Influencer Marketing Know-How
Influencer marketing is the process of leveraging key industry influencers to grow your business. When someone who has influence with your target audience recommends your products or services, it can help take your business to the next level. In this competitive market, it makes sense to focus your marketing efforts on influencer marketing. So, what is it and how can you make it work? Let’s take a look at what goes into a successful influencer marketing campaign.
- Planning Your Influencer Marketing Strategy
The first step is to create a plan. What do you want to achieve with influencer marketing? What are your goals? What’s your budget? How will key marketing efforts already in place support your influencer marketing efforts and goals? Consider, also, who will do the work required to get your influencer marketing up and off the ground. This is a strategy that takes time. It’s about relationship building as well as content marketing. The two go hand in hand. Build your team.
- Influencer Identification & Selection
The next step, and it can be a lengthy one, is to identify the influencers in your industry and then choose the ones that you want to target. Start by simply building a long and comprehensive list of the influencers in your field. Take a look on social sites, websites and blogs, as well as industry publications. Research who has a following, why they have a following (what makes them different), and who listens to them? Who is their audience?
Once you have that comprehensive list, the next step is to narrow it down to a few people that you want to target specifically. Keep in mind that you’re looking at the size of their audience, of course, but you also want to understand the quality of their audience. An audience of 100,000 isn’t going to do you any good if only 10 of them click on your influencer’s link. Their audience needs to be active and engaged. It also must be your audience. Make sure you’re targeting the right people.
- Program Workflow and Automation
Okay, so you have your list of targeted influencers. Now you’re following them on social media, you’ve subscribed to their blog and… what else? Now is when it gets tricky. You want to create a system of consistently engaging with them and offering value. That means commenting on their Facebook posts with something insightful. See why you need a team? Technology can help too. Set up alerts so you know when your influencers have posted. Schedule time to engage daily. Have resources bookmarked so you can provide facts and information in your commentary. And, of course, make sure you have quality content on your blog, website, and social media page.
- Monitor & Track Key Metrics
Metrics are part of any marketing strategy, and influencer marketing is no different. Yes, it can be more difficult to measure, but with the right goals and tracking systems in place you can begin to see what tactics are successful and which ones are not.
Finally, make sure that when you do get that exposure you want from your chosen influencers, that you leverage the heck out of it. Share it on social media, publish it on your blog, and let your email list know. If someone notable recommends your products or services, make sure everyone knows about it.
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