Regular readers will know that I’m on a bit of an Influencer Marketing kick these days.
In this era of failing newspapers, magazines and TV shows, influencers like bloggers, Instagrammers and YouTubers are rising.
Small businesses can work with influencers to help to market their product or service. If you’re a small business and you’re interested in learning more about how to do this, you might want to attend my workshop at Social Media Camp in May–as that’s exactly what I’ll be talking about.
Influencer Marketing has many advantages, not the least of which is that it can be less expensive and can be highly effective.
Basically, the idea is, you “borrow” an influencer’s following. They write about you on their blog, post a photo of you on Instagram, or make a video about you. This introduces you to a new audience, and assuming that influencer is recommending you, can lead to new clients coming your way.
I think many businesses, when they are starting to look for influencers to work with, begin by looking at their followings. But numbers of followers can be very deceiving. I think it’s better to look for engagement. Does the influencer have lots of comments on their content? Are they interacting with their fans? That, to me, is way more important than a massive number of followers.
I’ve been reading a lot lately about the rise of the micro-influencer. This is someone who may only have a few thousand followers, but the followers that they do have are engaged and interested in what the influencer has to say.
Look for influencers in your niche that share your core values. There’s a better chance they’ll be interested in working with you that way.
One of the most important things you can do when beginning to work with influencers is to interact and engage with them online before you reach out with a pitch or an ask. This is to establish a relationship with them beforehand.
It’s also really important to offer them something in return for their content; free stuff or swag is pretty popular, but cash payment is also appreciated for sponsored posts. You could also give them extra swag that they can then give away in a contest on their feeds. Contests are win-win for both parties.
And now here’s today’s infographic: The Ultimate Guide to Micro-Influencers.
