Our product is unique, Our service is innovative! Customer’s inboxes are getting flooded with these marketing pitches. But how many of them actually get influenced by these words? May be a few of them… but what about the rest of the customers? As they receive impressive marketing messages from so many different brands, customers become sceptical about which brands to belief and choose and which one to avoid.
Marketers often do not understand how they can get their messages heard and absorbed. However, the key is identifying and empowering a brand’s most influential fans and followers to their network. Who are these influencers? They are individuals who have a sway over your audience, who have large followings in certain niches and affect opinions. The process eventually increases the visibility of your products and services. So how do you market them?
Put away the sales pitch. Your aim should be to bring people into your’ Marketing Sphere of Influence’. And once they arrive, it is your responsibility to deliver, engage and build the bond with your customers. The process is comprehensive but not difficult to achieve…
Search your Influencers from your Industry
With social media marketing being the buzz of the world, it is the easiest way to see who is talking about your brand. As you follow the influential, check out what and who they follow. You must recognize that influence is contextual. Your influencers entirely depend on what you’re trying to accomplish. Participate in regular conversations relevant to your industry. Besides, some of the online tools also help you to see who’s sharing your content and how influential they are.
Do not Confuse Influencers with Reach
Some people assume that to find the influencers, they have to reach as many people as possible. However, influence marketing is all about reaching the right set of people. The motive should be to make the right people identify your brand. Create content that is specifically designed to attract the attention of the influencers. Try to follow the principle of reciprocity that says people are more likely to take interests in your stuff only when you take an interest in their stuff first.
Target and own your Niche
If you want to become the authority in your industry, you need to know your niche well. Do not jump into selling your products first. Read their content, articles, and discussion threads that you may come across. Do not overlook the loyal blog readers who subscribe to your newsletter, give interesting comments on your posts, or retweet your tweet. Focus on the primary influencers who get you traction. Own them by commenting on their blog posts, reply back on Twitter, respond to their Facebook status updates and send them emails pitching your products and ideas. Do not underestimate the power of communities.
The more you interact with your influencers, the better you’re amplifying your brand message.
Sell through your Content
Look at the influencers as your potential consumers of your products. The product, in this situation is your content. You can probably apply AIDA’s progressive techniques in sales which incorporates four major factors to consider
Attention: Gain your influencer’s attention with a brief intriguing subject line
Interest: Draw their interests through genuine data and exclusive videos
Desire: Elicit a desire with emotional marketing (content) that most closely reaffirms with your products and audiences’ beliefs
Action: Ensure that your pitch includes the required call-to-actions.
Engage your Influencers
Engage people in your marketing space. Some of the best ways to drive engagement are through forums, groups, or communities. Google+, LinkedIn or Facebook will help you have the pipeline straight to the right people. But how do you choose among the bazillion groups on LinkedIn or Google+? Make sure that your group
- Are fit for your market
- Are actively involved in
- Have active and engaged members
However, be ready to manage the traffic before you start growing your marketing sphere.
Show some Love and not Business
Leveraging your influencers begins with building a strong bond with your customers. Investing in a superior customer experience and checking how frequently your customers speak about your brand on social media should be a top priority. If required interact directly with the customers, provide loyalty programs, promotional discounts, or create customer advisory board. This gives enough opportunities to encourage positive, organic and authentic sharing about your brand.
Attributes that make the Influencers
Echo: An influencer should be able to mobilize opinion and create reactions when they converse about a topic
Exposure: The size of the influencer’s community in a specific area is an important attribute to consider
Share of voice: influencer’s degree of participation on a given subject matter is a significant factor to regard.
You’ve Enough Reasons to Pay More Attention to the Influencers
Influence Marketing for Better Targeting
Word-of-mouth is the best searchlight that goes through every social network to find the most interested consumers.
Advanced SEO with Influence Marketing
By interacting with Facebook users and influencing their networks, marketers are able to reach a new group full of qualified prospective.
Influencers Affect Decision Making Process
Preferences or decisions coming from friends, families and social media networks always have a strong impact on the buyer’s purchase decisions.
Companies who understand the value of influence marketing stand to gain if they plan and execute well.
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