Tag: influencer marketing

Athlete Influencers + Sporting Events = Big Win for Brands

Posted on by Kingfluencers

How Brands Can Win Big Partnering with Athlete Influencers During Sporting Events


The summer of 2024 is an exciting time in the world of sports. The success formula is as follows: Athlete Influencers + Sporting Events = Big Win for Brands, and we show you how.

Germany recently hosted EURO 2024, the 17th edition of the UEFA European Championship, which wrapped up on 14 July. The 2024 Summer Olympics, 33rd Olympiad, will take place in Paris from 26 July to 11 August. The UCI Road and Para-cycling World Championships will be held in Zurich from 21 September to 29 September. Looking ahead to next summer, Switzerland will host the UEFA European Women’s Championship, from 2 July through 27 July 2025.

Sports are always popular, but people seek additional sports-related content before and during these exciting global events.  We’ll provide tips for how your brand can score a “GOOOOOAAAAALLLL” with sports marketing. (Ha, couldn’t resist!) Throughout the article, we’ll also share Kingfluencers’ 10 best Swiss athlete influencers.

Benefits of Marketing with Sports Influencers & Creators

1. Increase your brand’s visibility

Many athletes create content on their own social media, so followers can enjoy watching their athletic prowess beyond official matches and races. Such athlete influencers are a natural fit with athletic brands, including shoes, apparel, and food and supplements. Followers of sports celebrities often engage in the same sport and therefore purchase the various gear required. Who better to recommend the best ski clothing than Swiss snowboarder Nicolas Huber? In addition to ski apparel brand Oneskee, Nicolas promotes health drinks and the Hürlimannbad & Spa in Zürich. He shares his global adventures, occasionally wearing make up like The Joker, complete with the purple suit. Pat Burgener is also a snowboarder and a two-time Olympian as well as musician and actor. He has worked with brands such as Swatch, FOCUSWATER, and Visa.

Athlete influencers provide brands with a way to stand out from the noise. Influencers give brands a real face that people relate to and help connect to consumers. Kickboxing champion Janosch Nietlispach shares adventures with his family and fitness routines in addition to promoting Gatorade, Migros, and BMW, or as Samsung ambassador, also for the Youth Olympic Games. Professional football player Ana Markovic is also an entrepreneur who is launching her own brand of innovative vegan protein water, RELOADZ.  With Kingfluencers, Ana is part of the Ochsner Shoes annual campaign. 

As followers enjoy both playing their sport and engaging with the influencers’ content, your brand can benefit from this connection. Athlete influencers can help you engage with their audience, sharing relatable brand messaging and building brand loyalty.

Tamara Glück Gonzalez, Teamlead Influencer Strategy & Relations at Kingfluencers, also states:

“It is highly advisable to integrate athletes into the influencer mix for certain campaigns. They hold significant PR relevance, and their followers, who admire them for their athletic achievements and image, view them as role models. These athletes often have a large reach and a strong connection to their community within their country, making them especially suited for long-term image campaigns. Additionally, their accounts become particularly attractive during sports events, as the momentum can be leveraged with creative storytelling.”

2. Connect with communities you may not reach otherwise

There’s no reason for sports influencers to limit their brand partnerships to the realm of sports. Athletes can be particularly helpful in connecting your brand with communities you may not reach otherwise.

From handbags and skincare to cars and travel, athletes consume many products and services, and their followers are interested in their endorsements and insights. But also values can be transported. For example, swimmer Noam Yaron uses world records in swimming to draw attention to the environmental pollution of the oceans. He has been collaborating with Kingfluencers for many years, including in the yallo campaign or Emmi Caffè Latte. Artistic gymnast and three-time Olympian Giulia Steingruber partners with Zak, the first real Swiss bank on your smartphone, or with Kingfluencers for Granini Hohes C. Swiss sprinter Sarah Atcho-Jaquier and two times Olympian partnered with Kingfluencers for the Gatorade campaign or Soda Stream. Snowboarder and three-time Swiss Olympian David Hablützel shares his athletic adventures as well as humorous content and promotes the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 phone or Dry Migros products. Some athlete influencers also partner with luxury brands. Tennis player and Olympic gold and silver medalist Belinda Bencic has worked with Mercedes and Bongenie Grieder. With Kingfluencers, she has been acting as a brand ambassador for L’Oréal Paris.

Sarah Schmid, Head of Marketing at Kingfluencers, makes aware of the role social media has played in making highlights, storylines, and community more accessible, breaking down barriers and allowing fans to watch any sport through infinite streams and channels:

“Niche communities are the heartbeat of sports marketing. By tapping into these passionate and engaged groups, brands can build authentic connections and drive loyalty that extends far beyond the game. It’s not just about the numbers; it’s about creating meaningful, lasting relationships.”

3. Partner with athlete influencers during major sporting events for a boost

Of course, brands can work with athlete influencers at any time, but partnering with athletes during major sporting events can result in a synergistic boost to your campaign. 

Even though these are competitions, the rivalries are generally friendly, and global audiences watch with good will. The huge visibility of these championship events delivers great opportunities for brands to generate buzz around your product or service in a fun atmosphere, surrounded by people enjoying themselves. #Euro2024 was tagged in more than 1.7 million Instagram posts and two million TikToks.

People also typically enjoy food and drinks while watching a sporting event. Conveniently, a football match lasts as long as Zweifel Chips’ new limited edition 90-minute pack. In a recent campaign, Kingfluencers’ creators demonstrated their creative ways to unbox this perfect snack for friends and family to enjoy together.

Member of the Swiss national women’s football team Alayah Pilgrim has promoted Coca-Cola. With Kingfluencers, she has implemented almost 60 influencer campaigns, including many for L’Oréal as brand ambassador for CeraVe and Garnier Skincare. 

Brands can also use influencers for pre-event promotions and live event coverage. In addition to excellent audience engagement, this can generate real-time interaction and feedback from fans.

Many major sporting events also stretch across several weeks and reach large worldwide audiences. Content creators can share authentic good vibes and promote your product in a way that doesn’t feel like a promotion. During Euro 2024, former football manager Harry Redknapp worked with LADbible and Walkers Crisps to promote its crisp pint for the summer of football, achieving a 2.51% engagement rate. According to CORQ., Redknapp also teamed up with Sorare to talk about its fantasy football league (0.04% engagement rate).

Digiday recently described Euro 2024 as “a big step change” for the areas advertisers will rely on. In addition to increases in television ad spending, “many brands are increasing their spend on influencer partnerships, and increasing paid social budgets to amplify influencer content and reach viewers on their second screens. That reflects shifts in sports viewing habits since the last Euros, which took place when TikTok was barely a feature in most marketing plans.”

Best Practices Marketing with Sports Influencers: Cross-Platform Activation

Maximize your reach by utilizing various platforms. In addition to social media channels like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter), consider incorporating OOH advertising options and TV. Partnering with Kingfluencers makes it easy to expand your campaigns. Kingfluencers’ TV Spots combine the power of video, TV, and influencer marketing. With our newest partnership and creation of a joint influence media network with Goldbach, we can extend any social media campaign to the content network – including online advertising in networks like 20 Minuten, TV, and even out-of-home, which covers a wide array of advertising options in Switzerland, such as billboards, digital displays, and megaposters.

The Link Between Your Brands & Creators

By working with athlete influencers, you can fuse the excitement of sporting events with authentic brand advocacy. With the proper strategy, the result is a synergy, with the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Kingfluencers serves as a link between brands and creators. Reach out to us to explore how we can help you team up with influencers and creators  – ATHLETES or not –  to build campaigns that amplify your brand messages before, during, or after sports events, ensuring a seamless connection.

Kingfluencers’ 10 Best Swiss Athlete Influencers (no particular order)

  1. Member of the Swiss national women’s football team Alayah Pilgrim has also promoted Garnier skincare and Coca-Cola. With Kingfluencers, she has implemented almost 60 influencer campaigns, including L’Oréal as brand ambassador for CeraVe.
  2. Swiss snowboarder Nicolas Huber shares his global adventures, occasionally made up like The Joker – purple suit included. He works with brands including Oneskee ski apparel, health drinks, and the Hürlimannbad & Spa in Zürich. For Kingfluencers, he will be part of the new MSD campaign that goes live in summer, promoting the importance about HPV knowledge.
  3. Swiss sprinter Sarah Atcho-Jaquierr took part in the 4 × 100 meter relay at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, the 2016 Olympic Games, and the 2017 World Championships in London and partnered with Kingfluencers for the Gatorade campaign or Soda Stream. She also partners with adidas, Maurice Lacroix or Raiffeisen.
  4. David Hablützel is also a snowboarder and three-time Swiss Olympian and shares his athletic adventures along with humorous content. Dave promotes the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 phone and Chiefs’ vitamin milk. For Kingfluencers, he did a cool brand activation for the Dry Migros Campaign. 
  5. Professional footballer Ana Markovic is also an entrepreneur who is launching her own brand of innovative vegan protein water, RELOADZ. For Kingfluencers, Ana is part of the Ochsner Shoes annual campaign. 

6. Kickboxing champion Janosch Nietlispach shares fitness routines, adventures with his family, and promotes different brands from BMW to Nivea personal care products. With Kingfluencers he has implemented over 70 campaigns, including as Samsung ambassador, also for the Youth Olympic Games, for comparis, Gatorade, and Migros.

7. Swimmer Noam Yaron uses world records in swimming to draw attention to the environmental pollution of the oceans. He has been collaborating with Kingfluencers for many years, including in the yallo campaign or Emmi Caffè Latte.

8. Tennis player and Olympic gold and silver medalist Belinda Bencic has worked with Mercedes and Bongenie Grieder. For Kingfluencers, she was part of multiple L’Oréal Paris campaigns.

9. Pat Burgener is a snowboarder and two-time Olympian as well as musician and actor. He has worked with brands such as Swatch, FOCUSWATER, and Visa.

10. Artistic gymnast and three-time Olympian Giulia Steingruber partners with Zak, the first real Swiss bank on your smartphone. With Kingfluencers, she was part of the Granini Hohes C campaign.

Kingfluencers at OMR 2024

Posted on by Kingfluencers

We were back again this year at the OMR in Hamburg! This time with much more insights, stories, great panels, speakers, and most importantly – a lot of fun and inspiring takeaways. Let’s take you through the 2 days of great and interesting networking and learning.

This year the OMR has had over 70k visitors, 4 expo halls with 500+ exhibitors (including Kingfluencers), 7 stages with 800+ speakers, 240 masterclasses, 100 guided tours, and afterparties. Once again, the OMR stood out for its extravagant speakers like Kim Kardashian, Rick Rubin, Sabrina Ellis, and many more.

In case you missed our exclusive newsletter or didn’t follow us along on LinkedIn and Instagram, here’s a short recap with our highlights and learnings.

On-Site Consulting, Exciting Booth Activations, and Fabulous Giveaways

Let’s start with our Kingfluencers booth: we were able to upgrade to a bigger space to offer you more entertainment, more fun, and most importantly: more Kingfluencers, located at Hall A3, Stand C09. Not only were you able to talk to our consultants, but you could also snatch a quick snack from our popcorn machine, get some cool gadgets like a phone ring light, or participate in our OMR quiz to upgrade your next trip.

Oh, and not sure if you saw, but Kim K visited us at our booth 😉

Did you miss this year’s OMR and didn’t have a chance to talk to us or want to continue the conversation?

No worries, you can always contact us or leave us a message.

Contact us

Unlocking Expertise: Key Takeaways from Kingfluencers’ Masterclass Sessions

1. Decoding social communities

The focus of this masterclass was how brands need to understand communities, communicate with them as equals, and give them a platform to generate sustainable brand love and brand loyalty. So, how do you decode social communities?

Content is the heart of TikTok

Importance of Content: Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri emphasizes that views and likes are more important than follower numbers. TikTok prioritizes relevant content, leading to the formation of communities around specific interests, such as BookTok, FashionTok, and FoodTok.

Characteristics of Social Communities

  • Themes: Wide variety of topics with sub-themes (e.g., 5AmClub with Morning Person with ADHD, Women in Business).
  • Language: Unique terms and codes to bypass algorithms (e.g., “#Seggs” instead of “sex”).
  • Aesthetics: Visual and cultural expressions enhance the sense of community.

Brand Strategy: Brands should speak the language of these communities and provide a platform for them to foster sustainable brand loyalty.

Be in the right space for the right reason

“The rise of a new marketing zeitgeist has shifted the paradigm for marketers. Although many might not be fully aware! We all know digital is key for example. But merely existing in the digital sphere or focusing on general metrics such as having the biggest share of voice is not a basis for competitive advantage and doesn’t lead to success anymore perse; instead, it’s all about getting the right message out in credible ways to the right people, being truly seen, heard, understood and appreciated, or even loved, by forging meaningful connections with one’s focus consumers and communities.” – Yoeri Callebaut, CEO at Kingfluencers

Tools for Decoding Social Communities:

  • AI-Based Content Screening: Analyzes shared content.
  • AI-Based Community-Feedback Screening: Examines comments.
  • Search Screening: Analyzes TikTok search queries.

Benefits: These approaches help brands better connect with social communities, develop targeted campaigns, and identify specific audiences for paid media strategies.

2. The Tiktok Creator Game

Redefining Engagement: TikTok’s Masterclass in Community Strategy

TikTok’s latest masterclass has changed the game for digital engagement. The big lesson? Brands should be “always in,” not just “always on.” Here’s how this approach can transform your brand strategy:

  • Community-Centric Engagement:
    Move beyond a constant presence to active participation within your target communities. Genuine interactions build deeper connections with your audience.
  • The Spillover Effect:
    Influencers and creators transfer their authentic connections to your brand, boosting visibility and credibility.
  • “Stay & Play” Strategy:
    Identify your core community (“stay”) but also explore new, unexpected spaces (“play”). For example, a fashion brand can thrive in Hashtag#FashionTok and make a splash in Hashtag#FoodTok, reaching new audiences with surprising content.
  • Authentic Connections
    Combine maintaining your core identity with exploring new avenues to create dynamic, authentic engagement.
  • Amplify Real-Life Engagement
    Be genuinely involved in community activities to create a more immersive and impactful brand presence.

Culture First, Community Second, Commercial Follows

“Brands must actively engage with and contribute to culture. Consider FC St. Pauli von 1910 e.V.’s commitment to social justice, community engagement, and alternative culture; or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that evolved from a sport to a culture brand by putting their community first. In today’s world, brands must establish a world around their brand and create a space where their community wants to belong. By doing so, commercial success will naturally follow.” – Dominique Hufschmid, Director of Strategy, Marketing & Innovation at Kingfluencers

3. TikTok Retail Revolution

In this masterclass, they showed measurement metrics and methods presented by TikTok Germany. It was also shown how to measure the impact of TikTok campaigns on retail/offline/in-store shopping and they displayed a Unilever case study. The main key takeaways are:

  • TikTok offers 3 methods for customers to include offline data: (1) offline API (2) manual upload (3) third-party solutions
  • TikTok facilitates the same consumer needs as a shopping experience: convenience, comfort, confidence
  • TikTok partners closely with brands and develops technology to track consumer behavior in detail
  • TikTok wants to prove its relevance and power in the offline world
  • Effective measurement principles by TikTok that allow clients to measure consumer journey from TikTok interaction to full conversion (including offline events such as in-store visits)
  • The TikTok experience satisfies the same needs that consumers have in store: convenience, connection, confidence

4. Reddit

This Reddit Masterclass taught us how to use contextual information to make the brand stand out and even sell products and services. Additionally, it also talked about how to involve the brand in the communities and be part of the talk and how to generate brand connection. The key takeaway points are the following:

  • 90% of consumers don’t trust influencers according to Reddit -> Reddit serves as an additional channel to verify based on user feedback and thereby is basically a UGC platform
  • Cookies are phasing out -> there is a need for a new way to target audience
  • Brands can have profiles/pages and a significant presence on Reddit
  • Privacy statements and rules are more and more stringent so also here it becomes more and more difficult to target people
  • Reddit remains rather anonymous 
  • +100k communities in various niches
  • Available in German as the first non-English language -> Germany (and DACH) is a big region for Reddit’s increasing impact

Influencer does not equal Influence

“True influence goes beyond superficial metrics and requires depth, authenticity, and meaningful engagement. Building influence requires creating genuine connections, fostering trust, and adding value to people’s lives. It’s about sharing authentic stories, championing causes, and inspiring others to take action. In today’s digital landscape, real influence is measured increasingly by the positive impact you make and the values you represent as a person.” – Dominique Hufschmid, Director of Strategy, Marketing & Innovation at Kingfluencers

Inspiring Voices: OMR Speakers Who Captivated the Kingfluencers Team

Kim Kardashian
Media Personality, Entrepreneur & Actress

About the difference between public perception and self-identification and her most important lessons:

  • Kim doesn’t view herself as an entrepreneur. Her answers reflect a confident mother making smart business decisions, but she prioritizes her public figure persona over a business identity. 
  • Kim gained fame through TV (and a tape, but TV made her a household name). This seems very early 2000s, but it remains a solid pathway to fame.
  • Be quick to adopt trends (her mobile game “Hollywood” & early VR adoption). Yet, she expressed caution and ambivalence about AI, which is surprising given Kris Jenner’s reputation for strategic planning.
  • The way she deals with negative comments is: “Post and Ghost” – to protect her mental health Kim posts and leaves the Instagram app.
Larisa Topalo

“Before Kim came on stage MC asked the audience how many are her fans. Out of 8,000 people, only about 70 raised their hand. And yet, she packed 3 stages at OMR (main stage & two livestreams). This feels like a great analogy for influencers in general – very few people publicly or in casual conversation, will admit to liking influencers, and yet as a society we are fascinated, curious, and following them by the millions.” – Larisa Topalo, Chief Influencer, Brand Strategy & Creative Officer at Kingfluencers

Scott Galloway
Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern & Bestselling Author

His top predictions for 2024

  • GLP-1s, a class of medication used for diabetes and obesity. Scott names The hype of wellness, health, and fitness and the demographic development trend towards more obesity as the main reasons why.
  • Meta’s next growth vehicle: To use WhatsApp as a Social Media tool. People read all the messages in WhatsApp, which makes it a great tool to connect with consumers.
  • The biggest impact of AI? Loneliness! Disproportionately concerning the male population which also explains the rise of AI Girlfriend.
  • Scott ended his Keynote encouraging attendees to connect with their close friends and to ask them “How are you doing?” and then ask them again “No, honestly, how are you?”

Alisa Jahnke
Co-Founderin PURELEI

Key strategies that helped PURELEI grow through the Covid crisis

  • Profit goals instead of revenue goals
  • A 1% price increase made the most impact, followed by 1% COG reductions. While a 1% volume increase and 1% overhead reduction didn’t have a huge effect.
  • Higher barriers of entrance resulted in 40% less order but 70% more profit for Purelei. Focus on the high-end customers instead of hoping low-end clients might eventually have a high CLV.
  • Have fewer options. Focus on your heroes, and build new products based on what you know already works, for example, variations and extensions of your hero products.

Philipp Westermeyer
Founder OMR 

Roland Eisenbrand
Editor-in-Chief OMR Daily & Head of Content OMR Festival

The 4 Cs of AI

  • Content: How to utilize AI generated Content wie Content KI-basiert erstellt und genutzt werden kann
  • Cost Efficiency: Bundling Customer Feedback for Advertisement quickly and get real added value 
  • Concern: The technology does come with security risks such as digital robber barons stealing data from competitors
  • Customer: AI can influence purchasing decisions

Winners & Losers

  • Loser: Second-Tier Companies in the Tech Sector
  • Loser: Trust, as more misinformation and fake content is spread
  • Winner: Book Clubs spread like wildfire thanks to formats like #BookTok
  • Winner: Recognition through Signature moves
  • Winner: India is experiencing exponential growth 

#OMR24 was a blast!

Exciting talks, inspiring speakers, masterclasses, and a lot of lasting impressions.

And WOW, what a cool team we have at Kingfluencers! A huge thanks goes out to our team for making this event an unforgettable experience off and behind the scenes. The team spirit and cooperation once again showed what we can achieve together.

Any feedback, questions, or comments, or wanna chat over coffee?

Talk to us

Finance Influencers Provide Education Consumers Are Clamoring For

Posted on by Kingfluencers

Brands in industries like fashion, beauty, and travel have worked with influencers for years now to give their brands a real face that people relate to, stand out from the noise, and connect to consumers. People are increasingly turning to social media for guidance on a wide variety of topics, including finance. A “finfluencer” is an influencer who creates finance-related content that advises consumers on topics such as personal finance, stock market trading, and mutual funds.

Rise in Self-Directed Investing

“DIY” is an increasingly popular approach to investing. Inyova conducted one of the largest Swiss research projects on investment habits to date. When asked, “Who manages your investments?” 55% selected, “I manage it myself.”

Unfortunately, self-directed investing isn’t always conducted with a solid data-based strategy. According to a survey commissioned by the German financial regulator BaFin, 30% of people under 40 had invested money using “copy trading” in the past two years (copying the trading strategies of supposedly successful investors.)

There has been very little financial education geared toward helping the average consumer get up to speed, leaving people struggling with a lack of financial literacy. Finfluencers have been stepping in to fill this need. The Financial Times writes, “A jump in self-directed investing has been partly propelled by a surge in the sway of financial influencers.

Cynthia Hofmann, Senior Marketing Manager at PostFinance: We have noticed a growing interest in financial topics at PostFinance. This has been particularly evident in recent years with the increased focus on “women and finance”. At the same time, the crypto boom has also awakened young people’s interest in financial matters. The availability of numerous neobanks, which are primarily accessible via apps, has made banking simpler and cheaper. For example, pension accounts or funds can be opened with just a few clicks, often on more favorable terms than with traditional banks. The rising cost of living is also forcing many people to take a closer look at financial matters.

Significant Need for Financial Guidance

Income, assets, and savings rates have increased in Switzerland in recent years. According to a ZHAW study, three-quarters of Swiss people also feel comfortable with their financial situation. However, a staggering 44% of Swiss people have never made financial investment, despite 86% of Swiss people being willing to save and plan. 70% state their reason for not investing is a lack of financial literacy. 

Brands can fill this gap by serving as that trusted source of knowledge, which can empower consumers to feel comfortable making investments. By partnering with an established finfluencer, brands can benefit from their accessibility, trust, and reach to educate their target audience and turn them into customers.

Significant Need for Financial Guidance

Income, assets, and savings rates have increased in Switzerland in recent years. According to a ZHAW study, three-quarters of Swiss people also feel comfortable with their financial situation. However, a staggering 44% of Swiss people have never made financial investment, despite 86% of Swiss people being willing to save and plan. 70% state their reason for not investing is a lack of financial literacy. 

Brands can fill this gap by serving as that trusted source of knowledge, which can empower consumers to feel comfortable making investments. By partnering with an established finfluencer, brands can benefit from their accessibility, trust, and reach to educate their target audience and turn them into customers.

Finance Chat is Taboo

How to manage and grow your personal wealth can be a complex topic, one which many people are uncomfortable discussing. Only 26% of respondents to the ZHAW study would like to talk about finance, even with good acquaintances.These substantial gaps in both investments, finance knowledge, and trusted sources of advice represent huge opportunities for brands that can help educate consumers. Influencers who provide easily digestible pieces of content can help audiences gradually climb the learning curve.

Finfluencers Provide Needed Advice

Many influencers are already supporting their followers’ journeys to financial wellness for free. According to an October 2021 Bloomberg article, “Wall Street ‘finfluencers’ are earning more than bankers.” For example, UK-based “Self-made millionaire” Mark Tilbury provides “money and success tips” to 7.1M followers on TikTok and 2.25M subscribers on YouTube.

With people hungry for insights and guidance, finfluencers such as Faares Quadri can grow large followings. Quadri has over 2.7M followers on TikTok where he breaks common financial concepts and instruments down and walks his audience through the specifics. 

ellexx founder Patrizia Laeri shared her views on the advantage of finfluencers compared to traditional financial education: “At ellexx, we comprehensively empower women financially and guide them without any financial jargon, always at eye level with lovingly designed, appealing, and stirring articles, research, checklists, and tools.”

The SIX Group, which operates the infrastructure for Swiss financial centers including the Swiss exchange, has recognized the value of finfluencers. SIX asked Swiss financial bloggers, Stefan Huser, Melina Scheuber, Reto Stalder and Fabio Marchesin to participate in a panel discussion at the 2022 BörsenTalk Flagship Event with the mission of introducing the audience to their “infotainment” work. The group shared origin stories and discussed various, sometimes controversial, topics such as the tension between independence and commerce, and why the most important blog articles are not the most successful.

Cynthia Hofmann, Senior Marketing Manager at PostFinance: Finfluencers have become a central figure in the field of financial education. With information flooding the internet, they differentiate themselves through their independence and reputation for neutral opinion. This makes them a valued resource for many individuals. In contrast to traditional banks, which are often perceived as distant, finfluencers communicate in a way that is familiar to their followers.

Financial Feminism

The Inyova survey found that 65% of Swiss women have never invested, compared to just 20% of men – a fact that numerous finfluencers are working to rectify. This social shift inspired the establishment of companies like ellexx universe AG, who are focusing on closing the gender investment gap by encouraging women to learn to invest. The fintech company offers coaching, money hacks courses, checklists, financial products, and daily articles. 

Kingfluencers asked Patrizia Laeri about the increasing public interest in finance. “When we launched our platform two and a half years ago, ‘women and finance’ were hardly a topic in Switzerland. Now, more and more traditional banks are jumping on the bandwagon, trying to appeal to women. However, their executive boards and boards of directors remain predominantly male. This is ‘pinkwashing’ and not credible. In Western Europe and North America, women control 75 percent of purchasing decisions. Consumption means influence. And investing means even greater influence. Nonetheless, a lot has changed. The topic is present and the offerings for women are increasing. ”

Finfluencers Must be Credible

All influencers must disclose when posts are paid brand promotions, but financial content brings added complexity. Stylish influencers can recommend products such as eyeglasses, food, and makeup, sharing their photos and recipes. Exaltations that a product is comfortable, delicious, or beautiful are all personal opinions, but finfluencers are making statements which could be factually incorrect, particularly if they run afoul of investing laws.

Sortlist surveyed 1,000 users who follow health and financial influencers to understand their impact on purchasing decisions compared to the recommendations of experts from those sectors. 

1 in 5 users trust influencers more than their doctors and financial advisors. 46.51% of German respondents said that the help of financial influencers had a positive impact on their investment decisions.

The Sortlist study described the role specialists and influencers can both play in helping communities. “Overall, the easy access to influencers makes them the ideal source of inspiration, sparking the first desire to change lifestyle or develop a routine.” People turn to professionals for more details as well as the personalized service they can provide.

Money expert Tori Dunlap is a successful, inspiring finfluencer who doesn’t have a traditional financial background. Tori founded Her First $100K with a mission of leading the financial feminist movement. With a best-selling book, popular podcast, social media campaigns, and live speaking engagements, Tori and her team guide audiences through making more, spending less, and feeling financially confident.

Tips for Working with Finfluencers

Kingfluencers recently wrote about how to select and work with an expert influencer. When considering partnering with any influencer, it’s important to view their track record. With experts, including finfluencers, you should additionally evaluate their formal credentials. Do they have the requisite education?

Formal certifications give a finfluencer more credibility. However, a variety of laws cover what financial advice finance professionals are permitted to give publicly. Many finfluencers are simply individuals proficient in personal finance. In this landscape, it’s difficult for brands to determine who would be a good potential partner. Working with an experienced influencer marketing agency like Kingfluencers substantially lowers your risk of collaborating with someone short on credibility and ending up in a PR disaster.Brands may also want to consider providing some compliance training for finfluencers prior to campaign kick-off. CFA advises, “Investment companies that use finfluencers should provide them with compliance training if not already doing so and ensure that finfluencers clearly disclose when they are promoting content or are sponsored.”

Brands Succeed Partnering with Finfluencers

CFA took a deep dive into the world of finfluencers and wrote that some financial firms are hiring finfluencers to engage with young investors (those aged 18–25). The NAGA platform, a German fintech company, says it cooperates with up to a hundred finfluencers.

In India, the top finfluencers have more YouTube subscribers than new-age broking firms. Considering India’s low financial literacy rate of 27%, these content creators play a vital role in educating citizens. Leading broking firms are engaging popular finfluencers to reach out to potential investors.

A Swiss Success Story

Credit Suisse is a recent Kingfluencers success story with CSX App, a secure remote banking solution

  • Impressions: More than 2.2 M
  • Reach: More than 1.3 M
  • Engagement-Rate: 3.2%
  • The campaign reached 3.7k link clicks

Mobiliar with combining a creative contest with Influencer Marketing.

  • Impressions: More than 500 K
  • Reach: +26% vs forecasted
  • The inclusion of the creative contest generated more than 80k website visits.

Generali insurance’s podcast episode about women and pension.

  • Impressions: More than 240 K
  • Reach: More than 130 K
  • The campaign reached +70% vs forecasted on link clicks.

 View the case study to see successful campaigns from numerous Kingfluencers’ clients in the banking and insurance sectors.

Trends Guide 2024 Q2

Posted on by Kingfluencers

Top 5 digital marketing trends for Q2 2024 and how to quickly join in

Influencer marketing and beyond

Welcome back to the second installment of our quarterly Digital Marketing Trends Guide. We’ve investigated the latest trends and shared how you can leverage them to engage with our audiences and build digital brand equity.

Here are our top 5 digital marketing trends for Q2 2024 you need to know about:

  1. SOCIAL MEDIA AS SEARCH ENGINE
  2. TRADITIONAL SECTORS EVOLVE THEIR MARKETING
  3. VIRTUAL EVENTS AND EXPERIENCES
  4. BACK TO BASICS WITH RAW CONTENT
  5. SHORT FORM SERIES

Eager to learn more? Check out the full digital marketing trends for 2024 Q2 and download our Trends Guide below!

Trends Guide 2024 Q2

Questions? Reach out to us anytime. Click here to find out more about our Digital Influence Programs and our expertise within the field and beyond.

Expert Influencers Raise Your Brand’s Credibility: Why & How to Work with Them

Posted on by Kingfluencers

We’ve written often about the importance of authenticity and credibility. Expert influencers are uniquely suited to help elevate your brand’s credibility. We’ll explain what expert influencers are, how they differ from their traditional counterparts, and how to select and work with them.

What are Expert Influencers?

Experts are people with extensive knowledge and/or skills in one particular area. They’re viewed as authorities, but may not always have the largest social media following. With extensive professional acumen, experts are typically informative more than aspirational.

Focused on their primary area of study or practice, they may not often engage in activities that build an audience on purpose, such as posting new content frequently and following trends. Even experts with a smaller following can be valuable partners, as they lend their credibility to your brand, helping you gain trust from your audience.

Fabio A. Marchesin, better known as Finanzfabio, said, “As an expert financial planner, I feel a certain pressure to create more added value and, above all, to provide correct information. My aim is to create a clean basis and then go into more depth to provide thought processes that no one else can offer. While my work is intended to serve non-professionals, my colleagues in the financial sector also find it useful for further training or exam preparation.”

Quality Over Quantity – Expertise is More Important Than Follower Count

Many brands partner with celebrity influencers in order to reach millions while gaining the personal endorsement of a popular individual. However, some consumers have become disillusioned with outmoded influencers who can be artificial and unrelatable while excessively pushing products. According to Trustpilot, celebrity influencers have the lowest level of trust among consumers – two-thirds (67% in the US and 65% in the UK) describe their level of trust in this source of information as ‘low’.

Expert influencers can serve as an antidote. 41% of consumers trust expert reviews, whereas only 13% trust advertising.

Veronica Kiriak, Doctor and Content Creator, shared her views on how brands and followers have different expectations of experts as compared to classic creators. “As a doctor and influencer at the same time, you have to act a little differently than classic creators. I choose my collaboration partners very carefully and always pay attention to legal and medical principles. Brands often place particular value on the authenticity of my medical expertise, while my followers are primarily looking for reliable information. It requires a balance to meet the expectations of both sides.”

How Do Expert Influencers Help Brands?

Collaborating with people who bring the credibility of formal education and expert credentials can help brands stand out, and can be particularly advantageous in the beauty industry. As marketer Polly Petrova writes “the beauty sector has become more cautious when it comes to collaborating with influencers. It seems the industry is trying to lessen the ‘influence’ of influencers.”

Many beauty influencers post their personal daily skincare routines and preferred brands. However, a dermatologist brings exceptional credibility, with a trustworthiness that’s hard to beat. Dr. Liv Kraemer shares best and easy #skincare routine tips with her more than 243K TikTok followers. Dr. Liv also sells products made in Switzerland that she developed inspired by decades of dermatology insight.

When partnering with an expert, your brand benefits from their credibility in addition to gaining access to their audience. Experts can be especially skilled at explaining complex concepts and bringing clarity to technical jargon. “Finanz Fabio” provides financial education on his podcast and shares podcast snippets on TikTok, along with street interviews he conducts.

Expert influencers also fulfill the need for industry-specific knowledge that B2B buyers have throughout lengthy, complex sales processes.

Experts Influencers Continue Working in Their Profession

For many traditional influencers, social media content creation and brand partnerships are their primary sources of income. OTOH, experts make a living with careers distinct from social media. For example, dermatologist Dr. Liv still sees patients in her clinic and Fabio provides personal financial consulting services.

Continuing to work in their profession means expert influencers:

  • Keep their knowledge current
  • Have new real-world experiences
  • Must maintain a positive reputation

The need to maintain their reputation prevents experts from promoting brands they don’t believe in, further strengthening their trustworthiness with audiences. Regardless of what percentage of their income is generated by content creation, their influencer career relies on their professional credibility. It’s not worth risking any threat to that credibility for a questionable brand partnership.

Veronica Kiriak said, “My content creation process requires more research to ensure my medical statements are accurate. At the same time, I try to present the information in an entertaining and accessible way to keep my community’s attention. I have high expectations of myself, especially in terms of the quality and accuracy of my medical advice. It’s important to be transparent when it comes to the boundaries of my expertise and to always create a safe space for questions from my followers.”

How to Select and Work with an Expert Influencer

1. Start with your Marketing Goals

We’ve discussed how expert influencers differ from their traditional counterparts, but when partnering with any influencer, your goal is still to build digital brand equity. While some aspects may differ, it’s important not to abandon your existing processes for building successful campaigns.

Alter your Influencer Evaluation Criteria & Examine Their Credentials

When considering partnering with any influencer, it’s important to view their track record. With experts, you should additionally evaluate their formal credentials. Do they have the requisite education? Are they certified with the relevant board, such as with surgeons and architects? Can you confirm that after obtaining both the education and credentials, they also have real-world experience working in the field? 

2. Pitch Your Brand to the Expert

Considering their need to carefully guard their reputation, experts can be particularly discerning about the brands they work with. You may have to invest time in selling your brand to the expert. This could involve a more detailed, technical analysis of your product, such as examining ingredients or production processes.

3. Be Flexible with Payment Structure & Recognize Added Value

Again, brand promotions aren’t their primary focus, so you may need to compensate experts with a different type of payment structure. Scrunch advises, “…they might be more expensive as you are really purchasing their time, experience, and credibility. Almost think of it as paying a consultant, rather than an influencer.” The value you receive from working with an expert extends beyond access to their community. Your brand earns a seal of approval from a knowledgeable expert. These engagements might also be longer term.

4. Maximize Use of Their Expertise

Instead of asking them to merely promote your product, think of additional ways their expertise can benefit your brand. Ask them to sit for an interview, speak at a conference or webinar, write a blog with their top tips, or provide feedback on your new product innovations.

5. Make the Content Keep Working for you

Increase the value of these collaborations with performance marketing (boosting content to reach even higher KPIs). Consider multi-touch attribution models and use every channel strategically.

Get Started with the Best Expert Influencer Matches for Your Brand

As the leading full-service influencer marketing agency in Switzerland and beyond, Kingfluencers can help you select and collaborate with influencers of all types, whether B2C, B2B, expert, or traditional. We help give brands a real face that people relate to, stand out from the noise, and connect to consumers. 

Trends Guide 2024 Q1

Posted on by Kingfluencers

Top 5 digital marketing trends for Q1 2024 and how to adopt to build brand equity.

Influencer marketing and beyond

At Kingfluencers, we’re fortunate to work in a dynamic industry that’s constantly evolving. We often leverage new approaches to help our clients engage with their audiences and build digital brand equity. In this new, quarterly trends guide, we’ll investigate the latest trends and – most importantly – how you can adopt them.

Here are our top 5 digital marketing trends for Q1 2024 you need to know about:

  1. AR MARKETING IS MERGING DIGITAL EXPERIENCES WITH REAL-LIFE
  2. ART INSTALLATION ADVERTISING: LEVERAGE THE CREATIVE EDGE OF ART INSTALLATIONS FOR ORGANIC PR
  3. THE POTENTIAL OF VIRTUAL INFLUENCERS
  4. BRANDS ENGAGING AND BUILDING CONNECTIONS: COMPANY MASCOT TURNED INFLUENCER
  5. LEARNING NEW WAYS TO WORK THROUGH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Eager to learn more? Check out the full digital marketing trends for 2024 Q1 and download our Trends Guide below!

Questions? Reach out to us anytime. Click here to find out more about our Digital Influence Programs and our expertise within the field and beyond.

Beyond Influence: The Powerful Opportunities within Digital Influence

Posted on by Kingfluencers

At Kingfluencers, we understand that influencer marketing is part of a much bigger field. We encourage brands to think beyond influence to digital brand equity. In this blog series, we’ll cover how brands can establish, strengthen, and grow long-term brand equity through digital influence programs. First, we’ll explain what we mean by that and what lies beyond traditional influence.

What is Digital Brand Equity?

Digital brand equity is the value of brand recognition and brand perception in the digital space. Digital brand equity is a core pillar to competitive advantage. It has a positive influence on people’s purchasing decisions and is a key determinant of the brand’s overall success. 

→ Defining factors for a brand’s digital equity include:

digital brand equity

What is Digital Influence?

Digital influence is the online equivalent of brand equity. It refers to a brand’s ability to affect and strengthen people’s perceptions, opinions, preferences, and decisions related to your brand versus competing ones. Digital influence is the ability of a brand to take ownership of the influence they have to impact perceptions and – most importantly– decisions.

Like digital brand equity, digital influence is a key determinant of the brand’s overall success. Digital influence strategies enhance your brand’s ability to take that control and ownership to shape perceptions. It is a means to an end. You can build digital brand equity through a variety of digital branding and influencer strategies.

By impacting decisions, you can drive revenue by encouraging people to:

  • Purchase your brand over competitors by building competitive advantage and elevating brand preference
  • Increase expenditures through upgrades and additional purchases
  • Remain loyal customers over time to increase customer loyalty, generate more revenue, and improve profitability
  • Recommend your brand to their friends by sparking intrinsic advocacy and strengthening your brand community
  • Work for your brand, enabling you to recruit and retain the best employees and strengthen your employer branding
digital presence

Digital Influence = Huge Component of Overall Brand Equity

For many brands, the majority of customer interactions take place online. That means your digital influence is nearly synonymous with brand equity. Simply put, what people think of you online is what people think of you. Those brands who master their digital brand equity as first movers will gain an immense advantage and outperform their competitors moving forward.

Beyond Social Media

An influencer posts a positive review of your brand on Instagram. A content creator features your product in an entertaining TikTok.

Great! 

Influencer campaigns are excellent tactics for increasing awareness and connecting with your audience.

But that’s just it… they’re tactics – individual components of what must be a larger strategy in order to really make a long-lasting impact. So, what separates effective brands from those throwing campaigns at the wall and hoping something sticks?

How Can Brands Build a Foundation of Digital Influence?

A brand’s equity depends on your visibility, how you’re perceived, and your ability to connect in consistent ways to your audiences in today’s complex digital ecosystem.

Consumers rank trust as a top buying consideration. 81% need to trust a brand to consider buying from it. Nielsen reported that 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family, and 70% trust online reviews from strangers. A strong digital presence and positive online reputation can help strengthen brand equity, in turn influencing purchasing decisions.

Consumer checking out a brand on social media

Proper digital influence strategies and tactics draw their inherent power from word of mouth (WoM) marketing principles. Building digital influence involves magnifying and elevating the impact of WoM through digital amplification. Digital influence enables brands to turn a 1:1 process into 1:many while maintaining credibility. Shifting from one to many amplifies a brand’s influence, which drives exponential gains, making digital influence extremely powerful.

Digital influence programs must focus on strengthening the brand’s digital presence and thereby positively influencing brand awareness and perception. 

consumer browsing on social media

The Amplification Effect

Individual marketing initiatives, such as SEO, can give your brand a boost. But the most powerful strategies work collaboratively to amplify one another.

With numerous people-centric tactics focused on advocacy, WoM, and authentic storytelling, you can achieve an amplification effect. More people will discuss your brand, activate audiences and communities, building more intrinsic advocacy and WoM from consumers and partners. Like the famous “Flywheel” model, customers become advocates and promoters who feed growth as they move through the phases of attract, engage, and delight.

Key Components of Building Digital Brand Equity

A strong foundation must run deep and wide. 

Doing these following things well and for enough time will improve your brand reputation and drive increased online visibility. You’ll be able to increase knowledge of your brand, and impact perceptions of your brand versus others.

  • Use your existing brand equity

Make use of the equity you already have. Build upon your brand’s reputation and standing in the market. Get ahead of the narrative and consistently convey your brand’s unique selling propositions.

  • Be consistent

Have consistent, coherent messages across all digital channels. Those messages should also be in line with consumers’ offline experiences. Consistency is key. 41% of consumers say branding (messaging) consistency defines brand loyalty.

  • Run people-centric campaigns

The participation of numerous voices, along with a consistent story, helps create positive digital brand equity and therefore digital influence. Work with multiple advocates and storytellers who can promote your brand authentically, including employees and senior leadership. Capture and make use of user-generated content.

  • Harness the power of advocacy & word of mouth

Advocacy is a key ingredient. Consider personal branding and working with corporate ambassadors. With an integrated approach, you can take control of the narrative surrounding your brand and boost competitive advantage and growth. 

An effective digital influence program will include multiple tracks such as social media, influencer marketing, brand and corporate ambassadors, personal branding, content creation, including UGC, and performance marketing. While these tracks can each deliver results independently, a program is stronger when they’re all in alignment. More to come in part 2!

Switzerland’s 26 Best Influencers You Need To Follow in 2024

Posted on by Kingfluencers

Switzerland has a lot to offer when it comes to influencer marketing! And no wonder – it really has it all. This country provides an amazing environment for top-class social media content. 

Amazing landscapes. Beautiful cities. Delicious food. Stunning architecture. Great fashion. Think of Zurich, Geneva, or the beautiful mountains of the countryside – it’s all perfect for an influencer’s VLOGs, photoshoots, and selfie backgrounds. 

Naturally, many successful social media influencers hail from Switzerland in different niches like beauty, food, travel, comedy, music, and fashion.

We’ve gone out and compiled a list of the top 26 Swiss influencers in 2024. Use it to get inspired or entertained by their content. You might be interested in following some of them more closely. 

Wendy Holdener

Olympic champion Wendy Holdener is not only a well-known face in alpine ski racing, she has also managed to build a large following of over 193,000 people on Instagram. In 2019, she even won the Swiss Influencer Award for the sports category!

In addition to her engaging social media posts, Wendy Holdener has teamed up with accident insurer SUVA to develop the Slope Track-App, which measures loads and speeds while skiing or snowboarding. The app is intended to increase the safety of snow sports enthusiasts and reduce the risk of accidents.

Nico Capone Comedy

Nicolas Scuderia and Daniela Pinto, aka Nico Capone Comedy, together with their son Mattia (born in July 2019), make millions of people laugh with their videos. 

As opposed to influencers who are all about making the most profit with their posts, they remain down-to-earth: They make videos for fun, without thinking too much about it.

Dani and Nico share almost everything with their audience while keeping it simple. Despite all their success, Dani kept working as a dental assistant, and Nico kept his job in the family’s painting business. This couple keeps their feet on the ground.

Although their popularity only keeps growing. Currently, they have over 7 million followers on Instagram, 21 million on TikTok, and 4,4 million on Facebook.

Loredana und Kilian

Loredana and Kilian are a Swiss influencer couple who documents their relationship life, sometimes in a funny way, on social media and on their blog.

Their motto is “every day is a good day” and their goal is to entertain you. “Come with us to the most beautiful places on earth, in our day-to-day life, and experience the highs and lows in life and in a relationship with us. We love that you’re here with us.”

In addition to 76.000 followers on Instagram, they also have a YouTube channel with 13k subscribers, where they were “vlogging around the world” and documenting their travels for two years before settling down again in their home of Switzerland.

Zeki Bulgurcu

Zeki is one of the biggest social media influencers in Switzerland. The comedian was born in 1990 in Turkey but moved to Switzerland with his parents at age three.

He runs the popular Instagram accounts of Zekisworld and Swissmeme (the #1 social media account for memes in Swiss German). Back in 2013, he discovered that the social media world was lacking content made especially for Swiss people. The next day he started posting memes in Swiss German on Instagram and the account took off quickly.

He has a combined 1.4 million followers on Instagram, 660k on TikTok, 160k on Facebook, and a combined 155k subscribers on YouTube.

On his Instagram, he shares funny skits of himself. He has recently released his own Turkish sausage brand in collaboration with Migros and is planning to make music and produce film.

Olivia Faeh

Olivia Faeh is a fashion influencer and entrepreneur from Zurich, Switzerland. On her Instagram profile, she shares fashion and lifestyle content, especially promoting streetwear and highlighting beautiful places.

The Swiss influencer is loved for being authentic. People like following her IG stories about her life, including her dog. She also teaches her followers about trending topics and provides fashion, beauty, and home ideas.

Olivia also runs her own social media agency (Faeh Agency) and will soon launch her own online fashion boutique. She has studied fashion and design management in Munich, so she is uniquely qualified for her business ventures.

Additionally, Olivia is very focused on sustainability. She often sells old clothes to promote reusing resources.

Antonella Patitucci

Actress, presenter, coach, and social media influencer Antonella Patitucci is from Switzerland, too. In her diverse career, she has played in TV shows such as Aktenzeichen XY and Der Alte on the German station ZDF, acted in musicals, starred in commercials for brands such as L’Oreal, Nespresso, and Audi, and moderated several events.

Currently, she offers coaching services, workshops, and live events around self-development, relationships, and personal finance. On her Instagram profile, she shares inspirational content.

Antonella told us the following about what it takes to be a successful influencer: “The value is in telling your own story and putting emotion behind it. Give the product a face so people can relate. Share your unique story and opinion. A product alone is a picture, but with you and your story, it’s like a movie.”

Stefan Büsser

Stefan is a stand-up comedian and TV host and part of the podcast “Comedy-Männer.” On his 113k-strong Instagram account, he shares skits and promotes his tours and TV appearances. Since 2018, he has been producing the comedy series “Büssi zappt” together with Zappin.

He got his start in media in 2005 as a radio moderator in Winterthur, Switzerland. He then transitioned to the Swiss radio channel Energy Zurich, until he started working for the national channel SRF 3 in 2016.

Martina Bisaz

Martina Bisaz might be Switzerland’s most famous traveler. Born in 1981, the first part of her career was as a scientific illustrator, before she became a freelance photographer and social media influencer, documenting her world travels on her famous account called “kitkat_ch.”

Her photos are of extremely high quality, and they show off all the majesty and beauty the world has to offer.

Cabarett DivertiMento

DivertiMento is a Swiss cabaret duo that presents many elements of cabaret: Stand-up comedy, satire, and jokes. The duo is made up of Manuel Burkart, who lives in Zurich Oberland, and Jonny Fischer, who lives in Zug, Switzerland.

The two of them met in the year 2000 at their boarding school, and with their strong musical background, joined together to form the Cabaret DivertiMento.

Recently, they’ve also become social media influencers. Their Instagram account is up to an impressive 160.000 followers, where they’re sharing funny skits and promoting their live tours.

You can read more about their background here.

Christina Gheiceanu

Cristina is based in Switzerland. She is an influencer in the fashion, beauty, and travel niches and has 240.000 followers on Instagram. 

Her former travel blog was ranked one of the best in Switzerland, but currently, she concentrates on running her Instagram account.

Her content has a classic style and she focuses on family and beauty in her work.

Steven Epprecht

Steven Epprecht is a model, content creator, and entrepreneur based in Zurich, Switzerland. His influence on social media is large, with 315k followers on Instagram.

His posts center around travel, lifestyle, and relationships, “living the good life!”

Recently, Steven founded his own social media agency. Here is a quote he shared with us on a recent video conference: 

“The most important thing is, if I collaborate with a brand, it’s crucial that I can stand behind the product, and it’s not just for the money. […] On my own channels, I’m saying I recommend it and I have a responsibility towards my community. It’s like a relationship with a friend. I’m considering whether I’d recommend this to my mom or a friend. They trust you and you have credibility and shouldn’t play with that, otherwise, it won’t work out in the long run. Only do what is you.”

Andri Ragettli

Swiss Slopestyle genius Andri Ragettli is a massive influencer on Instagram. His account has over 533k followers.

On his profile, he shares victories and defeats, and videos of his riding, as well as creative and funny challenges. “There’s been acrobatic bridge-diving in Zurich, ‘the floor is lava’ style workouts, as well as dabbling in parkour, biking, and splash diving — not forgetting ‘nipple deep,’ which is when snowboarders ride on deep, powder-like snow.” – CNN

In addition, he won the Swiss Influencer Award in the sports category in 2021.

If you want to learn more about Andri Ragettli’s most successful stations and hardest setbacks in his career as a freeskier, we recommend his book Attack your dreams.

Andri Ragettli

Mergime & Xhem

Mergime & Xhem are an Instagram influencer couple living in Switzerland. Mergime runs a barber shop in Switzerland. They offer their community a view into their day-to-day and family life. 

Additionally, they’re both very fashionable and appeal to their followers with beautiful outfits. When one is busy, the other takes over the social media accounts. That’s how they manage to run their business and be influencers at the same time!

Michèle Krüsi

“Thefashionfraction” on Instagram (461k followers!), Michèle Krüsi is the founder and creative director of her own lingerie and swimwear brand “Leonessa Lingerie.” 

She is also a powerful social media influencer. Her profile features very creative photos and reels around fashion, travel, relationships, and more recently, pregnancy.

Michele is a graphic designer, which shines through in her work. Her account also features artwork, fitness, and new designs.

Sandra Rodrigues Pinto

Sandra Rodrigues Pinto’s Instagram handle is “entredois” (“between two”). This refers to her two places of residence—Switzerland and Portugal. Her background is Swiss / Portuguese. 

In addition to accumulating over 432k followers on Instagram, Sandra has founded her own fashion brand at Lamarel which aims to create minimalist, beautiful pieces of fashion.

Her Instagram content centers around travel, lifestyle, relationships, beauty, and architecture. 

For example, she shares pictures from her travels to Paris and great outfits she puts together for an old-school, but fashionable look.

Mimoza Lekaj

26-year-old Mimoza Lekaj from Zürich is a beauty-, fashion- and styling-influencer. Her Instagram account boasts an impressive 280,000 followers. On her social media, Mimoza aims to inspire her audience and give valuable tips for how to dress to feel good and beautiful.

She promotes a positive attitude to life – in her words, an optimistic outlook coupled with frequent laughter will automatically make you look better. The center of Mimoza Lekaj’s life is in Switzerland, but because of her family, she still has an intense emotional connection to Kosovo.

Loredana Zefi

Loredana is a somewhat controversial Swiss rapper with Kosovan roots. Her breakout single “Bonnie & Clyde,” which she made with her husband Mozzik, was released in September 2018 with Sony Music. In 2019 her first album “King Lori” followed, which made the top three in Switzerland. 

Unfortunately, Loredana has had problems with the authorities and was even arrested. Nevertheless, Loredana is a famous influencer in Switzerland with three million followers. Her posts are about fashion, music, and her daughter.

Joung Gustav

With 4 Million TikTok and 200k+ Instagram followers, Joung Gustav is a huge Swiss influencer from Zürich. The 27-year-old has only been making content since 2020. 

His schtick is to go out and make videos in the streets of Zürich – especially at the “Stadi”, the Stadelhofen railway station where his target audience of Swiss teenagers likes to hang out. 

Joung Gustav has also released several rap songs and won the Swiss Influencer Award in the entertainment category in 2022.

Joung Gustav

Mia Madisson Rocco

Mia Madisson Rocco (@shhhmadisson on Instagram) is a reality TV star and influencer from Zurich, Switzerland. 

She became famous after starring in the popular show “The Bachelor” in 2018 and 2020. Nowadays, she is married and works on Instagram as a beauty and fashion influencer.

Aditotoro

Adrian Vogt, born in 1998, is better known in this country as Aditotoro. You can find him on all platforms (YouTube, Instagram, Twitch…), his main gig however is TikTok, where almost 2.2 Mio. followers (as of Dec. 2022) are eagerly awaiting his next uploads. Aditotoro makes entertaining videos that also give insights into his lifestyle.

The successful Swiss influencer lives on the “Rünenberg”, a small village in the “Oberbaselbiet”.

In 2021, Aditotoro won the Swiss Influencer Award in the Entertainment category.

Pat Burgener

Patrick Burgener is a Swiss freestyle snowboarder and musician turned social media influencer. He is a two-time Olympian and won two bronze medals at the snowboarding World Championships. 

On his 60,000-strong Instagram account, he posts reels about his lifestyle, snowboarding, and music performances. 

Does he see himself more as a professional sportsperson or as a musician? Pat feels like music is his life purpose. He wants to continue snowboarding for the next few years, but fully concentrate on his music after that.

Nathistyle

Social media star Nathalie Sulser aka Nathistyle makes highly popular videos in Swiss German on TikTok (250,000 followers) and YouTube (35,000 subscribers). 

The 20-year-old influencer from Zürich does cool challenges or performs sketches. In addition, she participated in the rap single “Bad Santa” by Gian Maria Finger and won the 2022 Swiss Influencer Award in the Lifestyle category.

Leo Monferini

Leo Monferini was born in 2001 and is a well-known TikTok star from Switzerland. On his TikTok account – with an impressive 4.6 million followers – he poses as the fictional character Eugène, whose trademark is his pair of big glasses. 

As an influencer, Leo Monferini has worked with Raiffeisen Bank Switzerland to make the bank more attractive to young people and also with the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) to promote mask-wearing among teenagers.

Kris Grippo

With 5.2 million followers on TikTok and over a million on Instagram, “Kris8an” is probably one of the best-known Generation Z influencers. The man from Basel managed to build up his huge community in just two years.

His social media content consists of him dancing, lipsyncing, or simply posing for the camera in his room full of stuffed animals. According to Kris, 80 percent of his followers are female and between 14 and 18 years old.

Taulant Gashnjani

He’s called T-Ronimo. Over 160,000 people follow him on TikTok, 25,000 on Instagram, and he also has a YouTube channel. He makes videos in Swiss German, and isn’t afraid to use some swear words from time to time! 

T-Ronimo has also worked with us on an anti-littering influencer campaign for the city of Uster. 

His take on the booming creator economy with more competition entering the field: “I just have to keep pushing to consistently make good and engaging content. I don’t see this as a negative, as I always have enough ideas!”

Lana Banté

Lana Banté from Geneva, Switzerland creates comedy TikTok videos, with themes such as beauty and fitness, and often collaborates with her friend Margaux Seydoux. 

She has 45,000 followers on Instagram and over 660,000 on TikTok! 

In 2021, Lana Bante was part of the “Collab House”, which had the most successful influencers from Switzerland move into a villa together to create as many TikTok videos as possible for their followers.

How to Work with Popular Swiss Influencers

We hope you enjoyed reading about these 26 influencers from Switzerland.

The world of influencers is steadily growing, and we’re seeing exciting developments worldwide, but also in Switzerland itself.If you’re curious about influencer marketing or interested in becoming an influencer yourself, subscribe to the newsletter of our influencer marketing agency to get the latest news and tips!

How To Choose The Right Influencer Marketing Agency In 2024

Posted on by Kingfluencers

So, you’ve decided to use influencer marketing to grow your business, and you want the support of an agency. Influencer marketing is a wise choice. 89% of companies say their ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing channels.

The right agency will certainly be able to get you impressive results with influencer marketing. Now in 2024, there are numerous agencies to choose from. All of them are promising to be the perfect fit for you. Many claim they can help you achieve your goals – guaranteed!

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Not every agency is equally professional and effective. Even some that are excellent still might not be a good fit for your business, for different reasons.

Influencer Marketing Agency Red Flags

No brand wants to work with a service provider that isn’t capable of getting beneficial results. You obviously don’t want to risk launching campaigns not backed by a proven process, with a high risk of failure.

If an agency is focused more on their own revenue streams than understanding your business’ unique situation and needs, the campaigns they run for you might fall flat.

Another issue to consider is chemistry. If the process of collaborating with the agency is unpleasant and filled with friction, you can end up very frustrated. You want to be working with humans who are open, who care, and who you can talk to and contact with your concerns at any time.

Likewise, you don’t want to end up working with someone who doesn’t use the latest technology and is unable to capture all the analytics that are required for running effective social media marketing campaigns.

After all, when you hire an influencer marketing agency, you are making an investment that’s supposed to pay off – you don’t want to be burning money and time on something that ends up being ineffective. Learn more about effective influencer marketing campaigns here. It’s worth putting the work in up front to evaluate influencer marketing agencies, so you can pick exactly the right fit out of the high-quality agencies out there.

We have created this guide to help you in that process, so you can make the right choice and experience the amazing results that influencer marketing can create for your business, while avoiding pitfalls.

Let’s dive in.

1. Get clear on what exactly you need from them

If you know what you are looking for, the chance of finding it increases significantly. This saying holds true for influencer marketing agencies too!

Every influencer marketing agency has different specialties, budget, and project size requirements. This is exactly why you should know your marketing goals and the goals you want to achieve together with the agency.

Once you have defined your goals, you can evaluate agencies through that framework, see how well they fulfill your criteria, and rank them accordingly.


The right agency will also be able to show you exactly how they are going to help you achieve your goals and do so convincingly. Find tips from Universal how to make influencer marketing work here.

2. Get to know their team

You can learn more about a company’s team by visiting the team section on agency websites, and viewing agency staff on LinkedIn.

During the consultation, you can ask who exactly would be working on your project.

Do they have the experience? And the ‘people skills’?


Look for team members who have relevant experience in running the types of influencer marketing campaigns you will be requesting. The goal here is to find an agency whose team is both qualified and pleasant to work with – this includes the human aspect of the relationship.

Team Meeting

3. Examine their process

Now, you want to have a deeper look at exactly how the influencer marketing agency you’re looking conducts their work. Their approach to any new project will tell you a lot about how successful they will be once they’re working for your brand.

How do influencer marketing agencies evaluate a project?

Find out how the agency treats any new customer’s project. Look for signs that you will get a strategy that’s not cookie-cutter, but uniquely tailored to your brand. A good agency is supposed to be very creative in adapting their process to you in a way that makes sense.

How are agencies kept accountable?

An important piece of information to know is if the agency has senior professionals supervise your project. It’s fine if some newer people are going to also work on your campaign – as long as they are being checked by those with more experience. At Kingfluencers, every client is supported by at least one senior professional, with over five years of experience in social media and influencer marketing, to balance the diligent efforts of our newer marketers.

When and for how long are agencies available to you each week?

Also, you want them to be available and accountable to you directly. This means you can reach them easily and there’s always space in their schedule to discuss matters with you. At Kingfluencers, we respond to client emails within the same or the next day, the latest.

Are agencies readily sharing this info with you? Will they be able to make their process work for your needs?


If an agency is being very opaque about what working with them looks like, that could be a red flag. It probably means they will – in spite of their promises – not be able to take your unique needs into account and craft a strategy that will actually get you the results.

4. Study their strategies

The best influencer marketing agencies use strategies that work.

What does that mean?
Are they planning for the long term?

Yes, a one-off influencer marketing initiative can be impactful. But the best agencies also specialize in running long-term campaigns that get your brand to the next level, and make sure it stays there sustainably. Obviously this depends on your goals and budget. 

But brand strategists who have experience creating more comprehensive strategies are always at least considering the long-term impact of any campaign they’re involved in, which is definitely a plus. 

Do they consider the big picture, or is your campaign going to be working in isolation?

Influencer marketing should not be a stand-alone measure. Social media touchpoints should lead to specific actions taken in the context of your campaign. 

A holistic, or integrated, approach is key and vastly superior to isolated strategies.

Does the influencer marketing agency in question commit to combining different outlets and marketing strategies in order to serve you best, or is there no mention of such an approach? Read about Kingfluencers focus on holistic, omnichannel storytelling.

Are they creative, hip to trends, and versatile in their tactics?

Influencer marketing is evolving quickly. New trends are popping up all the time. Anyone playing in this field must be highly creative and adaptive. The best agencies show they can capitalize on these trends, and are always finding the right kinds of messages and campaigns that fit the times. Constant reinvention is the name of the game in influencer marketing. 

You can gauge which agency possesses these qualities by reading their marketing materials and looking into their history and portfolio. For example, the best influencer marketing agencies are creating influencer partnerships that are even more interactive and collaborative than typical social media content – they are encouraging the audience to participate in new and fun ways.

Are they using the power of storytelling to full effect?

Again, you can tell by looking at how an influencer marketing agency talks about what they do. Do they grasp the vital importance of good, creative storytelling?
Effective influencer marketing evokes the right emotions and creates a special connection with the audience, which is best done through telling captivating stories. In order to do that, the content produced for you must be both creative and authentic – not feeling disingenuous in the slightest. The right influencer marketing agency is doing just that, and creating a precious opportunity for your brand to be connected with an engaged audience, leading to the result that you came for.

5. Screen their technology

What is their campaign management like?

Starting a campaign for you is one thing – managing it successfully is another. Check out how the agency in question is going to handle managing your project. If they are doing it right, they will be using sophisticated technology in order to keep up with and manage your influencer campaign.

They should have the latest technologies and best practices at their fingertips. Digital marketing agencies need to be familiar with the latest software, because tools such as Upfluence, Modash or Creator IQ, for example, are useful to achieve faster results through deep insights. At Kingfluencers, we have our own developed tools with which we can simplify our work, because we do everything within the system, from influencer research and sourcing, to campaign reporting and beyond predicting ROI. Thanks to the advantage that our system is based on data truth – e.g., through creating automated briefings and analysis – both, influencers and clients, share and get insights, so every process and crucial step is happening within our system based on the included real-time data.

Are they performance driven?

This means they are paying attention to and tracking the correct metrics – and have processes and strategies in place to learn from these analytics and use their learnings to adjust and improve your initiative.

Familiarity with other third-party data sources and creative tools is also helpful. Ultimately, this helps your brand gain more popularity through better campaigns – both in terms of creativity and effectiveness.

Reporting von KPIs

6. Learn about their network of influencers

Technology, team, and tactics aside, what can really make or break your influencer marketing campaign is what kind of influencers you end up working with.

Of course, picking the right influencers for you should be a core competency of an influencer marketing agency!

But there is a little more to it.

Here’s how you can evaluate whether they will be able to connect you with the best people for the job, or whether there is a chance they’ll leave you with a mismatch that’ll end up hurting your marketing efforts:

How large of a network do they have?

While this does not directly ensure the quality of those contacts, a decent-sized network at least means that the agency has put in the work of creating many connections and has been working in this field for a good amount of time already. If the network they are working with isn’t large, they won’t have as many choices of influencers to find exactly the right ones for you. 

Are all the influencers carefully vetted? What’s their vetting process like?

It’s true, people trust influencers – but only those who have shown to actually be deserving of their trust. It’s the agency’s job to filter for influencers with integrity and who are not just out to make a quick buck while carelessly disrespecting their audience and the brands they represent.

A good influencer marketing agency will take the time to get to know each and every one of their content creators. They might accomplish that task with personal onboardings, influencer trainings, and co-creation workshops. That way they’ll make sure to connect you only with quality, committed, and authentic people to represent your brand.

Will they be able to pick the right type of influencer for the job?

Do they have access to nano-, micro- and macro-influencers and can they offer the type of channel that is right for your goals? For example, while nano- and micro-influencers have a much smaller following, they are able to create a much closer connection between your brand and their community, because they are highly trusted and their audience engagement is typically much higher.

When an influencer and their following are a great fit for your brand, you have the chance to create amazing content that leads to extraordinary results.

How do they ensure quality control and accountability for their influencers?

This requires functional working relationships with their network, as well as processes for managing the workflow. See if you can find out about their process for ensuring influencer accountability.

7. Review their portfolio & skills

The influencer marketing agency you hire should have the skills you need to achieve your goals, whether it’s generating more quality leads, increasing online sales, increasing store visits, or getting more website visitors.

Do they demonstrate a deep understanding of the relevant platforms and what good content looks like?

The only way to get results is to hire an agency that has mastered the art of creating engaging and targeted influencer marketing campaigns.

You can make sure this is the case by checking out the content they’ve produced in the past.

8. Check their social proof

The best way for you to check if the agency is reputable and gets results is to look at their history and portfolio of past work. Finished work, after all, is the best demonstration of skills – far superior to any marketing promises.

Do they have a high-caliber, diverse portfolio?

The portfolio is the ideal way for the agency to showcase their best work. This will help you get an idea of ​​what type of work they do and what type of clients they select.

What do their testimonials say?

Over 90% of clients look at testimonials before hiring an agency. Social proof is therefore an effective tactic for agencies to convert prospects into buyers. If you can’t find any testimonials on websites, it likely means:

  • The company may not have any previous customers
  • They are not the experts they claim to be

Good testimonials indicate that future customers may have a similar experience. Plus, agencies with happy clients shouldn’t have a hard time getting testimonials.

Be aware that testimonials on online review sites are easy to fake. Look for testimonials of past clients prominently featured on the agency’s website – they can’t afford to fake those!

Social proofs like testimonials and previous client reviews can be a great way to gain insight into an influencer agency’s work ethic.

Another great way to further vet an agency and ensure good collaboration is to get an idea of ​​the agency’s past customers. Get in touch with them and ask them about their experience working with the agency. In addition to helping you choose the right agency, these discussions could also give you insight into best practices to copy.

9. Discuss their prices

Finally, be sure to discuss prices and deliverables. This is the final piece of information that will tell you if an influencer agency can give you what you are looking for, in the right way, and at the right price.

It’s crucial to find the target groups that are most likely to be interested in your offer in order to keep the advertising costs per new customer as low as possible and thus win the most new customers for your budget.

Will they be able to align with your expectations regarding budget and deliverables?

Conclusion

Starting influencer marketing in your business can be a daunting task. If you don’t first get to really know the influencer marketing agency you’re going to work with, your efforts could end up being in vain and losses could occur.

It pays to hire the best, most experienced influencer marketing experts to help you achieve your goals. You need someone who can create exciting influencer campaigns and deliver them accurately to convert your audience into customers.

To keep up in a dynamic field like social media marketing and successfully work with third parties influencers, it’s best to work with an agency with proven expertise.

Check out our blog and follow Kingfluencers for our upcoming articles.

Author: Megan Bozman, Owner @Boz Content Marketing

How to Become An Influencer in 2024 [Success Roadmap]

Posted on by Kingfluencers


Influencer marketing is an important marketing strategy that continues to grow. It is no longer limited to a select few businesses or agencies, but has become a marketing channel accessible to all brands.

As of 2021, the global influencer marketing market value had more than doubled since 2019, standing at around 13.8 billion U.S. dollars.

More brands recognize the power of influencer marketing and seek out influencers who can help them generate meaningful connections with their target audience. 

That means more opportunities for influencers – for you – to make money!

If you’re looking to become an influencer, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll go over the steps of becoming an influencer one by one. Keep reading to begin your journey to becoming an influencer.

Table of Contents

  • Is becoming a social media influencer the right choice for you?
  • Ask these questions before you decide to become an influencer
  • How to get started as an influencer
  • How to brand yourself as an influencer
  • How to establish authority as an influencer
  • How to work as an influencer
  • How to grow and remain popular after you’ve become an influencer
  • How to get paid as an influencer
  • Conclusion

Is becoming a social media influencer the right choice for you?

Becoming a social media influencer sounds like a great career choice – let’s find out if it’s really the right one for you.

Are you excited about making a difference?

If you become an influencer, you have an opportunity to leave your imprint on the world. You decide which causes to support, be it sustainable brands or charitable businesses. You can use your influence to spread your positive values to the world.

Would you love to have a community of people who rally around you?

If you have no problem standing in the spotlight and taking responsibility for your loyal followers, becoming a professional influencer could be perfect for you. 

Would you like the financial freedom of working for yourself? 

To not be tied down by rigid work hours or office dress codes, or having to stay in one place all the time?

Becoming an influencer can allow you to turn something you are passionate about into a career, basically getting paid to make content about something you enjoy.

Sounds like a good plan! That’s the promise that becoming an influencer holds. 

But…

Ask these questions before you decide to become an influencer

Of course, all these benefits do not simply appear because you’ve decided that you’re going to do this. 

Understand that if you become an influencer, you are turning yourself into a business. If you are serious about earning the benefits, you have to be serious about the work, too!

So, before you start, please ask yourself the following questions:

Are you willing to do what it takes?

As an influencer, you’re going to have to do a lot of tasks: 

  • Creating your strategy
  • Dressing up 
  • Filming your content 
  • Editing 
  • Writing captions 
  • Scheduling your content
  • Publishing 
  • Engaging with your audience
  • Promoting and managing your brand
  • Networking and reaching out

and much more. All this will take you a lot of time! 

Food Influencer

Are you willing to make that investment?

Will you have the patience that’s required to grow your brand?

Again, it will take time to grow your followers and build up an empire – your piece of the web – as an influencer. That’s where you’ll need the patience to keep executing your strategy and keep publishing, even when your audience is not yet as big as you want it to be.

Do you have the passion and motivation to keep serving your audience?

If you want to be an influencer who is successful long-term, you need to find a way to stay motivated – you owe it to your followers. 

You can do this if you have passion for the topic you’re making content about and you genuinely want to help and entertain the audience. 

Ask yourself: Is that you?

What will it take for you to make enough money to be able to make this a full time gig, or at least a solid side hustle?

Be realistic and set a sensible goal – and you won’t be caught off-guard later when the numbers don’t match what you were hoping for right away.

The influencers we’re working with are making on average at least CHF 200 per sponsored post. 

(This is if you have several thousand engaged followers who love you, and you manage to connect with brands who feel that your content is a good fit.)

Now you can do the math and see how much work it would take to make the income that you’re aiming for. Of course, as you grow your reach and your authority, you will be able to command higher rates.

What type of influencer do you want to be? Nano, Micro, Macro, or Mega?

In influencer marketing, bigger isn’t always better. 

Brands are starting to see the value of smaller influencers – they have higher engagement and the trust of their followers. 

This means that even as a smaller influencer, you will be able to get brand deals that make you good money.

“The findings of four experimental studies show that micro-influencers (those who have 10,000 to 100,000 followers) are more persuasive than mega-influencers (those who have more than 1 million followers) because endorsements by micro-influencers (versus mega-influencers) bestow higher perceptions of authenticity on the endorsed brand, which ‘rubs off’ from the perceptions regarding influencer authenticity.” https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00913367.2021.1980470

The different sizes of influencer you could become are:

Nano-influencer:
Under 5k followers. 
This is where you will probably start out. 
Examples: Debora Sarai in the DIY and home niche. Alenis Lima in the beauty/fashion and lifestyle niche.

Micro-influencer:
5k-100k followers. 
Examples: Adela Smajic in the Beauty/fashion, lifestyle and travel niche. Alayah Pilgrim in the sports, health and fitness niche. Carlo Janka in the sports, outdoors and family niche. 

Macro-influencer:
100k-1m followers. 
As your following grows, more opportunities will come in, but it will also take more time and effort to manage your brand. 
Examples: Kevin Lütolf in the fashion and technology niche. Zoë Pastelle in the fashion and entertainment niche. Zeki aka Zekisworld in the comedy and automotive niche.

Mega-influencer:
Over 1 million followers. 

These are typically actors, musicians, and other A-list celebrities. 

Your content might never get you into this category (and maybe you don’t even want that), but if you do, hey, good luck! Also, you might make up to $1 million per sponsored post! 

Examples: Daniela Pintto in the lifestyle and mumlife niche. Marco aka swiss.beautiful_ in the landscape, outdoors, travel niche. Alisha Lehmann in the sports and travel niche.

Have you answered these questions to clarify what lies ahead on your path to becoming an influencer on social media? 

Then you’re ready to get started!

We’ve created this roadmap to help you on your way, and to get you to the point where you can call this your job! Maybe you’ll even end up working with us in the future. Let’s dive into your journey.

How to get started as an influencer

Travel Influencer

Find your niche

We recommend that when you start your career on social media, you pick a niche. It makes sense to narrow down quite a bit. 

What does that mean? 

Especially in the beginning, you want to be known for your work in a specific space. That way, your audience will associate you with this space as you post more about it.

People are more likely to follow you if they know what to expect from your content. 

Focus and fine-tune your niche, and it will be much easier to grow your followers and be seen as an expert in that niche.

Now, what niche should you pick?

Passion & Knowledge

If you have an existing passion – maybe even a good level of experience and skill – you could pick that to give yourself a head start and be more motivated to create content around that niche.

Popularity and Monetizability

From a business standpoint, it makes sense to find a niche that is trending or at least growing steadily and in which brands are willing to spend money to advertise. 

We have compiled ten of the most popular and profitable social media niches for you below:

  • 1. Technology
  • 2. Fashion
  • 3. Health & Fitness
  • 4. Food & Cooking
  • 5. Business & Making Money
  • 6. Lifestyle
  • 7. Beauty
  • 8. Parenting
  • 9. Pets
  • 10. Travel

Find the one that aligns with your interests and knowledge, is popular and monetizable, and has an audience that you could engage with long term.

Choose the right platform to start

Which platform should you become an influencer on? 

We recommend you start on just one platform – preferably the one where your audience spends the most time – so that you can focus and grow your following most effectively. 

Of course, you can expand your business later and join multiple other platforms!

Try to understand who your audience is first:

  • Which age group are you targeting with your influencing campaign?
  • What’s their average income level?
  • What’s their gender, percentage-wise?
  • What’s their family situation?
  • What are their hobbies and interests?
  • Which circles and communities are they in?

The answers to these will guide you towards the platform you could start out on. As an example, if you’re in the knitting niche, you could start posting on Pinterest. If you’re a gamer, start a Twitch account. Model trains, Facebook. Etc. This information changes over time, and there are many factors to consider in selecting the right platform. 

Following is a quick snapshot of which platforms make the most sense for you to be on as an influencer, depending on your niche:

Facebook:
Widest adoption among all demographics, but is trending older, and a wealthier audience. Good for niches that have a middle-aged audience.

Twitter:
Good for more intellectual niches such as writing, business, and self-improvement.

LinkedIn:
The #1 platform if you want to become an influencer in the world of business and money making.

Pinterest:
Mostly female audience. Perfect for arts & crafts, among others.

Instagram:
A very visual platform that is perfect for many niches, including fashion, travel, food, and pets. The audience is slightly younger.

TikTok:
Has the youngest audience. But the platform is now also becoming more interesting for older generations. Best if you are focused on your specific audience, and you are able to capitalize on trends. 

Social Media Platforms

Prepare your profile

After you’ve picked your niche and the platform you’re going to start out on, you’ll need to create and optimize your social media profile.

Switch to a business account

If you want to be an influencer, you should upgrade to a business account because it gives you a lot more possibilities – namely for analytics and monetization. You can create a business account in the profile settings of most networks, such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

Create a fantastic bio

When someone visits your profile, the first thing they see is your bio. You want to make sure you’re making a great first impression! 

Your biography should explain your narrative in a compelling way. It should also include all relevant information about you, such as your full name, address, phone number, and areas of expertise.  

Add a profile pic and banner/cover photo

You should also include a profile photo and a cover photo, as these are crucial components of your own brand identification. 

People frequently recognize a social network profile by its profile photo, so choose one carefully. Also, make sure your face is visible, and the photo is high quality.

How to brand yourself as an influencer

What is your influencer personality? You should be able to pin-point the qualities and characteristics that set you apart from others in your niche on social media. People like to follow someone who has a strong and interesting personality.

It doesn’t mean you have to invent a new personality for yourself. 

Ideally, you authentically express what’s interesting and special about you. Of course, with social media, you will want to emphasize the most compelling aspects of your personality, but you should never be fake. 

Simply go more into what already makes you special naturally.

Your personal brand

You also want to be thinking about creating your personal brand. This means you take your influencer personality and your angle on content and turn it into a recognizable brand.

How do you create your personal brand and make it stand out?

  • Convey a similar vibe with images and videos: They are created in a similar way, use the same filters etc.
  • Purposely use your own, consistent color scheme in your profile and your marketing materials.
  • Have your own way of talking and addressing your followers in your content and captions – brand tone is consistent
  • Have a special name for your followers
  • Create a logo and slogan that people recognize instantly
  • And most importantly, your personal brand is telling a story – one that is compelling and resonates with the audience.

Here’s what Antonella Patitucci, Actress, Presenter, Coach and Content Creator, had to say about how important it is that you tell stories as an influencer:

“The value is in telling your own story and putting emotion behind it. Give the product a face so people can relate. Share your unique story and opinion. A product alone is a picture, but with you and your story, it’s like a movie.”
We couldn’t agree more. So start telling a unique story, and you will start creating a strong personal brand for yourself that people will want to follow.

How to establish authority as an influencer

You’ve picked your niche, you’ve thought about your branding… now it’s time to build your expertise! 
Your goal should be to become an authority on the topic you’re making content on. 
You want your audience to look up to you, trust what you’re saying about the topic, and follow your recommendations.

How are you going to build your authority?

Study your niche

Start by researching everything that’s out there on your niche on the internet to get a good overview of what you’re going to make content about. 
Subscribe to relevant podcasts. Read any available books and print publications around the topic. 

Establish your web presence

In addition to your social media profile, consider setting up your own website as well.
This will give you another chance to advertise your personal brand and show off your portfolio. 
It’s a signal that you are a professional and will give you even more authority as an influencer.

Start networking in your industry

Go to conferences. Reach out to other influencers in your niche. Communicate, find peers and mentors, and collaborate with others. 
Not only will this make you an insider with even more knowledge about your niche, it will also increase your status

How to work when you’re an influencer

Now, how do you go about your daily work as an influencer? How do you know what to post, when to post it, and how often to post?

To keep up with creating content and to make sure that you have an awesome social media profile that keeps growing, we recommend that you first create a content strategy.

Your content strategy

First, establish a posting schedule. Decide how often you’re going to post in order to keep your followers engaged – while not burning yourself out. Keep in mind how much time creating just one social media post can take!

Then, decide on the types of content you’re going to be posting regularly. This can, and maybe should, be different types of posts on different days. Depending on the platform, you have the choice between:

  • Videos (short-form, long-form, stories)
  • Pictures
  • Audio
  • Infographics
  • Text

Finally, the content topic: 
What topics are you going to cover? What angle are you going to take with your content?
Note all these things down in your strategy document. Now you know exactly what to post each week.

Study your analytics

Executing on the publishing strategy you just created is a great start – but it’s not everything. 
You should also learn from each post you make. Do this by studying your analytics. With a business account, you will have access to those statistics. 

  • Each week, look at how your posts have performed. 
  • How many people saw your post? 
  • How much did they engage with it? 
  • How many likes did it get? 
  • If it was a sponsored post, did it resonate with people?
  • What could you do to make even better content next time?

How to grow and remain popular after you’ve become an influencer

Apart from your short-term strategy, be prepared to stay on top of the game in the long term.

How do you do that?

  • Nurture your community. Do this by running special campaigns, like challenges, surveys, and giveaways; fun initiatives that keep your audience on their toes and excited about hearing from you.
  • Know your audience intimately. Keep studying your followers. What are their goals? Their deepest desires? What makes them tick? Know all this… then try to satisfy those desires with your content!
  • Stay ahead of trends. If you always keep your personal brand relevant to the times, you won’t have to worry about people becoming bored with your content and unfollowing. On the contrary, you will keep them engaged with fresh stuff and your following will only keep growing!
  • Always engage & be present. You should treat your followers like your tribe, maybe even like a second family. This means you’ll always be there to reply to their comments, answer their questions and offer support.

“It’s easy to get blinded by vanity metrics such as big numbers of views and followers. It’s not about the number of followers you have. What matters is the quality of the connection you make with your audience.” – Marvin Sangines, Personal Branding Advisor at Kingfluencers

How to get paid as an influencer

We saved the most exciting part for last: 

How you’re going to get paid and hopefully at some point make a full-time income as a social media influencer! 

In most cases, this will mean that you’re going to be working with brands and promoting their products in your content.

How are you going to find those brands? 

The first option is to make a list of brands you would like to work with. Then research their marketing department and email them about working together.

The other option is to apply to an influencer marketing agency, who usually has a large network of brands they work with. They’ll take on the work of contacting the brands that are the right fit for you. This should be at no cost to you, because the agency will get paid by them and not you. It’s a good option if you want to spare yourself the extra stress of having to find and pitch brands, on top of all the other tasks you have to do as an influencer.

How much will you make? 

Anywhere between CHF 200 and CHF 10’000 per post. Obviously, expect to start on the low end of that scale if you just started your influencer career.

How many followers do you need to start getting paid? 

This differs, depending on your niche and other factors. We usually advise you to build your brand to at least 2500 followers and then apply for your first brand deals.

Let’s do it!

Is being an influencer worth it? 
We say absolutely yes – now that you know what goes into becoming one and how to do it, you can decide if it’s for you.
Keep in mind that getting results is a process that takes time and effort. As a result, you shouldn’t expect to become a social media influencer overnight.
However, if you continue to follow these guidelines, you will be able to become an influencer and earn money doing it. 

We wish you good luck on that journey!

To keep up to date on the newest influencer marketing information and trends, sign up for the Kingfluencers newsletter or reach out to us anytime.If you’re already over 2500 followers and think you have what it takes, you can apply with us as an influencer here!

Author: Megan Bozman, Owner @Boz Content Marketing