INTRODUCTION

Who would ever think that social media is going to be the mainstream of marketing? I would have said no if I was asked this few years ago, but the opposite is now the case currently.

Social media actually represents low cost tools that combine technology and social interaction with the use of words.

One of the exciting things social media brings is the promotion opportunity that seamlessly transcends the standard middleman and connects companies directly to clients.

Giant companies in the business world are exploring social media promotion projects and of course digital marketers.

I can remember vividly my conversation with the director of a multi-national company few years ago, he said he needed no social media tool to get the exposure he wanted for his business.

Fast forward to few months ago, he has several digital marketers that constantly run advertisements on several social media sites. I was amazed to see the turnout of events, his reply shocked me.

He said ‘Only a fool would embrace success with comfort’ He moved with the dynamics and his business is flourishing like never before.

The internet and mobile applications are commonly known to be frontiers in the social media world, the leading ones that are commonly being used and you might have probably heard of include Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

The blast of social media trend is really so amazing and the speed to which it is being embraced is enormous. There is an increase in the level of goodwill and trust and through promotion, these virtues are sustained.

Without any doubt, social media is the only promotional system that motivates certified interaction and accountability among sellers as well as customers.

You can reach any part of the world through the social media and there is no need to be worried over unseen global invasion which is solved by the extreme diversification of the social media.

Social media gives marketers or influencers a voice and a means to communicate with peers, potential consumers and customers. What it does is to personalize the "brand" and helps you to spread your message in a relaxed and conversational way.

ADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AND PROMOTION

• Increases Brand Awareness

Social media currently is one of the most cost-efficient digital marketing tools and therefore is used to improve content and business visibility. There are a lot of people currently on the social media space, implementing a social media strategy through the help of an influencer will greatly increase your brand and make your product well known.

If a product gets well known by people, patronization will increase and profit index would sky rocket. The social media is like a cycle, if a user gets to know, he tells the next person, who tells the next person. But all these could be greatly increased through the help of an influencer.

What your business might need is that influencer making a post about your business and brand awareness will begin, reputation will be built and your business is going higher and higher.

• Cost-Effective

Social media still boasts of the lowest cost expense when it comes to business promotion. All that might be required might just be that opening of a page and making that content visible.

Whether it is a paid promotion online through an influencer, the cost is greatly reduced compared to other means of promotions. Every business should have a profit index that shows low cost of expenditure as compared to high income.

The bigger you go on social media platforms. The lesser the money you spend on promotions and marketing which means that spending a small amount of time and money you can significantly increase your conversion rates and eventually get return on investment on the money you initially invested.

• Better Customer Satisfaction

Social media has to do with networking and communication platform, when you create a voice and exposure for your company through humanization, your customers will appreciate you especially when you attend to their comments and reactions.

Every customer desires a feedback on whatever reaction they send, when you are there for them on the social media, there is some level of satisfaction and trust they develop on your brand. The satisfaction is very important for growth of your brand.

• Gain Marketplace Insights

Social media does not just give you exposure and customers alone, you gain valuable marketplace insights. There are no better ways of knowing the thoughts of your customers than talking to them. Since it is a virtual system, customers who sincerely express their opinions on your updates help you gain insights on what is really going on in the market setting and also help you restrategize.

Also, using social media tool can help understand your industry better as you can improve based on competitiors profiles. If there is a large follower of people, you can use additional tools to analyze the demographics of your consumers.

Another insightful aspect of social media marketing is the ability to segment your content syndication lists based on topic, and identify which types of content generate the most impressions. These tools give you the ability to measure conversions based on posts on various social media platforms to find the perfect combination for generating revenue.

SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS

The biggest effect on social media is done by influencers. Social media influencers are internet users who have established credibility in a specific industry and by way of specificity have carved out a niche for themselves.

An influencer usually has access to a very huge audience and can easily influence or sway their audience to act on their own recommendations or desire.

Most influencers are celebrities and at times bloggers who have established themselves over time and can easily capitalize on a niche for widespread credibility.

One important thing these influencers do is to attract many viewers through their tools and also motivate people to become better while experiencing hardship.

Instagram has been very popular in marketing, since it uses images and videos. It encourages more peer-to-peer sharing, which helps brands improve their target audience reach. When they connect to their followers, their followers can connect to their own followers and then to the sponsor or business owner

REASONS WHY SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS AND INFLUENCING MARKETING IS HIGHLY VALUABLE

• Teens Trust Influencers/celebrities More than real and direct celebrities or marketers

The difficulty experienced by brands to build trust is almost beyond imagination, but all these are made simple by influencer marketing. Through influencer marketing, trust is transmitted to your brand and fans get to know and patronize your product.

Brands usually don’t have to waste any time and resources selling themselves as influencers take it upon themselves to speak and deliver messages to the people who have their trust in them.

Since Teens occupy a large part of the world, influence on them as regards any product will obviously improve the profit index of any brand.

• 86% of Women Use Social Media for Purchasing Advice

Women are usually in the market scouting for new products and businesses to engage in, but recently statistics has shown that 86% of Women currently Use Social Media for Purchasing Advice.

A quick look at social sites like facebook and instagram, women dominate these areas and influencing marketing has so thrived well and influencers who have so many of them as followers have greatly increased the sales and awareness of their target goals or brands

• Consumers Depend on Influencer Recommendations

Statistics has it that consumers trust recommendations from their favorites influencers more than anything in this world.

A quick example is seen with the amazing footballer- Cristiano Ronaldo, he has large followers in the sporting world and for every sporting wear or equipment he advertises, his followers are more likely to purchase and this is going to reflect positively on the profit of brands.

• Major Brands Plan to Increase Spend on Influencer Marketing

Because of the success witnessed in influencer marketing, major brands have decided to invest on the social media world and one good thing investment does is to increase awareness and salability.

The value of social media and influencer market will increase to the extent that any awareness not done on the chain would be almost lost.

Spending and investing will not just boost awareness, but it will also reach new audiences and improve brand advocacy. Therefore, but it's fast becoming the key channel for many marketers. _Source

CHALLENGES OF INFLUENCER MARKETING

• Online Fraud is rampant, and vetting is trickier and hard

'A recent New York Times article explored the rise of fake accounts and just how common the practice has become. According to the story, roughly 15% of Twitter profiles are fraudulent accounts designed to appear like real people _Source'

Fraud comes in many diverse ways on the internet, many people are now being scammed online and this is greatly reducing the reputation of social media marketing. Some people disguise as celebrities just to get loyal followers, they turn around to scam them when they build relationships with them.

Brands find it hard getting to verify the authenticity of their proposed influencer and without a proper litmus test that would ensure originality, scamming is bound to happen

• Followers do not equal influence.

Some followers do not have impact on an influencers market as they do not have purchasing power or purchasing decisions.

Sometimes this is an obvious distinction, and sometimes it’s difficult to spot the difference. In many cases, accounts can be very influential in one aspect but not in another.

It is therefore very important that the interest of the influencer be aligned with the brand’s product and also encourage customer purchase through several ways like giveaways and customer relationship.

• Loss of trust by followers due to low quality or change of contracts details by sponsors

Some brands are very toxic to their influencers. They know that their product do not meet the required standard and then they go ahead contracting influencers for marketing purposes, the reputation of these influencers are at stake when customers do not get value for what they paid for

This is a big problem to the success of influencing marketing, there needs to be review on brand's product and services by influencers or other bodies so that they do not destroy the future of SNS and influencer reputation

• Challenges of finding specific media influencers ideal for your brand

Most influencers have a niche they have built for themselves over time and it is very easy for brands to contract them for it. But some products and services find it very difficult to see influencers for their brand.

The reason might be that there are no well known influencer for your specific brand product or the available influencers have been contracted already.

This is a huge problem also as brands are discouraged from utilizing the power of the influencing marketing

There is need to solve the problems experienced by social media marketing and influencer market. The internet tried in its bid to promote marketing but it had several flaws that cannot guarantee success. There is a head way and future for influencer market, i here by introduce PATRON

INTRODUCING PATRON

Patron is a blockchain technology that creates a link and a friendly user interface between brands/organizations, influencers and fans which is also known as social media followers.

With its use of the blockchain, transactions will be made very transparent and decentralized so that trusts will be restored to social media marketing.

The platform provides an environment for digital marketing and e-commerce, it leverages on the relationship and connection between influencers and their followers, where the purchasing behavior and decisions of followers are influenced.

Companies and brands usually do not have a direct influence on consumers without proper marketing; there should be a ground where their products and services are brought straight to a large audience through trust and powerful influence.

Patron helps out by connecting these consumers/fans to sponsors through influencers on the foundation of the blockchain which eliminates a third party seen in traditional means of marketing.

The influencers are rewarded by sponsors for connection to fans and the rewards are usually done based on some criteria.

Also, depending on the influencers on the platform, sponsors will have access to a geographical or demographical set of followers interested in that particular product that they sale.

The team has group of expert Asian citizens that have wonderful knowledge on e-commerce, digital marketing and blockchain technology. The blockchain technology has features that make it highly.

One of the core aims of the platform is to be the reference point standard where entrepreneurs, organizations, users and influencers will interact and integrate their interest for the improvement of life, value creation and diversification of resources in the world.

The world is going digital and patron has already digitalized its core principles by meeting the hunger of people and interest.

The patron platform encompasses and fills the different spaces open in the world of social media marketing. It has integrated several technologies to ensure that the blockchain cum the digital economy will satisfy the purchase, sale of services of any kind and also the creation of value

PROSPECTS OF PATRON AS A BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

The blockchain technology in recent times have solved the problems encountered by traditional means of interaction and also have helped improve the reputation of the internet world.

Traditional social media marketing has clogs of middlemen who through their actions demand cuts from the proceedings of goods and services, but this is eliminated by the use of the blockchain technology.

Patron platform is on the blockchain technology and as such connects influencers straight to sponsors and then followers to sponsors which eliminate third-party escrow services and gives participants (Influencers, followers) control over their funds.

There is also a secured transaction seen on the platform due to the highly secured nature of blockchain technologies. It is not vulnerable to attacks by hackers or online fraud stars. The data and information of users are secured on the platform and can only be accessed through the use of public and private keys.

Also, the immutability of the blockchain technology makes it a perfect record keeping system. Every single transaction validated on the platform is stored and this means that any influencers who have acted wrongly in the past is likely to be less reputable to sponsor company.

A token system also exists on the platform and this is a high point of any blockchain technology, the token is used for communication between users and influencers.

Also, fans will be able to vote for their preferred influencers so that they can be displayed on the top charts, it is a form of endorsement.

KEY PARTICIPANTS OF PATRON PLATFORM

There are key participants on the patron platform, they play and have different acts that make them valuable to the success of the platform, they include : influencers, sponsors and followers.

• Influencers or Hosts

These are key players in the patron platform, they initiate smart contracts with brands and companies (Sponsors), and the contract might be in months or years depending on the agreement of both parties.

The ability to be an influencer is dependent on the number of followers you can boast of. Influencers usually have large follower base that they can easily sway through some sort of reputation they have built.

The effect on the behavior of a follower is no easy to come by and if an influencer does this, then they can be considered key players in the social media market.

The influencers gets paid for promoting sponsor’s goods and services based on stated agreement which has inclinations to time and money.

Influencers can also advertise themselves to sponsors by making aware their pricing list, reputation and work they can do and generally value they can offer.

• Sponsors or Guests

These ones are the companies or brands that desire promotion of their businesses on the platform, they engage in contracts with influencers.

They expect returns on the fee they pay for the value being offered by influencers which is basically subject to the amount of influence an influencer can offer.

There are some level of requirements patron expects a sponsor to meet in order to be afforded opportunity to access the platform, these requirements include reputation, quality and financial capacity.

Companies know that they might not possess all the exposure and followers that would patronize them, so it is expedient that they pitch their tent on patron which connects them to influencers for massive follower patronization

• Followers (Fans)

These are the main point of focus on the patron platform, they are targeted by the sponsors on the blockchain. They have developed some level of trust on influencers and by virtue of confidence follow their recommendations.

They have the purchasing ability in them and influence the money earned by influencers and also earned by sponsors from sales over time. You can also call them consumers of goods and services on the blockchain

HOW DOES PATRON DETERMINES THE VALUE OF INFLUENCERS

Influencers are very important in the business of the patron platform, they dictate the tone of the whole thing and for any sponsor to patronize them, and then these influencers should really be influencing and good. In as much as they connect followers to sponsors, there should be a way to know what they can really offer so as to get value from the fees they are paid. Patron has outlined the following as ways of determining the value of influencers

• Number of followers

The number of followers an influencer has is a plus to the amount of value he or she can offer, even though it is not absolute but it goes a long way in showing how much of trust and like he has built for himself. The greater the number of followers, the bigger the value of an influencer

• Engagement level

One good thing about influencers and their followers is communication and engagement. If an influencer engages well with its followers, then its an indication that the influencer is well loved and this will show forth during the marketing of products. So the greater the engagement, the higher the value placed on an influencer

• Reputation and Feedbacks

Since the blockchain is a transparent system, the reputation of every influencer is laid bare for all to see. This reputation is built based on previous engagments by sponsors and followers.

These reputation therefore is built based on ratings given after each transaction or contract. The higher the reputation, the bigger the value

• CORE SERVICES OF PATRON

Sharing the influencer's SNS delivery frame at the spot. (Pay every time)
Share an Influencer exclusively for several months (Pay monthly).
Acquire favorite influencers and monopolize (annual contract)

BUSINESS MODELS OF PATRON PLATFORM

• Social Networking Service (SNS)

Influence on social media was solely the job of celebrities who had developed large amount of followers, Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, digital photos and videos, posts, and to inform others about online or real-world activities and events with people in their network.

Sports and other musical celebrities amassed such great potentials of followers, who they engage constantly with their skills and talents. These individuals could easily convince and influence followers to purchase a commodity.

The ability of influencing is evenly distributed now as common individuals could still garner followers depending on how much engaging their pages or social media handles can be.

This is the model utilized by patron, where individuals who have large followers and influencing power are contracted to help sell a brand. The value of connecting followers to sponsors is being rewarded on the patron platform.

• Sharing economy

The concept of sharing is based on the premise that one leases their product or service over a period of time with good and expected ROI.

This is explained better using UBER a transportation company, that connects travelers or passengers to car owners who lease their car as a tool for carrying individuals around.

The company and the owner benefits from this business. In patron, an influencer can receive payments for his goods or services to followers for a contracted time, his payments are contract based and can be monthly or annually.

You share contents and get paid for them, and also you connect people to sponsors, this is basically the work of influencers

• ADVANTAGES AND BENEFITS OF PATRON TO INFLUENCERS, FOLLOWERS AND SPONSORS

Patron has a lot of benefits to influencers and these benefits make it juicy and very promising. Here are a number of benefits the platform

- For Influencers

• Ability to choose the company or sponsor to promote, this is made possible through verification parameters on sponsors, this is to ensure that dubious brands are not promoted
• With the help of smart contracts, influencers are afforded fixed income for any job done for sponosors until the contract expires
• Influencers can improve their reputation through the contracts they complete on the blockchain and can even gain more users through this way
• Increased revenue and appropriate disbursement of revenue opportunities for influencers.
• Security of funds, patron ensures that the funds of influencers are secured and that they will get paid for their service

For Followers

• Access to the best products in the market which is being advertised by their favorite model or celebrity

• Followers can turn into influencers by how much recommendation and interaction they bring

• Opportunity to sell their brand for low amount of fee if they have been loyal to the platform

• Ability to influence the reputation of influencers from rating system

• Incentives and winnings from contests and events

• For Sponsors

• Ability to choose desired influencer from influencer’s reputation

• Possibility of increasing your profit through patronization from followers

• They can affect the reputation of influencers through rating system

• They save sponsors from wasting their resources, by directing them to influencers whose followers are ideal for their product to be advertised

• PATRON is able to accurately channel sponsor advertisement to the right audience, thereby maximizing the resources sponsors spend on advertising.

• Ability to accurately channel sponsor achievement to the right audience thereby maximizing profit and spending

PAT TOKEN

Patron has a token system that it uses a native token, the token is built on the ethereum blockchain and it is an ERC-20 token. The functions of the token include:

• It’s holders used it to communicate with influencers and the token acts as a contract transaction currency between influencers and sponsors

• With the token, followers can either ‘like’ or ‘vote’ for the influencers in order to increase or decrease their rating.

USE CASES

• First case

Kelemasco is an international footballer that is very skilled in his talent, he was so influential that many clubs were on his neck to sign for him. He was so good that every youth wanted to be like him as he made money from his profession.

One good thing about football now is that it has gathered a lot publicity that has made it the best sport in the world. This was a huge reason why kelemasco was well known and followed by so many youths.

Before now, he has always loved the social media space that he had millions of followers from different parts of the world, he wanted to become a huge influencer on his hobby.

He was introduced to Patron, he got to know about the working principle and was contracted by a company that sells sports wears. Because he had many loyal followers, the company experienced a huge return on investment.

• Second Case

Sonia is a model that recently won the most beautiful girl in her country, she garnered a lot of followers as a result of her skill in dressing and achievement.

She loves fashion a lot that she dresses so well to attract. Much of her fans were women and teens who are crazy about fashion and statistics has shown that women rely on social media to get the trendy and latest fashions.

Her social media handle had over a million followers who constantly look out for her designs and wears. Mayor's clothing's is a big company that specializes on female wears, they contracted sonia to help them sell their brand.

Sonia signs a contract with the company through the patron platform and the company made huge sales from the partnership

CONCLUSION

The future of social media marketing is safe in the hands of patron and to think that the blockchain provides a platform for all these is really amazing. Connecting to consumers or followers has always been the challenge of any entrepreneur and one would even give up at the thought of pushing through their brand.

Patron makes everything easy to do through their very easy user interface and technological setup. There are benefits for every participant on th patron platform and this would encourage more participation by people.

Finally, this is breakthrough of the blockchain technology in their quest for global adoption. Since everyone wants to come on board on the social media space, patron succeeds in offering everything in a wonderful and awesome platter of gold.

PATRON IS THE FUTURE

MY VIDEO ON PATRON