{"id":418,"date":"2022-09-19T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stephenfbrown.com\/?p=418"},"modified":"2022-09-19T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T13:00:00","slug":"becoming-a-social-media-influencer-be-transparent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/19\/becoming-a-social-media-influencer-be-transparent\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming A Social Media Influencer: Be Transparent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Being Transparent While Becoming a Social Media Influencer<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/stephenfbrown.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/icon-2486501_1280-1024x512.png\" alt=\"becoming a social media influencer\" class=\"wp-image-497 lazyload\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/stephenfbrown.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/icon-2486501_1280-1024x512.png\" alt=\"becoming a social media influencer\" class=\"wp-image-497 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/icon-2486501_1280-1024x512.png 1024w, https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/icon-2486501_1280-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/icon-2486501_1280-768x384.png 768w, https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/icon-2486501_1280.png 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Your influencer goals will be to drive traffic, boost sales, build awareness for other brands, and continue to establish yourself as a leader in your niche. It\u2019s not difficult to do these things while still building a loyal following. However, you must always be careful to be transparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are dozens of influencers across social media platforms that are not transparent. Their methods, in some cases, border on fraudulent. They don\u2019t follow the rules of their social media network of choice and they promote any company that\u2019s willing to hire them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You want to build your following using methods that are authentic. This means that if you work jointly with a brand or you\u2019re promoting someone, you need to be up front about the collaboration, sponsoring, or selling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Influencer marketing is a good thing but it has a seedy underside where people use or are tempted to use strategies that violate legal guidelines and cross ethical boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an influencer who\u2019s transparent the information you\u2019re giving your audience should never be deceptive. Don\u2019t hide your collaboration with a brand or other influencer. By acting like you just happened to find this great service or product, you give the reader the impression that you don\u2019t benefit in any way from mentioning or sharing the info.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, be honest with your followers about how you \u201cfound\u201d something, why you trust the person or product, and how you benefit from the business relationship that you have with the brand behind the promotion. This can be as simple as using #sponsored at the end of your post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you don\u2019t clearly call an advertisement an ad, then you risk getting into trouble with the social media network. Worse than that, you risk permanently losing the trust of your audience. Once you\u2019ve lost that trust, it can be difficult to rebuild it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There might be situations where only some of the content you\u2019re talking about is promoted. For example, maybe you\u2019re doing a tutorial on how to bake gluten free cookies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the recipe uses common household ingredients. However, you\u2019re getting an incentive from the company that makes the almond flour. Even when you only recommend or promote one item, you still need to tell your audience that the company gave you a free bag to try, in exchange for your honest opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s important that you\u2019re transparent as an influencer because what you say can affect the buying decisions of your followers. What some influencers and marketers have found effective is to promise to be ethical. For example, you might say, \u201cI\u2019ll never promote a beauty product to you that I wouldn\u2019t recommend to my sister. I promise to only share products that I believe in 100{495e61a8be0728ba5e4172c16a68a1b05f8df91b32cf783b0a6ac5a97f0ba813}.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you don\u2019t disclose an association with a brand or company, your followers may feel your recommendations were slanted. They may even think that your opinions were \u201cbought\u201d and can\u2019t be trusted in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most important part about being transparent is showing that you care about your audience. They don\u2019t mind if you bring a product to their attention. What they mind is if it\u2019s not relevant, and you wouldn\u2019t use it frequently yourself. If they feel that you\u2019re only promoting it to make a commission or receive some kind of incentive, you\u2019ve just lost their trust and you\u2019ll see fewer and fewer click-throughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Audiences love what\u2019s honest and what\u2019s real. When you practice that, your outreach can\u2019t help but grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/stephenfbrown.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/internet-3113279_1280-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"becoming a social media influencer\" class=\"wp-image-498 lazyload\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/stephenfbrown.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/internet-3113279_1280-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"becoming a social media influencer\" class=\"wp-image-498 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/internet-3113279_1280-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/internet-3113279_1280-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/internet-3113279_1280-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/internet-3113279_1280.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\"><strong>Engagement Builds Influence<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re new to influencer marketing, you\u2019ll start out with no audience, or a very tiny one. However, it won\u2019t stay that way if you engage on your platform. The more you invest in your community, the faster your audience will grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your value doesn\u2019t matter, when you want to become an influencer. What matters is how you value others. That\u2019s the creation of a relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When people reach out to you by leaving a comment, you should always answer the comment. This kind of consistent engagement shows your audience that what they have to say mattered and that you\u2019re acknowledging them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People will follow you or like a post. When that happens, return the action. Don\u2019t follow people just to build up your numbers and then unfollow them. Your audience might feel like you\u2019re just using them to build your numbers and you\u2019ll lose portions of your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might run into a common problem when you\u2019re trying to become an influencer. The number of people following you might be big but the amount of comments, likes or other engagement you get isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What this means is that what you have to say isn\u2019t connecting with your audience. It means that you don\u2019t know your target audience well enough. It means you don\u2019t know what they want or what they\u2019re struggling with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You must show the audience that you understand and empathize with them. Then you need to come up with a way to help your audience get what they want. For example, if you\u2019re in the body positivity niche, you might want to post daily affirmations that your users can repeat when they start thinking negative thoughts about how they look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you have a high engagement rate among your followers, it means your message is being well received. It also means that your influence is going to grow because of the quality of your message. The more your influence grows, the higher your popularity will go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember that most social media networks are using algorithms to determine which content gets the best spot in your home feed. The more engagement your content gets, the more likely it is that the social network will place it high in the feed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want a step-by-step blueprint to becoming a social media influencer?<br><br>Download my free guide here and get started today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">Free Guide To Influencer Marketing<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Being Transparent While Becoming a Social Media Influencer Your influencer goals will be to drive traffic, boost sales, build awareness for other brands, and continue to establish yourself as a leader in your niche. It\u2019s not difficult to do these things while still building a loyal following. However, you must always be careful to be &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/19\/becoming-a-social-media-influencer-be-transparent\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Becoming A Social Media Influencer: Be Transparent<\/span>Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","slim_seo":{"title":"Becoming A Social Media Influencer: Be Transparent - Stephen Brown&#039;s Blog","description":"Being Transparent While Becoming a Social Media Influencer Your influencer goals will be to drive traffic, boost sales, build awareness for other brands, and co"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[162,507,916,918,919],"class_list":["post-418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-everything-else","tag-becoming-a-social-media-influencer","tag-how-to-become-a-social-media-influencer","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-influencer","tag-social-media-influencer-blueprint"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenbrownsblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}