Influencers – The unexplored opportunity in public relations?

In business it’s easy to be dismissive of social media influencers especially if you are of a certain age. After all, they’ve just become ‘famous’ off the back of fiddling around on social media somewhere? It’s like reality tv isn’t it? Famous for just being present?

Yet if a celebrity with followers of many thousands offered to visit your company and make a noise about that visit to their audience would you embrace the opportunity?

Why should you embrace or even consider such things? Here’s why – millennials and those who are coming behind them are finding ‘their crowds’ on social media. They are deciding who are the new celebrities that they take seriously. They are influenced to buy products and services used and recommended by those voices – and vice versa. There’s a good reason why v-loggers, bloggers and social media influencers are appearing on mainstream tv shows – they are now becoming mainstream.

Bear in mind, like it or not, the Millennials are the biggest generation in history (overtaking the Baby Boomers in 2015) and therefore they are becoming the biggest buying generation in history. How they buy will be critical to every business, large and small.

Social media influencers are now part of a marketing mix for many brands. Why? The statistics speak for themselves. The audiences on various platforms are vast, global and powerful:

• 3.5bn people use social media on a daily basis, that’s 45 per cent of the world’s population.
• Facebook is the leader with 2.32 bn active monthly users (and that’s before lockdown)
• 90.4 per cent of the Millennial generation use social media compared with 48.2 per cent of Baby Boomers.
• 54 per cent of those who are browsing on social media research products with a view to buying.
• 49 per cent of consumers depend on influencer recommendation.

In this context, if you connect with someone with a much larger following than you, that will make you visible to a portion of their followers too. Broadcasting in that way to a large audience and aligned with a trusted name over time, it’s inevitable your own profile will grow or your products will be purchased by association.

There are now even recognised ‘levels’ of social media influencers: nano influencers & micro influencers. Definitions vary around how many followers you have to have to fit into these sub-categories.

What about Bath & Somerset?

We’re seeing the success of influencers crossing over into the real world regularly now as they become celebrities because they’ve built a large audience ie. fanbase online. This may be on Facebook (often via group), Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, blogging or a mixture of these platforms.

Some organisations and people will naturally attract a large audience because of what they do. Local examples just on Twitter would be:

Avon & Somerset Police – 169.9K followers on Twitter (at time of writing)

Bath & North East Somerset Council (B&NES) – 20.7k followers

Prosecco Watch – 11.7K followers.

On Instagram:

Bath Christmas Market – 11.3k followers

Longleat – 118k followers

However, becoming a social media influencer when you are not in a role which naturally attracts followers requires far more work and effort.

Meet Sasha Wilkins

Sasha Wilkins is known on Instagram and Twitter as LibertyLndnGirl and she has a following of 46.2k and 97K respectively. She is an award-winning blogger and her stories are read by followers in 38 countries. She is also a published author, and her book Friends, Food, Family has sold thousands of copies. She’s currently working on a second cookery book due to be published next year.

Like many well-established influencers, Sasha will tell you that success has not come overnight. It’s been a long journey, helped by her identifying blogging as a great form of media right back in 2006 and by her career as a journalist with a deep interest in the world of fashion. She is a former executive style editor for the Wall Street Journal and also an editor for Conde Nast Travel, among other prestigious freelance writing roles for titles including Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

Sasha often writes about Bath as her sister Holly has properties in the city and hires them out to tourists, often visiting from overseas. Therefore her subject matter ranges between life, design, travel, hotels, fashion, beauty, food and sausage dogs!

“I’ve been blogging for 14 years,” she said. “Before it was fashionable or the ‘thing to do’. At that time there was a big audience for someone like me and there was little competition. Not many other people were doing it. Now I do it to support my own work and to stay as visible as possible. Of course, I love it too, I wouldn’t do it otherwise. Who wouldn’t love talking to an audience who are interested in the same things as you?”

It was the decision by her sister Holly to purchase some property in Norfolk Crescent in Bath which led to many visits to the city. Later Holly decided to ensure her properties were dog-friendly as there were not many places, at that time, in the city that would take dogs. As Sasha herself has her very own sausage dog who features heavily in her posts, it was easy to talk about staying in dog-friendly accommodation in one of the most famous cities in the world.

“Not only do I write about my sister’s properties, I write about Bath itself. I’m a foodie and there are so many wonderful independent food shops in the city. The bread from Bertinet Bakery is exceptional and there’s a fantastic farmers’ market too. I love fresh, local produce particularly that found on a fruit and vegetable stand near Boston Tea Party in the city.

“Also I love walking by the river. I’m a huge fan of Georgette Heyer novels, often set in the Regency period and often featuring Bath and I recognise some of the places she described in her works (Georgette Heyer was herself inspired by Jane Austen). I love the fashion museum and the fact that you can happen upon the most wonderful independent shops.

“Shops like Topping and Company Booksellers (The Paragon) and also Maggalleria in Broad Street – for someone like me, it’s fantastic to be able to visit and buy from these smaller, independent brands.”

Sasha uses her large audience to generate brand awareness and for marketing of her book, her writing talent and this often leads to broadcasting gigs for the media, brands and events which focus heavily on fashion.

“I think the secret of understanding social media is not to try to be all things to all people. Pick one or two platforms and do them well and talk about subjects where you have knowledge and passion. Over time, the right people will come to you. You do have to be consistent and present, you have to show up.

“There are plenty of scheduling apps you can use now and you can spend an hour a week uploading content and stories for the week without having to worry and then you can check in on those platforms, maybe once a day to like, share and engage. This is also key to success. Your audience needs to know you are there.”

To find out more about Sasha visit www.libertylondongirl.com

Meet The Owlet

A rising star in the world of social media influencers is Becky Ward, 24, aka The Owlet. Becky has been blogging seriously for about three years and it was one blog which led her to take the leap and become a full-time writer and influencer. She writes about travelling often on cruise ships, lifestyle and also about living gluten free.

“I was at a low point in my life, in a bit of a rut and was not feeling happy. I wasn’t happy at Uni, I wasn’t happy with my then partner yet I’d not really identified what to do about any of it. My mum and dad were going on a cruise and out of desperation my father booked me the last cabin. He said he couldn’t enjoy his holiday worrying about me being at home being miserable. I’d never been abroad and was very anxious about it.

“That cruise changed my life. Not only did I enjoy it but I had a total break – away from social media or any outside influence and it made me reflect on my own life. When I came back, I ended my relationship, I graduated and I wrote a blog called Life Lessons From The Holiday Of A Lifetime. I was already blogging a bit and might get a 1,000 views if I was lucky. This blog which I shared on Twitter went mad. I had 80,000 views and it seems that I struck a nerve with the audience. Since then I’ve taken this life of mine seriously and am growing a loyal following.

“For me it’s not about the numbers it’s about the engagement. I have an audience of about 40K combined across Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.”

Becky makes a living from brands who wish to advertise to her audience and she also gets invited free of charge to travel all over the world to review cruise ship holidays and also things like city breaks – including Bath.

“Don’t for one minute think this is a big cash cow,” Becky said. “It is not like that. There are some months when I earn barely anything at all and then some months when I get good income. I love what I do and am working hard to grow my audience and they are everything. They are at the heart of what I do.

“If I’m asked to review something I will do so honestly – and that has led me to be dropped from one press list for a particular holiday experience. There were problems when I travelled, which were not resolved while away, and I had to tell my audience the truth. The company’s PR team did not like that, however I had to be true to the experience I had.

“With advertising, I won’t allow advertising for products or services that I haven’t tried for myself and I don’t genuinely value. For me, it’s about having integrity around the audience I serve and work with.”

Becky has already done several blog posts around Bath including The Best Christmas Markets in the UK; The Weekend Guide To Bath and she’s planning a What To Do In Bath? She then plans some social media content around those blogs.

“My top three tips for Bath are:

*Go hungry – it is the place for food especially for someone like me who cannot eat gluten (try Dough).

*Don’t go for just a day – stay overnight as the city has great night life too.

*Don’t be put off by time of year – Bath has so much to offer indoors and outdoors that you wouldn’t struggle to find things to do whatever the season.”

And why The Owlet?

“It’s a nickname from childhood, I can’t remember how it started but I’ve always been obsessed with owls. For years one of my birthday treats has been to go and see, and possibly hold, some owls. Sadly not this year though!”

For more information about Becky visit www.Theowlet.co.uk