8 do's and don'ts of influence marketing

• Posted by GAFM AFRICA January 25, 2018 - Filed in Business - #human resource  - 848 views

  When it comes to getting major influencers to help with your marketing effort, you can be embarking down a treacherous path. While it's crucial to on-board folks who have a lot of sway with your market, you have to be careful not to rub them the wrong way.

      In some cases,it can be just as easy to either get ignored by the influencers altogether, or goad them into giving you the wrong kind of marketing.With that in mind, here are four do's and don't's to pay attention to when you are trying to get influencers  to help market your product.

  1. Do choose your influencers wisely    

  First, and probably most important, is to choose the right influencers to reach out to. You want to make sure their following is actually part of your market.That way, your message gets conveyed to people who will actually have an interest in what you're promoting.

        For example, in 2010 when author Shel Horowitz published his 10th book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, he quickly identified that  the appropriate influencers for market would be newsletters publishers, bloggers, best-selling authors and the like.He reached out to these influencers, and saw tremendous results from the campaign.

   

      2. Do amplify influencer messages   

  Influenecers are often under tremendous pressure to drive traffic to their message, so anything you can do to help them do that will be noticed and greatly appreciated. You should find am influencer you greatly admire, and start amplifying their content by sharing it on your own social media networks.Be sure to tag the influenecer so he or she knows what you're doing.

      3. Do offer influencers something to entice them 

  Sometimes, just building the relationship might not be enough.Many influencers need something a bit more tangible than just you sharing their message, so you need to entice them.This could take the form of a charitable donation in the influencer's name or something more along the lines of helping the influencer get even more exposure.

      4. Do use an evangelical approach 

  Remember who you're approaching.Top influencers respond to a different kind of value propositions than regular users.While regular users respond quantitative value proposition like "cheaper","smaller", or "faster", top influencers are more interested in qualitative value propositions. This is where you'll use words like "revolutionary", "breakthrough", and "game-change".Influencers want to be involved in exciting ventures, so you need to attract their attention with engaging text.

     5. Don't spam influencers with follow ups 

  Yes, you should follow up with your influencer, but don't be obnoxious about it. This means having a bit of patience, since most infkluencer are busy people and may not have an opportunity to reply to your email in just a day or two.If you don't hear back from the influencer within a week, then it's probably safe to send a follow up email.

    Adarsh Thampy, CEO of leadferry, points out that you have to walk a fine line between persistence and pushiness. 

     6. Don't forget to build influencer relationship 

  Remember our suggestion in the do's section about courting your influencer? This is crucial, because it builds a relationship with them before you even think about asking them for help.Failing to build that relationship first will mean you come across as being spammy and pushy.

     Chris Boulas,the founder and president of digital marketing firm formulytic, has built businesses from $5 million to more than $30 million in revenue, largely on the back of influencer marketing.

     7. Don't forget to set influencer guidelines  

  How does your influencer reach out to his or her following? Through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or some other medium?Make sure you have specific guideline in place for how you should be promoted and especially tagged, to generate the maximum exposure possible.