Social Media Takeover: How it Works

In this day and age, where people flock to social media for information and communication, brands have a unique opportunity to leverage the platforms to their advantage. With the U.S. having the third-largest social media usage globally, companies are using Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to conduct a social media takeover and engage more with their target audience.

But what exactly is a social media takeover? And how can it benefit your business in terms of reach, engagement, and potential sales? We’ll answer these questions by discussing how a social media takeover works! Read on and learn how you can implement it with great success.

What is a social media takeover?

A social media takeover is a form of influencer marketing wherein an influencer gains temporary access to your social media accounts to interact and engage with your target audience. The influencer will post stories, photos, videos, and live feeds to achieve your desired goals. Whether you want to generate more web traffic or create interest in a newly launched product, an influencer can easily tap into a large audience and capture their attention.

Usually, brands collaborate with micro-influencers (50k+ followers) and macro-influencers (500k+ followers) to take over their social media handles. For example, say a brand wants to run a social media takeover for 2 weeks. They’ll contact the influencer and discuss the following:

• The duration of the takeover
• The projected figures after the takeover (increase in sales, web traffic, engagement, etc.)
• The schedule for content creation
• The type of posts the influencer will create
• The social media platforms the influencer will use
• The budget for the takeover

After reaching an agreement, the influencer will have full control of the brand’s social media accounts and engage with the target audience.

What are the benefits of a social media takeover?

A social media takeover brings plenty of advantages to businesses that want to leverage the power influencers have. When implemented correctly, a social media takeover can benefit your brand in many ways, such as:

1. Obtain the trust of your target audience

Influencers do more than just bring eyes to your brand. They obtain consumer trust through their built-in reputation. Influencers provide insights into their personal lives which helps build stronger relationships with their followers. When you collaborate with an influencer that’s relevant to your industry, you tap into the creator’s authenticity and make your brand more relatable to your customers. 

2. Reach new audiences

If you haven’t identified the ideal customer persona for your brand, you can start by reading our article here. It’s essential to have a clear picture of who your ideal buyers are to determine their exact needs and interests. But that doesn’t mean you should just stick with a single audience to sell your products/services.

A social media takeover can introduce you to new audiences with greater effectiveness and authenticity compared to other marketing strategies. Since the creators already have a massive following, you can expose your products to people who might be interested in your brand’s offerings.

3. Build hype around a new product

Launching a new product to the market can feel pretty intimidating, especially for small businesses that are just starting out. Thankfully, influencers can make the job easier by creating hype around your new products. By levering the influencer’s massive follower base, you can quickly spread the word and generate interest for your product launch.

Influencers can offer an exclusive preview to loyal customers and announce the product later to the general public. Doing so creates interest for your existing customers while keeping eyes glued to the product launch once they go live.

How do you execute a social media takeover?

Here comes the fun part; running a social media takeover. If it’s your first time running a social media takeover, don’t worry. Simply follow these steps to ensure your campaign goes as smoothly as possible.

Step 1: Set clear goals for your campaign

The first thing you need to do is define your objectives for your social media takeover. What do you want to achieve with your campaign? Do you want to gain more followers on your social media pages? Or do you want to generate sales with your best-selling products?

It’s important to communicate your goals early on with your chosen influencer so they have an idea of what you expect out of the collaboration. Once you’ve highlighted your goals, the next step is to choose the influencer that will take over your brand’s social media accounts.

Step 2: Choose the right influencer

Perhaps the most crucial step of your social media takeover campaign is choosing the right influencer to handle your accounts. Most brands will look for influencers with huge followings (100k and up) thinking it will drive tremendous amounts of traffic to their pages.

But one thing you need to keep in mind is that when choosing an influencer, you want to collaborate with one that resonates with your brand’s overall messaging. This means working with an influencer that has the same values and principles your brand carries.

Disregard the follower count for a moment and envision how the influencer will fit with your brand. Will your audience relate to the content the influencer puts out? If yes, you’ve found the right influencer for your social media takeover.

Step 3: Present the campaign to your influencer

So you’ve chosen the right influencer for your social media pages and they’re ready to take over. Before you hand over the keys, make sure to present the campaign details to the influencer. Both parties should be in agreement over the type of content and the number of posts in the takeover.

By laying ground rules upfront, your chosen influencer will be able to deliver the content according to your set goals.

Step 4: Keep track of metrics

Once the influencer starts posting on your social media accounts, you want to keep an eye on their content’s performance. Check key performance indicators like reach, engagement, likes, and shares to determine if the content is resonating with your target audience.

If the numbers aren’t meeting your expectations, it’s best to communicate openly with the influencer so they can make adjustments while the takeover is happening. Continue to monitor metrics throughout the takeover’s duration so that you and the influencer are on the same page.

Step 5: Analyze the results

After the social media takeover is done, you want to analyze the results of the campaign to see if you’ve reached your goals. Did you gain more followers on your brand’s social media pages? Did you see an increase in sales numbers from your products? Doing some number-crunching will tell you whether the takeover was a success or if there are improvements that can be made in the future.

If you’re satisfied with the results, feel free to reach out to the influencer and say you want to collaborate with them in the future. If the campaign failed to reach your goals, you may need a better game plan to ensure you achieve the results you desire.

Wrapping up

A social media takeover is a great way to expand your brand’s reach and tap into a larger audience. When implemented correctly, you can develop long-term partnerships with influencers and enrich the content of your social media pages.

Hopefully, this article gives you an insight into how a social media takeover works so that you can start planning for your first campaign.

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