Who is a Social Media Specialist?
Bloggers. Influencers. Youtubers. All of these fall under the realm of social media specialists, along with those working in digital marketing. No matter their medium, social media specialists develop their credibility in a specific industry and builds a large, active audience that they can persuade. To get to where they are, they have put time in, usually years, to build that trust and relationship with their followers, and so when they advocate for a brand, they are often trusted as a friend instead of a marketer. Make no mistake though, a blogger or YouTuber does the same work as a social media specialist working for a brand – the only difference is that they are the brand, instead of a corporation or cause.
No matter if the brand is a person or a product, social media specialists have one goal in mind – get their product in front of as many interested eyes as possible, and find ways to convert those views into a clicks, sales, or subscriptions.
Working with Social Media Specialists
Once you’ve found a social media specialist that aligns with your brand’s ethos, the real work begins for both of you. With social media, the goal is to be the first, the fastest, and the best at what they do. Social media specialists work hard to make your brand look great, because they have their own reputation on the line as well. To make sure that your brand is represented well, you want to provide your social media specialists with the tools they need to succeed and smash targets for both of you.
For simplicity, let’s assume you’ve already made that connection with an influencer or specialist. Instead, we’re going to discuss what comes after that connection is made, once the agreement has been decided upon. There are tools you can provide to your social media specialist to make their life easier. The easier you make things for them, the faster they can work, which means the sooner your brand can see results. At the same time, the easier you make it for the social media specialist, the more willing they will be to work with you again, transforming that paid media into earned media.
Tool #1: The Press Release
Just because a blogger or influencer isn’t a part of the “traditional media” doesn’t mean they’re not media! You should treat social media specialists similar to journalists or other writers. The more information you provide about your product or event, the better the video or article will be. Content creators should be looking for information to flesh out their content so they can sound reputable.
I’m not going to pretend that I can teach how to write a great press release, as other sites have done a much better job than me. Check out these links:
- Forbes: How to Write a Press Release
- Spotify: How to Write a Press Release That Journalists Won’t Ignore
- Hubspot: How to Write a Press Release (With templates)
Once you have a great press release, you should send it to the social media specialists who might be able to share your product or event. Don’t send it to the masses and hope that someone out there will bite, because if people are getting press releases every other week from you, it will make people hesitant on opening your emails in the end. Instead, you should have a small mailing list of social media specialists you have worked with before, and loyal fans of your brand who would post about your product or event. These brand ambassadors, paid or earned, are going to be the ones interested in your press releases and will give you business.
Tool #2: Useable Graphics
In my work, I create blog posts and graphics for Facebook and Instagram. Naturally, I am wanting to promote the brand I am working with in the best way I can. The best way to do that is to use the same media that the original company is using. In other words: logos and graphics.
Personally, this is the most important of the tools, simply because if it’s not done correctly, the quality of the content created can become compromised or take much longer to do. The very first thing I ask for when I am creating visual content is the following:
- A png or gif file – preferably png
- Transparent background
- It needs to be as high quality as possible
If it’s not a png or gif file, the background won’t be transparent. If the background isn’t transparent, the graphics go from looking like a professional piece of work to a piece of clip-art work.
So please, never ever send just a jpg when you are asked for a logo or graphic from your brand. It will either be ignored, or they will take an annoyingly long time to convert the graphic to png – and then bill you for that time.
Tool #3: Approved, Usable Stock Footage
This tool is really what helps put that touch of detail that helps set your social media specialist ahead. Often, your influencer will be working with a limited budget, and the last thing you want to do is find your article or video has common stock footage or images that don’t represent your brand properly.
You can avoid all of that if you have footage that your bloggers and YouTubers can use that comes from in-house. It can still be generic and stock footage, but personalized. Maybe use people from your office to show the product, or have the banner to your event in the background of a meeting. Your influencer might still use some stock footage, but they’ll have a better idea of what your vision is when promoting your brand.
Personally, those three things are the difference between a good and a great relationship with a company or planner. How about you? What do you think is essential in making a great relationship between influencers and brands? How can companies make you a loyal fan so you’ll want to share their products and events? Add your ideas in the comments section!