Young Businessman’s Mission to Connect NI Business Owners & Influencers

Joshua Snoddy (29), originally from Belfast, is on a mission to connect Northern Ireland influencers with business owners.

What is an Influencer?

An Influencer is deemed as a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending items on social media.

Due to the influx of online marketing since Covid, the cost of running online adverts are on the rise.

Josh commented, “As the owner of an award-winning digital marketing agency, I’ve noticed a recent and upward trend in advertising costs online. It is well known that business owners have to pay more to Google & social media platforms to get the same results they once were. This is because many business owners understand the benefits of online advertising, and the more people competing to advertise to the same audience, the more it costs the advertiser.”

Josh adds, “Business owners are cornered; without online marketing, they worry they’ll be forgotten. And with the rising cost of living, it couldn’t have come at a worse time. That’s why I set up NI Influencers.”

NI Influencers matches influencers with business owners across Northern Ireland for free.

“I always knew that influencer marketing is very effective, but I didn’t know how to connect my clients with the right influencers. It was always time intensive to find the right influencer on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. When I did find an influencer, I couldn’t message them through the platform, or my message would fall into their spam mailbox.”

I conducted in-depth market research, including speaking with local influencers to see if they would be interested in joining an online collective. The feedback was very positive, as they too have difficulty being discovered and contacted.

“That’s how NI Influencers was born. We’re not an agency, simply a platform that enables business owners and influencers to discover each other… many businesses are turning to influencer marketing now as it can be much cheaper and more effective than other advertising methods.”

“In an ever-increasing digital world, the old style of marketing is rapidly declining. People seek real human connections and want to buy from people over companies – that’s why influencer marketing works so well.”

During the week-long pre-launch, NI Influencers received over 200 applications from Northern Ireland based influencers to join the collective. The website can be free both for the business owner and influencer. Not only will it benefit influencers and business owners in Northern Ireland, but it will also benefit influencers connecting our local content creators with large brands worldwide.

You can find out more about NI Influencers and view the Influencers in Northern Ireland at: www.niinfluencers.co.uk