By: Sara Urquhart; Photos by Brooke Dennis and Justin Hackworth for Alt Summit
In a previous post, I discussed the three steps to take with a potential client to establish parameters of a project.
Below are some of the many roles a social media influencer can play in helping brands get started on developing a social media presence. Once you understand each, you can decide which of these options are services that you could provide. Watch for an upcoming post about more in-depth ways brands can utilize influencers.
– Intro Training: Brands may bring in a social media expert to talk about the role of social media in business today. Topics could include an introduction to social media, a broad overview of how to integrate social media into the brand, as well as pitfalls to avoid. Once the company understands how platforms can be used, the team can brainstorm ways to apply these uses to their particular business.
– Getting Established Online: Businesses may hire a social media expert to simply open their accounts on different platforms, and then cover the basics of using them with someone in-house. This could include basics like how to use Twitter, how to tweet, how to create hashtags and to help establish appropriate image sizes for all platforms. If you’re just getting started, having someone walk you through a platform can have great value. Each platform has its own language and best practices. Getting established covers how to use the platform, but doesn’t include the specifics of brand messaging.
– Social Media Support: Once a brand’s social media accounts are set up, they may looking to hire someone to manage those accounts. A person offering social media support creates or manages content, and watches and participates in developing conversations to grow an audience and promote the brand messages. Essentially, this person is on call to respond to and manage social media throughout the audience’s most active hours or days. For example, if a brand’s audience is active on Sundays, a social media support person may be doing more work on that non-traditional office day.
– Brand Consulting: More in depth than training, brand consulting involves detailed conversations about your brand’s particular needs, such as the specifics of implementing a certain promotion or creating a customized social media strategy. A consultant could be hired for a variety of other reasons, too, such as to educate and assist in choosing the best platforms, to develop an overarching approach across many platforms, or how to build an audience on various platforms. A consultant might offer training on the frequency of posting on those platforms and how to create authentic engagement with your audience. A good brand consultant can also help a brand understand how to create quality and relevant content for your specific brand.
– Social Media Evaluation: Perhaps a brand already has social media accounts, but they’d like to see the audiences grow or become more efficient. A social media influencer can assess what that brand is currently doing and offer suggestions about what to do differently. She may suggest new platforms, better use of existing platforms, or suggestions for improving audience engagement. A good evaluation will reveal what you’re doing well and offer concrete steps for improvements.
– Writer: A social media influencer could be hired to create content for a brand—anything from original blog posts to content for a site or blog that features or explains your products or services, as well as tweets, how-to or DIY articles, recipes…the list goes on. If a company needs written content for social media, a social media influencer can provide it.
Watch for another post that focuses additional services that can be offered as a social media influencer.
