Has your brand considered a social media takeover? With the right influencer at the helm of your platforms for a day, your target audience could get a fresh perspective. It’s a dynamic way to get cross-promotion using an authentic voice from a trusted resource.
Curious to learn more? Here are some basics of how to do a social media takeover, including how to choose an influencer, what to expect, and best practices to help ensure the event goes smoothly.
What is a social media takeover?
Under the umbrella of social media takeover, there are several options for who would run your brand’s accounts for a set period of time — usually one day. The person or people posting content on your platforms could be an employee, thought leader, consumer, or organization. But one favorite takeover that’s grown exponentially over the past few years is that of the influencer.
Beyond only celebrity or mega-influencers, brands have managed to create fresh content by giving the reins to lesser-known influencers. Brands are successful when they lean into niche experts, new faces, and entertaining creators whose loyal fans follow them anywhere online.
How to find the right influencer for a social media takeover
While it’s tempting to choose an influencer solely based on their number of followers, there are plenty of other factors that could carry more weight in the success of your campaign. Think quality over quality by finding three to five influencers who have:
- A strong presence on the platform they’ll be cross-promoting.
- An ability to match the goals of your campaign.
- Familiarity posting the type of content you’re seeking, like video.
- Good engagement with their followers.
- Knowledge, experience, or a history with your product, service, or brand.
- Experience working with brands, specifically sponsorships, partnerships, or social media takeovers.
- No history of controversial behavior or conflicting opinions on values your company holds.
Rather than sifting through social profiles for hours on end, consider using an influencer marketing platform to find influencers and facilitate a campaign with them.
When you reach out, your proposal should clearly lay out your brand’s goals, timelines, and expectations. You’ll also need to spell out influencer compensation. Most influencers will expect some sort of compensation. The “free post for a free product” deal is rare and usually reserved for new influencers with little to no experience.
For more information on influencer compensation, take a look at our 2022 State of Influencer Earnings™.
Steps involved in a social takeover
Get ready for the takeover by following these steps:
Solidify the content
Once you’ve chosen an influencer for your social takeover and agreed to the basics, you can work together to create a content outline. Some brands ask influencers to get content approval before sharing content while others trust influencers to make the right decisions.
If you’ve worked with an influencer for a few years, for example, you may have a trusted relationship that doesn’t require an approval process.
Promote the event
In the days or weeks leading up to the social media takeover, the influencer should promote the event on their personal accounts and the brand should do the same. Use tags and any designated campaign hashtags on the takeover account and remind the influencer to do the same on their personal accounts. On your brand’s channels, be sure to mention the influencer by name and include their handle.
Create a temporary password
Your team should create a temporary password for your influencer to access your social media accounts, unless you’ll be posting it on their behalf. Be sure to change the temporary password once the event is complete.
Analyze the results
Did you increase followers? Did engagement improve? Were your specific goals, like sales, downloads, sign-ups, or enrollments reached?
Don’t be disappointed if your first social media takeover doesn’t reach your benchmarks. Determine what worked — and what didn’t — and make improvements so you can try again.
Tips to make sure the event goes well
- Put someone in charge of monitoring the account all day in case questions or concerns arise.
- Be sure to check that any links, landing pages, or promotional codes created for that day are working.
- During the takeover, offer guidance and positive feedback to the influencer to let them know you’re supporting them throughout the takeover.
- Ask for feedback from the influencer. Assuming you plan to do another social takeover, with this influencer or someone different, it’s worth it to get their opinion on how the event went and what could be improved upon.
Influencers:
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Marketers:
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