After having a conversation with Jenny Holt, Freelance Writer, I asked her to draft up this blog post about influencer marketing for you all. Enjoy:
Do you leverage influencers to market your products or events? If you don’t know what an influencer is or how to utilize them, read on…
An influencer is a media celebrity who has the ability to influence the shopping or other habits of their followers. In the past this meant media moguls, celebrities and marketing executives, but today this list is more diffuse. There are bloggers and vloggers with millions of viewers and fans. Any endorsement this person gives will be seen by more people than your marketing has ever reached before.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? But it is not that easy…
Choose the Right Influencer
If you have a new video game out, you do not want to approach a vlogger who is famous for discussing politics or French cooking. Research your influencers carefully, look at what they do, who they appeal to, their likelihood of accepting your offer, and the likely effect. Do they have a history of promoting products or attending events? What is the reputation like in circles similar to yours?
Remember their Size Relative To Yours
Don’t forget, reputations matter and this include yours. Having a mega celebrity influencer with 47 million YouTube followers may sound perfect, especially as they are in your exact niche, but if they are so huge, why should they promote a little project like yours? They have to maintain their reputations too, as do you. Using influencers is about finding the right balance between what they need and what you can afford - paying them is important to keeping things working well.
Trust the Influencers to just do their Thing
Finally, remember that your influencer(s) of choice have got to where they have got to on their own merits and in their own style. If you have researched carefully enough and have a product they like, then just let them get on with it. They have their own way of testing, reaching out to fans, and style of presentation. You cannot control or micromanage this, so relax and wait for the buzz to build.
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