If you're a business owner or marketer, you've seen a lot of references to influencer marketing, and you're probably not quite sure what to do with the information you've read. With some help from my friends, I'll try to clear up the confusion.
A group of very influential marketers collaborated on an epic guide to influencers and influencer marketing. Who they are, what they do, why they are important, how to engage them.
Rather than repeat the info you're really going to want to read, I'd like to tell you about my own experiences as an influencer. Typical advice is to befriend bloggers, vloggers, and people with big social media followers. It's been my experience that most people think that means "Hi, nice to meet you, will you write about my product?"
Nope.
How to Engage Influencers
Speaking from personal experience, at least 95% of people who reach out know only two things: I have a big network and I publish on high-traffic sites.
When Jason Quey sent me this guide and infographic to look over, I was excited. It's perfect for me. It's a subject I write about often, and one my readers like to know more about. He didn't need to ask me to write about it, I wanted to.
The lesson - contact the right influencer. Pick someone who is actively involved in your industry and speaks to the audience you want to reach.
Other people who recently piqued my interest are a company that prints circuitry on film - to connect ordinary objects, like strawberries and wine, to the IoT. If you follow me, you know I write about the IoT all the time, so I wanted to know more. I'll be writing in depth about my conversation with Bill Cummings and Davor Sutja at Thinfilm and what's happening in IoT soon.
And Here's How to Fail.
Among the countless requests I get from total strangers is someone who sent a DM nearly every day from our first contact. He's touting a service that has no relation to me or my audience. Something about paying a fee to join a service where you get everyday products like paper towels at a discount when you order through the website. There seems to be an MLM component. If it sounds like Amway...I thought so, too.
I have never written about groceries. I'm not a mommy, family, coupon, or shopping blogger. My audience is SMB and marketing.
Here's a hint: I am never going to plug an MLM grocery delivery "club." I am the wrong influencer. And you haven't made any effort to know me, you're just hammering me with relentless pitches, which I ignore.
The takeaway is to cultivate reciprocal relationships with influencers directly related to your niche. Pull them into the story, and give them something meaty to endorse that will engage their readers. If they thank you for reaching out, it's a great match. Hey, Jason, thanks! This is the best thing I've seen in ages, and I know my readers will love it as much as I do.
Make an infographic with Venngage and get more influencer marketing and content promotion tips and tricks from ContentMarketer.io. Add this to your site: Become a Super Connector: How to Work With 1,000+ Influencers.