Companies are increasingly turning to influencer marketing as a way to expand their reach. Many brands are not taking full advantage of this platform, even though it is becoming increasingly important. You need a plan if you want to increase your influencer base.
Introduction: What’s Influencer Outreach?
Influencer Outreach refers to reaching out and influencing influential people. These are people who have a high level of influence over their followers. Their credibility and reach can be used to spread awareness about your product or brand.
You can break this down into four categories:
1. Influencer Discovery – Finding influential people;
2. Influential Marketing – Building relationships with influential people
3. Engagement & Content Creation – creating content for influencers’ audiences;
4. Measurement & Audience Development – Analyzing data from campaigns and measuring the results.
Influencer outreach is a cost-effective strategy that can be used at many levels.
1 Influencer – Reaching out to influential people in your industry
2) Audience development –using influencers to grow an audience
3) Engagement and Content Creation –creating engaging content for their followers to increase engagement. These channels can generate more advertising revenue (see below). You should also keep track of how much time and money you spend with each influencer.
Influencer Outreach: The Advantages of Influencers
This strategy can help you increase your reach in a variety of ways.
1. Cost-Effective There is no need to spend money on advertising or media for exposure.
2. Reach & Credibility – A influential person can help you increase awareness of your brand by being a platform.
3. Engagement – Engaging their followers will result in a higher level of engagement which could lead to more sales.
Influencer Outreach: The Pitfalls and Challenges
This strategy comes with its challenges, such as:
1. Timing – You need to keep an eye on your influencers so you know when they are planning their next campaign.
2. Budget – You’ll need to have an additional budget, either in time or cash, for outreach efforts.
3. Quality – You’ll need to make sure that the influencers to whom you reach out are trustworthy and of high quality.
4. Reputation Management – If your brand is just starting, it’s vital that they have a solid reputation to maintain its credibility. People may be hesitant to try them if they have received negative press in the past.
Understanding your Goals
It is important to understand your goals for influencer outreach. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Are you looking to gain new customers or sell more products? You could even do both! Decide which one is most important, and then work towards that goal.
You will need to identify your target market to do this. This can be done by looking at your target audience or using tools like Google Analytics to find out where they are coming from and what they are searching for on Google.
When you have an idea of who your target audience is, you can plan how to reach them with an outreach campaign.
If, for example, most people know about the benefits and quality of a product (such as beauty products), but aren’t buying it yet then it might be a good idea to use influencer outreach campaigns to get them to buy it.
If you are trying to sell a brand new product (such as clothing), but most people don’t know about your company or products but have heard of your competitors, outreach might not be the right fit.
It is important to focus on Influencers who will help you achieve your goals. It is important to consider who you should send an email to. This means identifying:
- They are who they are
- Which type of people would benefit most from their advice and help?
- What number of followers, fans, and subscribers does the person have on social media? This is perhaps the most important thing. Is there another influencer in your niche who can be reached? Who should you first contact if there are? How about your competitors? Do you want to get more customers than them or do they? Look online at similar brands to see what amount of advertising is being spent each month. This will give you a good idea of what it takes for your company’s visibility.
- You can find the most effective way to learn about an influencer’s social following by searching them on Google or other search engines. Next, contact their website through a form you can fill out with your details. Then ask for the contact information of someone who can help. It may take some time but it is worth it. Soon you’ll know if they’re moving places. This could mean that your company could also be on the cusp of great things!
Choosing the right Tools and Platforms
You have many options to find influencers. However, you don’t need to spend too much on them. You can find a lot of free options online, which is great if you don’t have the budget for what you need.
These are the tools and platforms that I recommend:
- Social Mention (Free). This is a great place to begin your search. It will allow you to find people who have been mentioned in articles or posts by others about them. It will also allow you to see the number of people they are connected to. This will help make it easier to reach them.
- Twitter (Free): This is a great tool to see who’s talking about you and your competitors, as well as their social media followers. Before you contact someone via DM or email, you can see the number of mentions made by others on Twitter. There are many other options online if you don’t wish to use Twitter.
- LinkedIn (Free) – LinkedIn has a reputation for being one of the best social media platforms. This makes it a great place to start your search for influencers. You can view their profile, share links and see posts in which they have mentioned others. If you wish to reach them directly via email or DM, you can also access their link history.
Building a Relationship with the Right Influencer
Once you have found the right influencer for your brand, it is time to start building the relationship.
It’s best to keep them informed about what you are doing and how they can promote your company. Send them links to any freebies or discounts that are available on their social media platforms. It’s important to not spam these people.
If this is your first time, you might be able to only send one email per month. But don’t worry if it gets overwhelming! It will get easier over time.
Ask for help! Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you are having trouble with something.
Your influencer will eventually become a key member of your social media marketing team. Not only because they are great at promotion but also because you understand what you want to do with your brand, and how you can help.
Influencer marketing has a bright future!
How to Get the Strategy Right, and how to get the Influencer involved!
Once your influencer is onboard, it’s time for you to get to the crux of social media marketing.
First, you need to create a strategy that will allow you to promote your brand on their platforms. This strategy will differ depending on which platform they use (Facebook or Twitter). But make sure everything is well thought out and put into practice before you launch.
It is also a good idea to have people in the company with experience in influencer marketing so they can offer advice when necessary. It’s not always possible to do this, so don’t be afraid of asking your team for assistance!
Once you have a strategy, it is time to involve the influencers. It’s where things can get messy and complicated, but it will pay off in long term.
If you are not already connected, a meeting with your influencer is the first step. You will need to meet with your influencers to discuss the content they will be posting (remember, no inappropriate photos!). You will also need to decide how often they should post.
Also, explain how you will promote the content. If this is a paid campaign then ensure that they are aware of what type of things will be promoted.
These posts should be relevant and useful – don’t just throw away any old thing! It is important to make it clear what your brand stands up for and why people should be interested in it. You may want to share a problem or concern with them. Make sure they know what type of post is best to get their attention.
It’s crucial to keep the influencer informed about everything happening. Send them a link to all your posts, and make sure they are aware when they go live. If they don’t already, they can also promote your content.
Also, you should send them any information relevant to what they will promote in their post. This could include links back to your site or images or videos. Don’t just throw something together without first thinking it through.
It is important to monitor what they post so you can ensure that everything is working and that the audience is engaged with it. If not, change your approach.
After all these things are in place, it’s important to monitor how effective the posts are. It’s not worth spending money on something that isn’t getting enough exposure. And if they aren’t, it might be better to just leave them alone.
Evaluation of the entire process of Influencer Outreach that you have set up!
It should not be difficult to see the effectiveness of this strategy if you have followed all the steps. Your social media followers will be more numerous and of a higher quality than those who have not been targeted by influencers.
If you are just starting with Influencer Outreach, or aren’t sure if some things need to change, I recommend looking at the work of other brands. You can then get a better idea of where to start, which tactics work well, and how much money you should spend.
