Why I Love Influencer Marketing and You Will Too

Scroll, like, scroll, scroll, scroll, YAWN, comment, try to engage, think “I need a new webinar”, scroll…..   We have all been there. The loud and overwhelming social media graveyard of ads, opt-ins, groups, etc.   And we find ourselves clawing to the top of some “attention” mountain because we know we have a meaningful message to share with the world.   Let me tell you a beautiful little secret: You don’t need to post more or engage with more people. You don’t have to post on every platform all hours of the day to be seen.      All you need to do to scale quickly is reach out to some of those folks in your news feed, and exercise the power of influencer marketing.

What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer Marketing is a form of marketing in which focus is placed on influential people rather than the target market as a whole. Also referred to as thought leadership, It identifies the individuals that have influence over potential buyers, and orients marketing activities around these influencers.

3% of people generate 90% of buzz online

Wait…won’t I need to attract huge names with millions of followers to be successful with influencer marketing? ???? NOPE.   Where else is your ideal audience hanging out? Who is following the “Big Guys”? For example, I don’t just follow Marie Forleo and Gabby Bernstein, I follow their friends and followers who interact regularly with their content. Anyone with an audience and a relevant interest is a potential collaborator. Friends before business is fun and easy and stress-free.   Creating real relationships with them, bolstering their message, and offering value will result in 10x the return. Plus, these relationships continue to pay dividends if you retain them for future partnerships.   It’s a win-win-win for everyone’s audience. The influencer you tap will have the opportunity to display their deep knowledge for your followers to benefit from, and you get an intro to theirs. Easy and low-anxiety to boot. Video content creation can be intimidating, but infinitely less so when you are doing it as a team.   Once you get in front of an audience that is an ideal match for your business, share your knowledge – be loud about what you do! Credibility will grow your audience with ideal followers. Those who connect with you and your message will organically join your tribe.    

#YourVibeAttractsYourTribe

Influencer marketing is a great way to tear down those trust barriers we ALL have online, be seen as instantly more authoritative, and as a real, interesting person. How does this work?   Picture this: your favorite, most trusted entrepreneur to follow for business advice, or someone you admire and consider a friend, interviews a guest about video content creation (let’s call her Grace). Your fav seems genuinely excited to have Grace on and gives a killer intro.   Grace delivers the goods, unloads TONS of knowledge, and clearly knows her industry inside and out. She seems pretty cool – you like her. If you were in need of those services she spoke about, do you think you would be more likely to look to Grace for advice or click on some complete strangers ad?

No Need to Fight the Imposter Syndrome

When done correctly (creating relationships first, business second) influencer marketing can dispel the fear and anxiety associated with putting yourself out there and building your dream life.   Now, before you click away, thinking “I have a small audience”, “I’m not that big of a deal”, or any other version of the imposter syndrome, let’s do a quick check.

• Does your small, active, and intimate community actually want value?

• Do your few clients or followers engage and act on what you share?

Well, that is exactly what your collaborators and peers are looking for.   Let’s discuss how to easily create win-win-win marketing relationships that are a “no-brainer” to say yes to!

How to Choose Thought Leaders

Tap your best resources. Ask your followers, friends, clients, and peers what podcasts they love, who they follow, what they read, and who has a hustle they admire.   Then, immediately go follow them, read their books, and absorb their vibe.   Do you have common interests? Do they reflect your values? Are you striving toward some similar goals? Does your audience reflect theirs? Great, you have a match! Now you have to get in their atmosphere.

Check out our infographic on how to engage influencers!

How To Successfully Engage an Influencer

• Send a personal note

This personalization is detected right out of the gate. We have a well-honed BS meter these days and similar to ad blindness, we tend to be “blind” to canned greetings and automated messages. Sending a thoughtful, personal message makes you “real” and interesting. Talk about them, everyone is a sucker for talking about themselves 😉

• Ask if you can help them

Offer a very specific value. Start by asking yourself  “how can I serve them and the audience?” and build your offer from there. This also requires that you know their audience in a thoughtful way, which will add to your trust and credibility metric.

• Interview them in blog or FB video

Again, everyone loves to be the star of the show, so make them the star! Reiterate you want to collaborate with them because you value their immense knowledge and expertise and want to treat your audience to the gift of their presence (flatter but don’t go overboard), not because you want links and access to their influence. Keep it purely about their value.

• Write a guest post for them

Everyone who is competing online has to consider creating content. Offer to help them achieve their content goals. DO NOT fill the post with spammy links back to your site. One, tasteful link in your bio is plenty.

• Invite them to a summit/event

The internet has made the world smaller and created global communities like never before – but – there is absolutely nothing that compares to “IRL” experiences to build relationships.

• Make it a big deal, and ask them to share it out

At the end, thank them, be personal, and don’t be afraid to ask for future connections.

What Opportunities Can Influencer Marketing Efforts Lead To?

Once you begin to engage other influencers and build a community, you become top-of-mind for them as they look for experts for their events.   This can lead to Summits, collaborative offers/paid programs, speaking engagements, new clients and leads for everyone, and future interviews or features for you.   For example, my mentor invited me to speak at an event featuring the illustrious Daniel DiPiazza of Rich20Something fame (!!). At the end of the event I was approached by someone who became a $6,000 client.   This was one connection, leading to another, which bolstered my AUTHORITY in the eyes of my next client. #winning.   A new era of digital marketing on social media demands that we get creative and fashion interesting collaboration with influencers in our field.     No matter what you are trying to share, there are opportunities for you to include more “experts” and thought leaders, that will benefit your brand, their brand, and everyone’s audience.   Reach out to an influencer today, with confidence that collaborative marketing returns huge ROI.