How to Use Influencer Marketing & Social Media Marketing Together

Social media marketing is a powerful way to show your brand’s personality, connect with your audience, and set yourself apart from the competition.

However, 69% of consumers trust influencers, friends, and family over information directly from brands.

So which do you choose to invest in? The answer is both.

Influencer marketing and social media marketing each have distinct advantages that work together to build your presence, establish your brand and reach new audiences online.

Social Media Marketing vs. Influencer Marketing

Let’s start with some definitions:

• Social media marketing is the process of planning, scheduling and publishing content on social media platforms, as well as interacting with followers and managing online communities .

• Influencer marketing is the strategic process of identifying, recruiting, and managing influencers to promote a brand or product.

Social Media Marketing: Pros And Cons

Here are some of the major advantages of social media marketing – and some small things to watch out for.

Pros:

• Social media establishes your brand outside of its relationship with creators.

• Your owned channels provide a hub for curious new customers on social media to learn more about your brand.

• Connect with and start conversations with customers and other audiences.

Cons:

• Buyers don’t always trust brand-shared messages, so you can’t win over everyone.

• It can be difficult to target specific audiences organically; while you can target with paid ads, you don’t know who those people are so it’s harder to build a relationship.

Influencer Marketing: Pros And Cons

Working with influencers can deliver massive value for your brand—here are the pros and cons to be aware of.

Pros: 

• Influencer marketing is an approach that can add value to any business goal.

• Creators can help you reach a niche, targeted audience through a trusted voice.

• Influencers can help you break through the noise of brand-only messages on social media, building trust and awareness directly with potential customers.

Cons: 

• Not every product or service offering is a fit for influencer campaigns. 

• Managing influencer relationships can be difficult without the right tools.

Starting influencer marketing can be daunting – Later’s Services team can help you build best-in-class creator campaigns from start to finish. Book a free demo to learn more.

How Influencer Marketing And Social Media Work Together

Influencer marketing and social media marketing strengthen one another; here are five ways they work together.

#1: They Amplify Each Other

When you’re posting on owned channels and working with influencers, you can amplify one another’s posts.

For example, you can make a stitch on TikTok from your brand account with a clip of influencer-generated content, or share content featuring one of your brand ambassadors.

Or you can simply re-share the post in its entirety by sharing an influencer’s Instagram post to your Instagram Story.

This helps boost engagement, something TikTok influencer Melissa Desm said is absolutely critical.

“I think the most important thing to every brand is engagement,” Melissa said at an exclusive Later Creator Club Event. “You can have millions of views, but if you don't have any likes or shares, it's kind of useless to the brand.”  

#2: They Bridge Each Other’s Gaps

The reality is consumers typically trust their favorite influencers over brands.

But at the same time, when someone hears about something from a trusted influencer, they want to see that the brand is active on social media.

This one-two punch can make your marketing funnels much more effective through a social selling approach.

Influencers share messages that introduce people to your brand and make them feel they can trust you. 

From there, owned social media gives potential customers the next step, showing your personality and learning about your products and services before becoming customers.

#3: They Help Reach New Audiences

Simply put, influencers have access to audiences you don’t: their own!

When you only post on your owned channels, you can absolutely reach new people, but that can take more time.

When you add influencers to the mix, you can prioritize creators who already have connections with users in your specific niche. 

For example, an eco-friendly fashion brand might want to connect with a sustainable fashion creator like Lily AKA @ImperfectIdealist.

You get high-quality audience targeting on social media and benefit from the creator's relationship with their audience; this trust and engagement makes it easier for someone to listen to the branded message.

Plus, platforms like Later Influence make it easy to source and work with influencers.

#4: They Both Provide Valuable Data & Insights

Both organic social media and influencer marketing – especially when tracked properly – provide answers to similar questions:

• Who is engaging with my content?

• What are they doing after they engage?

When you have comprehensive analytics for both at the same time, you can learn more and discover insights from your marketing funnel. 

For example, you might find that influencer marketing has a higher conversion rate than organic social, so you can put more resources into your influencer campaigns. 

Or, social listening and social media analytics might reveal that potential customers love your organic social content, suggesting you might benefit from investing in new channels or hiring a new team member.

The longer you track your analytics, the better benchmarks you get. With that data, you can make decisions across the entire influencer-social funnel.

#5: They Unlock Content Repurposing Opportunities

Influencers and creators are not just people with audiences; they also create content for your brand.

Collaborating with influencers means you can use their talents for high-quality content for your channel.

This influencer-generated content makes your brand seem more authentic and allows you to spend more time on other components of social media management. 

Tools like Later Social’s social media scheduler quickly enable you to repurpose and re-share content – plus, you can analyze performance and plan content for 7 social channels in the platform.

Start a free trial of any plan today.

The Keys To Combined Success

Combining social media and influencer marketing is a great idea, but it has to be executed well to work.

Here are some key tips to keep in mind.

Use The Right Tool

Make sure the tool you’re using is built by teams that deeply understand both social media and influencer marketing.

Not to be biased, but this is why we love using Later Influence and Later Social together. The two platforms can function independently, running influencer marketing campaigns and managing your social, but are a powerhouse when combined.

Think Holistically

It’s important to think of organic social media and influencer marketing as two tactics, but two tactics that might impact one another.

Ask yourself questions like: 

• What organic content can you publish while a specific influencer campaign is going on? 

• Can you repurpose influencer content on another social media channel?

• What posts complement one another best?

And don’t be afraid to try new things!

For instance, in one campaign, influencers might tell their followers to check out your organic social posts for more information. In another, the influencer might give a discount code for someone who buys that day. 

Try different approaches and funnels to see what drives results—providing data you can use to make decisions in the future.

Find The Right Influencers

When you search for influencers, don’t just think about audience size; while some creators might have massive followings, micro influencers tend to have a more engaged audience.

Later Influence has advanced filtering that can help you look for…

• Audience demographics

• Niche

• Previous campaign performance

Don’t be afraid to work with different types of creators. You’ll soon find the people who are a good fit for your brand and this campaign.

Compound Your Marketing Strategy

Combining social media and influencer marketing is a clear win for businesses; you gain so many efficiencies and amplification opportunities that help you reach business goals.

The key to success and scaling a dual program is the right tools.

Later Influence is an influencer marketing platform that allows you to execute every step of your influencer marketing campaigns, from planning to influencer sourcing to influencer payments and analysis.

Later Social is a best-in-class social media management platform with an Enterprise plan that includes social listening and team collaboration capabilities.

Book a call to discuss how you can enable Later Influence and Later Social together.