Each and every single one of us looks up to different types of people in the online space. These people are seen as influencers who are worth their weight in gold, often chiming in on discussions or adding tremendous value to their audiences. If you’re looking to reach out to influencers, below are six segments you should look at to perform your influencer marketing, and how you can gain their attention:
The Hyper-Connected Networker
This is the person who is, put quite simply, well connected. This person knows a lot of people from all walks of life and is able to open doors for you. Whether you want an introduction or a favor, the hyper-connected networker probably already knows who you need to know in order to help you out.
How to help them: The hyper-connected networker wants to be connected to as many people as possible. S/he will accept any LinkedIn friend request because there’s an opportunity there to help someone. If you want to contribute to this person’s success, make introductions for them, and help them grow their network even further.
The Curator
This person knows where to find the great nuggets of data and is looked upon as a tastemaker of his own right. In the old days of social news site Digg, MrBabyMan and mklopez were such influencers. Both Andrew and Miguel were able to find the cream of the crop, the needles in the haystack, thereby being two of the most popular users on the social network since they always had a good eye for stories and submitted them with excellent (albeit short) commentary.
How to help them: Share your best stories with them, and they’ll amplify them to their audience.
The Thought Leader
This person is able to establish thought leadership by being influential in her right on her platform, be it on her blog, through Amazon product reviews, through online forums, or in Facebook groups.
Whether it’s by giving an opinion that is highly regarded or by giving a controversial spin to something, people are listening and want to know exactly what it is that this person is talking about, eagerly awaiting what else that person is going to say so as to learn and grow intellectually.
How to help them: Actively engage the thought leader. For those higher profile leaders, give them data and insights or an experience worth talking about. For others, let them know you’re listening and give them a platform to further magnify their leadership.
The Celebrity
This person has a tremendous fan following to the tune of millions of followers. Think Katy Perry or Lady Gaga. They have such a large audience that everyone is trying to scream from the rooftops to be noticed by these influencers as well.
How to help them: In order to be the signal through the noise, you’ll have to give them something they want, and that often will require some sort of financial investment. For the more popular influencers, the cost will be quite high.
The Creator
This person regularly creates content worth sharing or talking about, be it on blogs, Facebook posts, tweets, Pins, videos, or images (Snapchat or Instagram). This person is often posting content regularly to keep his/her audience engaged, and boasts a large social following through her various social networks.
How to help them: Let’s give them something to talk about. That means sending them targeted messages, furnishing them with some sort of product they’re looking for, offering them a service they may be in need of or could be good candidates to evaluate, or whatever else may tickle theirs (and your) fancy.
The Media
This person is a journalist, typically representing the news industry. He gets several hundred pitches a day from everyone to cover new stories relevant to his interests.
How to help them: Pitch them relevant stories! Better yet, offer them an exclusive.
All of these connection methods revolve around relationship building. Influence is governed by the networks they serve, and the relationships that exist therein. If you want to connect with influencers, think beyond just a transactional communication that may be self serving. Think about the relationships that could help grow your relationship with the influencer, and which means that the influencer will want to help you as well.