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Through Heather's Looking Glass

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Influencers – What They Are and How Can They Help Your Business

 Written by Bobby Montgomery

The concept of a social media influencer, or influencer for short, is relatively new (as in the past 5 or so years.)  There certainly was no curriculum that covered being an influencer or even social media when I was in college.  Back in my day, which was only fifteen years ago, we still had flip phones, but they could send text messages!

            The concept of an influencer is a spin-off of a blogger – a person who writes about various topics on a regular basis.  Blogging first became a thing in the late 90s, but didn’t see any real popularity until after the turn of the century…now I really feel old – I graduated high school in 2001.  As the concept of blogging expanded from technical writing to include travel, food reviews, and random facts about people’s pets; brands began to notice how the creators were developing larger and larger followings.  Not only were people seeing blogger’s content, they were there because they actually cared what this person has to say.  Ads quickly found their way onto pages, but businesses saw an even better avenue to promote their own brands: have the blogger write about and recommend their product!  I doubt anyone would argue against the idea that the value of a personal recommendation far outweighs a random ad that pops up on a page. 

            My wife, Heather, started a blog 11 years ago as a sort of fitness journal to help keep her accountable with her running training.  She started as Running With Sass, but later rebranded to allow her more freedom in what she wrote about.  Social media platforms started to grow and we joined Instagram.  As time passed, we began to see a shift from blogging to advertising brands through images and messages on social media.  Instagram has long since become the platform we use most often.

            Now the term influencer is widely used.  An influencer is someone who has developed a relationship with an audience and uses that relationship to promote something.  (Definition according to Bobby).  The concept isn’t new by any means – it’s just that new platforms have been developed and the terminology has changed.  Paying a football player to say they are going to Disney World is a message delivered to people who can be influenced by that person to positively accept a message through the medium of television.

            Some influencers refer to themselves as content creators, brand representatives, ambassadors, bloggers, etc. and there are a TON of platforms out there these days including Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, and many, many more.  Influencers create and post content, attend event, “go-live”, post stories, create pins/tweets/posts, write, engage with audiences, and a host of other services aimed at promoting a brand or message.

            So how does it work?  What does it mean to work with a social media influencer?  Think of it like a billboard: a company wants to capture people’s attention for brand awareness or to communicate a message.  The brand hires the influencer to post a picture that includes the product/message or has the influencer write about their product in the text section. 

Example A: New Awesome Restaurant wants to get the word about that they are open for business.  The restaurant only has a handful of followers on their brand new Instagram account.  They decide to hire three influencers to partner with them.  The restaurant hosts the influencers for a meal and pays them to each post a picture to their static feed and do three to five stories each while they are there.  Each influencer takes pictures and videos and then shares them on their accounts which results in a much wider group of people seeing what the new restaurant has to offer.  A side product is often the restaurant has fun and quality images that show up when people search relevant content. 

            Example B: A clothing brand wants to advertise their fall lineup.  They hire influencers to model their clothes and post relevant pictures wearing the brands clothing.   The arrangement can include an angle the clothing brand is going for such as wanting the pictures to include spending time with family, urban settings, or surrounded by fall decorations.

While there are many “kinds” of influencers for a variety of niches, it all comes down to promoting something through a medium believed to get the attention of your target audience.  If you hear the term micro or macro influencer, that’s just a loose classification of the size of the influencer’s following. 

  • A micro influencer is used to describe someone with less than 20,000 followers (though the number of followers could be as high as 50,000 as there is not set definition). 
  • A macro influencer is often someone with a huge following and could be more than 20k, 50k, or some even reserve it for those with over 100,000. 
  • A nano influencer is used to describe those with really small followings (less than a thousand or less than 5,000).   It’s worth noting those followers may be very loyal and engaged, so don’t overlook them just because of numbers.   
  • A celebrity influencer is just that, a celebrity. 

Continuing with definitions, let’s include:

  • Reach- the number of people or accounts that a message can get out to.  The higher the reach, the more people are likely to see the content.
  • Engagement- The amount of interaction an audience has with a post. This can include, comments, likes, shares, saves, etc. 

            I hope this has helped give you an idea of what an influencer is: a marketing tool. 

            This is our first draft of making a beginner’s guide. We welcome feedback on what else you would like to know or what you think should have been included. 

Primary Sidebar

I am Heather Montgomery, a 36-year-old southern girl living in Knoxville, Tennessee with my husband, 7-year-old daughter, and our goldendoodle Dolly. I’m just a regular girl who likes to workout, travel, hang with my family, text, and eat chips and queso. Be sure to check out my “about me” page for more info!
Thank you for visiting, and feel free to contact me with questions, (or for PR inquiries or press trip invites) at Support@HeathersLookingGlass.com.

Please, no guest post requests. 🙂

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@bobbymontg have different tastes in shows, but there have been many over the years we have watched together. It can be so hard to wait to watch the next episode when you both have time together! 

Do you struggle with this in your relationship? 
What should I watch next? Hulu or Netflix. 
📸 at @anakeesta 

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Emma Kate has been dying to have a fun “yes” a Emma Kate has been dying to have a fun “yes” afternoon, so I put a spin on it! (ad) She chose the cards, and we played basketball, had ice cream (cookies n cream is my fave!) and then we had a dance party in the living room. 

Thanks to our Kube4 portable speaker from @kubesound, we can have fun listening to our favorite songs anytime, anywhere! It has  great sound quality, and a volume up to 103dB!
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We ArE gOiNg To DiSnEy WoRlD! ✨ We have been m We ArE gOiNg To DiSnEy WoRlD! ✨ 

We have been missing our happy place lately, and so we are heading down at the end of the month! I’m still hammering out a few details, but I will share them all when I know all the things!

Having something to look forward to really helps me to get through the cold gloomy months, which is why for years we ran marathon weekend or princess weekend. Let the countdown begin!

Where are you traveling to next?

#animalkingdom #disneycreators #disneymom #disneyaddict #princeshalf #marathonweekend #rundisney #disneylove #disneykid #disneyfamily #disneygram #disneyears #disneyspandora #worldofavatar #travelinfluencer #travelblogger #disneyvacation #disneyoutfit #disneyworld50 #disneyparks
10 Things I’ve learned since moving to Tennessee 10 Things I’ve learned since moving to Tennessee 🍊:

1.) I own exactly one orange shirt. Must get more or risk perpetually feeling out of place.

2.) Rocky top is played all the time. Everywhere. Just because. And people go nuts.

3.) You can find chicken pot pie on almost any menu and at every store.

4.) Most people genuinely want to get to know you and aren’t putting on fronts. Not feeling like I need to keep up with the Joneses is so refreshing. 

5.) The summer gets hot, but it’s cool in the mornings and evenings. I can drink coffee outside in July! This is way different from neighboring states I have lived in further south (3 of them!)

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7.) We don’t have to deal with tornadoes and I didn’t realize how happy it made me until recently. PRAISE. JESUS. Literally one of my least fave things about living further south. 

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9.) There is every restaurant and form of entertainment imaginable here. We make it a point to eat at new places most times we go out and we haven’t even scratched the surface.

10.) We have never been happier or felt more certain about a good but scary decision for our family. Tennessee feels like home, and not a day goes by that I’m not in awe that I get to live here. 
One of my favorite songs came on this morning and I contemplated just how true it is as I sang (ok, and cried.) God’s goodness is running after me, and I’m beyond grateful for his provisions: 
“Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me….and all my life You have been faithful, all my life You have been so, so good. With every breath that I am able, I’m gonna sing of the goodness of God!” 

📷 at @embassysuitesdowntownknox 

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A day in the life on a random Thursday. It’s not A day in the life on a random Thursday. It’s not glamorous but I’m so thankful for my little family and the life we have built. 
Please note I didn’t record every little thing I did or ate, I just tried to hit as much as I could for the video. (I did have lunch, I promise!) 

Also, my @glowbiotics products give me llliiffeee especially the eye cream I showed in the video, it gets rid of puffy, dark eyes. Take the skin quiz at glowbiotics.com to see what products work best for you. Also you can use code HEATHER20 to save 20% off your purchase! 

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At @thefreshmarket , they are offering something called "Little Big Meals" which is such a genius idea and great time saver.  There were three options you piece together yourself but are only available until the end of this month, so shop them while you can.  They feed four and are prepped to cook! So easy! 

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❄️ We are having snow flurries again today. I’m oovveeerrrr it and ready for spring, because January is lasting 85 years. 

It’s our first Tennessee winter and I’m not loving the gloom and rain. But it’s a small price to pay for living in paradise the rest of the year! 
☀️ 
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Are you:
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🌸 Team spring 

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