How to Find and Work With Influencers

We have yet to see the full power of where the influencer economy will take us. What many don’t realize is this is only a new twist on the old game of having celebrities endorse your products or services. The difference now is what constitutes influence.

Where once only the rich and famous had significant influence (and they still do), today there are many paths to becoming influential enough to derive an income. We all have many more choices of influencers when we want to promote our book, product, or business.

Types of Influencers

Brands have been paying mom blogs to promote their products for years because their readers are loyal and trust their recommendations more than advertising.

Authors are investing money with social media influencers to push their content onto the “Most Popular” page of major sites like Forbes. They could spend more and get it featured on the home page.

Celebrities can now rise from the working class to become valuable on a specific social media platform. We see this most often on YouTube, Instagram or Snapchat, but that type of influence is also found on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn.

This fascinating story on Entrepreneur relates How This Entrepreneur Went From Dead Broke to Mega Influencer in One Year. He leveraged his connections to create demand for introducing important people to each other in a social setting.

While most of us do not have those kinds of connections, what he did is what I do to grow work for all my collaborators. The difference is that only those who can pay 4 figures can participate in what he is doing while anyone can benefit from working with us.

Influencers tend to know each other, and that influence grew out of their relationships. But what if you’re not an influencer? Maybe you want to become one or perhaps you would like to engage influencers to promote your business.

Finding and Working With Influencers

Fortunately, platforms exist to identify influencers and enable anyone to connect with them. ClearVoice is a creator marketplace enabling users to discover the optimum content creators for their needs.

I mention them because they go beyond just creating content or finding influencers; their platform provides a workflow for content strategy from start to finish.  Inside the ClearVoice platform, businesses can:

• search for ideas in their idea lab by topic or keyword
• create a project and add it to an editorial calendar
• find and hire a content creator
• provide specific, detailed instructions
• review, request revisions, and approve
• measure results

These new platforms make it much easier to stay on top of projects when you have many influencers involved.  Whether you automate your activities or do them manually, it is essential to stay organized from start to finish.

Using Influencers for Promoting Your Content

Creating content is just the first step. Just as important is promoting it well. If you choose content creators who are also influencers, ask them how much promotion is included and whether they offer additional types of promotion.

Babbly is a new method of amplifying social sharing. Unlike previous tools that influencers use to share your content on one platform at a time, when they use Babbly they click one button and the content is sent to their attached Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.

Increase your reach by spreading the word among your collaborators about any tools you use. This one is so easy to use it should grow quickly, and the more users they have the more visibility the content you share there can receive.

This post offers some tips to identify additional influencers to promote your brand. Once you make contact with an influencer, ask them who else they know who would be a good fit for your projects.

Influencer Marketing Tips

The more guidance you give your influencers, the most satisfied you will be with the results you achieve. Share your goals in advance. Are you primarily interested in visibility, in driving traffic back to your site, or in capturing leads?

Develop your landing pages and 1500 word evergreen pillar content first. The better your existing content, the more your influencers can do for you. Work with a content strategist to determine your direction and set a strategy before you bring any influencers on board.

Influencers are in more demand than ever – and they’re very busy. Many brands do such a poor job of reaching out to them that they either get ignored or get a reputation as a company to be avoided.

Remember that influencers talk to each other, so if you treat any one of them badly, word will spread and getting influencers on board for your projects will become much more difficult.

Lee Odden at TopRankBlog has compiled these 50 Ways to Fail at Influencer Marketing. Be sure to read that post so you know what to avoid. If you don’t take these seriously, you will end up having to hire an influencer to try to fix your reputation among influencers!

Want more? Read my How to Find and Successfully Work with Influencers post on AllBusiness.com.

Want to hire us or any influencers we know?
Visit InfluentialWriters.com for details.

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Gail Gardner

Small Business Marketing Strategist at GrowMap

Gail Gardner is the founder of GrowMap.com. She is a Small Business Marketing Strategist who mentors small businesses, bloggers, and freelancers. After 23 years in the field with IBM and 5.5 years managing AdWords accounts, her focus shifted to small business marketing strategy. GrowMap.com is listed by Cision as a Top 100 Site for Marketers and has received three Small Business Influencer Awards from Small Business Trends. Named by D&B a Top 50 SMB Influencer on Twitter, you can follow Gail @GrowMap and on LinkedIn.

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