The Power Of Being Social – How To Bring Industry Influencers To You

Lets start by saying this isn’t an article all about on social media, it’s all about bringing industry influencers to your platform.

The only way that we can separate ourselves from the pack is to create information that is needed for others and by reaching out can assist in building a conversation and a flow of dialogue.

The biggest change I have found by being social (and ok social media does play a bit of a role here) is to find people I don’t know personally but they interest and influence me. By reading more books from authors than ever before and subscribing to blog sites that I find enjoyable over the past two years has opened up an opportunity I could not have imagined and that is to interact with them. Bringing authors/owners/thinkers over to your space and to share their opinion as a learning tool for others to understand best practice is becoming such a powerful differentiator in a world where we can now build our own sea in an ocean of noise.

What Doesn’t Work…An Example

The only way a door can open is to research someone first, before you make an approach via social media or find their email from their website. The important thing is to understand what they believe in, their point of view and the fit that they can produce for your field of expertise. Going in with a blanket email approach where every in-box knock on the door is exactly the same, should always result in the door being shut firmly in your face. It sticks out like a sore thumb, a bit like this email to post an article on my site, where the lack of an emotional connection or to connect to me as a person is in the bin.

An Influencer Content Marketing Approach

By making a connection with an influencer within your field of expertise can promise a fairly quick response when the message is easy to understand and the personal boost in return is that it does inspire you (trust me, it does!). This is because you are building a rapport with someone who is respected and they are effectively making something that was ‘pie in the sky’ achievable. The ideas and creative thinking that we all have does encourage us to do more and even more valid is the opportunity to think differently and not what the competition set is doing. We all need to be worthy of peoples attention, lets at least make the content we produce worthwhile to those who have made the visit to our space in an age of content overload and duplicate information.

The whole purpose for my approach to connect with influential modern marketing thinkers is to align myself with those who have already achieved notoriety, credibility and have built an audience. The reason that I am doing this is to provide information and answers from many key figureheads on how businesses can adopt a content marketing mindset and what they need to consider from focusing on a content strategy (thank you Joe Pulizzi), to knowing how to tell a story (thank you Robert Rose), to why providing information just isn’t enough (than you Lee Odden). By being a bit more social with influencers lets you take down the guard of thinking that these people are on totally different level from your small business but by treating these as people who can provide information of value to your audience and that you are too committed to the industry that you represent.

As the Talking Content Marketing initiative has developed, securing interviews with influencers has become a lot easier, as well as strengthening my own reputation as a provider of value for others.

This Is How It Works

Here is an ‘at a glance’ way to build an influencer programme:

•  research your market and those who inspire you and read what they stand for

• approach via email and make it clear what you are looking to achieve ie. a comment, participation for an article and make it clear the easiest way to make this possible

• create yourself goals in terms of looking to reach audiences and for those who are participating to encourage to share with their audience

• monitor social metrics such as shares, inclusion on other blogs and social platforms and also analytical tools (any ‘forks’ in visits when the articles are published)

• review if the initiative was a success and look at other ways to continue or to build as a commitment to your content calendar of activity

• identify other influencers who can support what you are looking to build

Making It Measurable

The measurable outcome of a successful influencer programme is to:

• help build you credibility in the marketplace

• generate a relationship with a person who is well respected and well outside of your immediate circle (but probably the most important space for maximum content reach)

• make a connection with an audience who may not have been aware of you

• support your ongoing content activity

• building an increasing reach on social media channels

• create more subscribers who know that you have an activity that isn’t the same as everyone else

• create a sales channel

• the whole initiative revolving full circle where others can come to you for opinion and expertise

The whole premise comes down to creating meaningful content that is needed for others and also to support your standing as an influencer yourself. Make consuming content a practice that you learn how to prepare perfectly and serve fresh every time.

To follow the ‘Talking Content Marketing’ journey and interviews with modern marketing thinkers and their content approach to support best practice within your business, just enter your email at the top of the page (or bottom of the page on a mobile device).

 

Image: courtesy of Flickr (City Of Boston Archives)