion-dollar startup by skipping Silicon Valley and investing time and money in conferences and networking.
In Conclusion
I want to talk about how influential people can have a big impact. But here’s the thing – getting their attention takes time and effort. It’s not something that happens right away. These influencers are bombarded with requests every single day, so don’t expect them to notice you the first time around.
And you know what? Sometimes it might take them a while to find the right moment to get back to you. It’s understandable – they’re busy people with packed schedules. So, my advice is to be patient and thoughtful in your approach. If you keep at it, I believe you will find success in connecting with them.