Influencer marketing is the latest trend in online marketing to generate effective results in terms of brand promotion, audience engagement and sales. If you are doing influencer outreach the right way, it can deliver tangible outcomes. However, if you are doing it the wrong way, you will go unnoticed or get rejected.
Influencer outreach is not an easy task. Don't be intimidated by initial failures. Instead, withstand the storm and continue your efforts. Remember, in influencer outreach, those marketers succeed who have a solid spine, and the disposition to face initial setbacks and knowhow of the tricks to effectively nurture rapport with influencers.
Even the largest and popular brands of the world sometimes do things that are considered wrong in this realm. They often fail to understand that a few simple tweaks can boost their influencer outreach campaign. Below are some of the common mistakes marketers commit when trying to establish rapport with influencers:
1. Failing To Select The Right Platform and The Right Influencer
Social media networks like Facebook, Youtube and Instagram have gained immense popularity in influencer marketing. They have helped tens of thousands of brands succeed, while at the same time tens of thousands of brands and marketers have failed on these platforms. Most brands and marketers fail because they select the wrong platform and/or the wrong influencer.
According to AdWeek, the social media spending by brands is set to increase by seventy percent in the coming year. If you are also considering increasing your social media spending, you must make sure to select the right platform and the right influencer to get decent ROI.
What type of social media platform and influencer you should use depends on your influencer outreach objectives, your target market and the type of content your campaign would use.
2. Trying To Chat, Not To Enthuse
No matter how many influencers you are trying to reach out to, you have to presume that each of them already has 100 emails in their inbox and they have only a minute to skim through them all. Now, what most marketers do is they make no efforts to tweak their messages to make their message different from the other emails in the inbox. To stand out from the crowd, use the subject line to your advantage.
You can find unlimited tips on how to write interesting subject lines, but in reality, there is no infallible formula. You have to get the attention of the influencer in 30-38 words, and that's all. Write the subject as if the influencers will miss out something wonderful if they ignore your email. You can also experiment with the Buzzfeed formula that makes email recipients believe that they will not survive if they don't open the message.
3. Failing To Get To The Point Within The First Few Lines
Remember, when it comes to influencer outreach, your success counts on the content of your email. Most brands and marketers fail to entice the influencer within the first few lines of their email. If the first few lines of your message seem uninteresting, the influencer would probably not read more, and would just close the message within a few seconds.
Make sure to start your message with something worthy of the influencer's time. Avoid putting pictures, formal salutation or numbers in the start. Instead, focus on something that is interesting, striking and captivating, so the reader gets lured. For example, you can write your most outstanding, valuable information in the initial lines, and get to the point right away.
4. Writing Very Long Messages
Your message need to be short and to the point. Don't go for lengthy details. Remember, your aim is to generate the interest of the influencer. All other details can be communicated in follow-up emails. Write your email by assuming that the influencer is too busy to give you more than a few seconds, and within that time, you have to generate his or her interest. Keep in mind that influencers get 200-500 emails on average per day. Imagine your influencer opening an email that holds a wall of text. Now, how interested do you think they would be to reply?
5. Asking Without Giving
Most brands and marketers often fail to understand that when they reach out to an influencer, they are actually asking for a favor, so they go about asking without first giving. Do not hesitate to state your offers like sample give-out or an invite before asking for a favor. Even if you are not offering the influencer anything tangible, you can give them recognition, and you should state this in your message. You can do so by quoting or mentioning them in your blog or sharing news about them with your followers.
An Example For All:
If you are in the business of cottages, you should target influencers that have interest in this field, i.e: traveling or property. If you select an influencer that does not invest in properties or does not enjoy traveling, chances are you will not be entertained. In the same way the platform is of importance as well. Like, in case of cottages you should ideally go for Instagram where you can easily show images or videos to highlight the benefits.
Moving next, your email messages should be short and to the point. Instead of speaking of investment and beating about the bush, you should directly speak about investing in cottages and what you have to offer. There is no point in saying 'investment will give you benefits', instead tell them about the benefits right there and then.
Remember, influencer outreach is a daunting, but not a cutthroat task. However, by avoiding the mistakes explained above, you can make your campaign effective and leave the crowd behind.