The Basics of Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is one of the most important new marketing trends. It is an extension of social media marketing, which relies on what is termed Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing to spread the word about great products and services.
What is influencer marketing?
In the olden days, neighbors swapped advice over their fences and at church socials. Fast forward to the present day and social media can be like WOM marketing on steroids, as people share their experiences, links, photos, write reviews, and more.
The premise is a simple one. People value the opinions of people they like and trust. They feel they “know” people in their social circle and are willing to trust their recommendations. In fact, studies have shown that they trust information from a peer on social media far more than any marketing material that comes from a brand or business.
Influencer marketing takes social media WOM even further. Social media has created prominent thought leaders, celebrities, experts, and ‘movers and shakers’. They develop a strong, loyal following, and those followers tend to take their advice about issues related to their particular niche.
Harnessing influencer marketing
Your starting point is to research the top influencers in your niche on the main social networks you already participate in. Follow them and observe the kinds of things they post. Do NOT try to rush in to join the conversation at this point. Just gather information and see how their other followers interact with them. If they have their own closed group, see if you can join it.
Put your best foot forward
But before starting to fully engage with influencers or groups, check your own Facebook or other social media page and profile. Is it up to date? Does it tell a compelling story about who you are and why anyone should pay attention to your brand or business?
If not, take the time to update it so you can create a good impression as you start to become more visible at the influencers’ accounts as you start to like, comment, share and so on. At each social network, your name will be a clickable link to your profile. Any activities you engage in will have your name and link, so it is important to realize how visible you really are and not do anything foolish that will harm your reputation before you’ve ever even got your influencer marketing initiatives off the ground.
Start to become an influencer yourself
As you become more active at influencer accounts and more and more people start to pay attention to you, you also have the chance to start exerting influence within your niche, expanding your circle of followers. Also note that the more likes, shares and comments your content gets, the more, for example, Facebook will reward you when it comes to showing your content to your followers.
Media outreach can thus become a ‘virtuous circle’ of people helping people, including telling them about great products, services, bargains and solutions that really work.
Create great original content, offer guest blog posts and other free content to help influencers and bloggers grow their brand. A simple link back to your site start to drive tons of traffic, and traffic can mean more subscribers and sales.
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