Getting social: hiring an influencer can expand your brand

The Morning Advertiser ​speaks to three top operators about how they’ve got on board with social media influencers to help grow their business.

Businesses use social media influencers as a means to help bolster their business – these individuals have a massive influence over potential customers, thus leading to an influx in trade.

Importance of influence 

“Social media is one of the ingredients needed for a successful business,” claimed Chris Hill, chief executive officer at New World Trading Company (NWTC).

“When launching a brand in a city that we’ve never traded in before, we look for an influencer known in that area to big up our product.

“More so, you need an influencer who gets your brand and is just as passionate as you about getting your business out there."

Hill added that social media is now a "huge part" of NWTC's Florist brand, which sees customers enquire about bookings over multiple social media platforms.

"We want to use influencers who get to the top of people’s Instagram and Twitter – whether we like it or not – it does impact the decisions people make,” Hill explained.

“Almost 60% of our restaurant bookings come through social media, so it’s really important for us to have a presence on our social networking profiles.”

'Proud to represent'

Aaron Mellor, group managing director at Tokyo Industries, the UK’s second largest nightclub operator, echoed Hill’s thoughts about the importance of finding someone that’s proud to represent your brand.

“We prefer to get people to represent our product for free, but it doesn’t always work out like that,” said Mellor.

“We like our influencers to find us – rather than going out to find them – we want someone that’s proud to represent our brand.”

On the topic of paying influencers, Clement Ogbonnaya, licensee of the Prince of Peckham pub, said he would pay for the right influencer. 

“I think it’s cooler when someone else tell you you’re cool,” Ogbonnaya exclaimed.

“I find it key to discovering those really cool sets of people boasting a cult following that can really help your brand elevate.

“We select influencers by looking at our followers, our posts and who’s liked it – this way we stick to our audience."