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What Every Company Should Consider When Working With Influencers

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TwitterInfluencers

Last month I wrote a post on the value of measuring engagement vs numbers when selecting an influencer for your company to work with.  That post resonated with a lot of you so I wanted to expand on it and talk about the key considerations for your company when working with influencers.  Working with influencers and ‘sponsored content’ is a very popular option for companies these days, and done correctly, it can be a real benefit for your business.  Here’s some of the things you should consider before working with influencers:

1 – Why does your company want to work with influencers?  Influencers can work well in certain situations, especially if you are trying to draw attention to a new product line or initiative.  It’s best to understand the role that influencers can play to see if they make a good fit for what you are trying to accomplish.  As always, start by asking what your expected outcomes are, then work backwards.  For example, if your goal is to increase sales by 15% in the next quarter, working with influencers alone might not accomplish that.  But if your goal is to increase your brand’s share of the online conversation around certain product lines by 15% in the next quarter, then maybe it makes sense to work with influencers to help accomplish this goal.

2 – Work with influencers that have a history of working with companies.  These influencers are more familiar with the process, and have a better sense of what your expectations will be and how to meet or exceed those expectations.  They will also work with your company to create a specific plan of action based on your expected outcomes.  And for those of you that want to work with companies, this is exactly why you should spell that out on your site or blog.  I am constantly talking to people that want to work with companies, but when I go to their blog, there is no information on what they can offer companies or that they are even interested in working with companies.  You have to let companies know if you are available to work with them in an influencer marketing program.

3 – It’s always better to work with influencers that understand your company, industry and products.  Try to work with influencers that have a history of working with companies in your industry.  Many influencers specialize in working with companies in select industries or product categories.  Ideally, your company would be better served working with influencers that have experience in your industry as they will likely have a better understanding of your space and how to help companies in your industry succeed with their influencer marketing efforts.

Influencers

4 – Numbers alone won’t tell you which influencers you should work with.  I talked about this in January, but the biggest mistake companies make in working with influencers is picking them based on the size of their following.  For example from my own experience I know that Twitter users with 5,000-20,000 followers typically send me more referral traffic than a RT from someone with 20,00-100,000 followers.  Why?  Because a lot of Twitter users with over 50,000 followers use bots and reciprocal or ‘followback’ techniques to pad their follower numbers in an effort to appear more influential than they actually are.  The size of an influencers’ network is important, but also look at how engaged the influencer is with that network.  Engagement is action, and you want to work with influencers that will compel their followers to take action on your behalf.  Look at how many replies, Likes, RTs, comments, etc the influencer gets.  In other words, how often are the actually engaging with their networks?  It matters.

5 – Influencers or fans: Which is more important?  In general, influencers have a larger following, but your fans have a closer and more passionate connection to fewer people.  Ideally, it would be the best of both worlds to work with influencers that are also happy and passionate customers of your brand.  If that’s not possible, then keep in mind that if you are trying to build buzz, typically influencers work better.  But if you are trying to build and sustain passion for your brand, working with your existing fans is better.

6 – Respect the relationship that an influencer has with his or her network.  You want to work with influencers that have developed a level of trust with their network.  So be mindful not to ask influencers to put themselves in a position that would abuse that trust.  Consider the influencer’s point of view, when you approach them about working together, they will be thinking ‘how can this create value for my readers/followers/network?’  You should incorporate this into your expected outcomes as well, think about how working with a particular influencer will help your company AND how it could help the influencer’s network.  Maybe give them special access, a special discount, or something that creates value for them.  If you do that, the influencer will be far more receptive to your pitch.  On the other hand, if you only consider how you want the influencer to promote you and your products with no thought given to how it affects the influencer’s network, that can easily put off the influencer and kill the partnership.

7 – View working with an influencer as a partnership.  Carrying over from the last point, don’t view working with an influencer as they are doing something for you, view it as a situation where both your company and the influencer (as well as the influencer’s network) benefit.  You want to view it as a partnership which encourages the influencer to not only do a better job for you, but it also encourages them to work to work with your company again.

 

These are a few tips I’ve picked up over the last decade while working with clients on influencer marketing initiatives and having companies work with me as an influencer.  But there’s always other perspectives, so I reached out to a few of my influencer friends and asked them each to tell me what is one thing they wish companies knew about working with influencers:

Kerry Gorgone: In last week’s post on how Ford works with influencers, Kerry mentioned that “Engaging digital influencers is a smart way to amplify your reach, but is that where your aspirations end? It shouldn’t be! Give influencers personalized links to landing pages, so you know exactly where your traffic came from. Give them discount codes so you know when people convert because they’ve come across an influencer’s content.”

Jay Baer: “I wish brands would actually do their homework and look closely at the type of content people typically create and either adapt their ask accordingly, or select influencers to work with accordingly. I see way too many brands asking influencers to do stuff that they’ve never done before, with no evidence that they ever would.”

Calvin Lee: “I wish brands would build a better relationship with influencers and continue to work together on future campaigns, instead of just the one shot deal. Approaching real fans, influencers of their product and services. It’s not always about the numbers.

Looking beyond the numbers of followers, likes and reshares influencers have. Brands need to really research influencers they want to use. It’s so easy to buy followers, likes and reshares.  Many brands are clueless of who they have hired. I’ve seen so many fake influencers brands are using in their campaigns.

Adel de Meyer: “I think companies should approach influencers with better offers than free swag or discounted software usage. True influencers worked hard to build their community and should be awarded for their time, expertise and reach accordingly. I am also hoping businesses will do better research in finding true influencers in the different industries. I see too many brands working with influencers that have low engagement rates, or that do not align well with their brand image and values.”

 

Keep these tips and advice in mind when you plan your next, or first, influencer marketing effort.

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Ford’s Philosophy on Influence Marketing: Always Be Nurturing

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I don’t know what you’re into, but I’m into cars. Muscle cars, to be specific. Dodge Challengers, Chevy Camaros, Ford Mustangs—any vehicle with some power under the hood really gets my attention.

That’s why I accepted Ford Motor Company’s invitation to attend a 2013 event for women bloggers. (You can read the whole story in my previous post on this blog.)

Little did I know that luncheon would be the start of a partnership that would last for several years, and take me places I never imagined I’d go (like Dearborn, Michigan).

For 2015 and 2016, Ford Motor Company invited me (and more than 100 other “digital influencers”) to Detroit to attend the North American International Auto Show (“NAIAS”), the premier show for car enthusiasts and automotive industry insiders.

For three days, our group got access to Ford’s “Behind the Blue Oval” area at NAIAS, primo seats at Ford press conferences, and special events that brought us behind the scenes at Ford, like the Rouge Factory tour.

You might be wondering what the return on marketing investment is for something like this, and it’s a smart question.

First, let’s talk reach. During the event, Ford racked up thousands of social media mentions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, etc., and the Twitter coverage alone reached millions of followers.

By inviting a diverse group of influencers, Ford managed to dominate in terms of event coverage. They invite not just auto industry journalists, but parenting bloggers, Periscope personalities, social savvy businesspeople, and car enthusiasts.

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“We are looking for folks who are enthusiastic, who create great content, who really have audiences and know what works best for them,”explains JT. Ramsay, digital media manager at Ford. “When we bring them to something like Detroit Auto Show, we know we’re going to have great content for them to share.”

And beyond NAIAS, Ford keeps in touch with influencers throughout the year, hosting regional events, like “Quality Time with Ford” at the Aveda Institute Orlando (manicures were involved).  Ford also gave attendees tickets to the Central Florida International Auto Show so we could see Ford’s new line of cars up close and personal.

“These are relationships that we maintain all year long,” says Ramsay. “Whether that’s ‘Driving Skills for Life’ or Ford’s Smart Mobility Tour that we did this last summer, there are all kinds of different touch points that we have with our influencers that I think have been profoundly successful for us.” (Check out the full interview I conducted with JT. for MarketingProfs for more about Ford’s approach to influencer marketing and content.)

As a result, Ford maintains buzz about the brand and its line of cars throughout the year, with bloggers posting across social media and on their own sites. For example, check out Lynette Young’s post on Go Further With Ford, and Bess Auer’s post on lessons other brands can learn from the way Ford involves online influencers.

But does it sell cars? Probably some, although it’s difficult to know how many.

“Attribution is tricky,” acknowledges Ramsay. “However, I think that with some of our influencers they’ll even tell us, ‘I went to this event, I told a friend, and that friend bought a Ford.”

For what it’s worth, my last three cars have been Fords, and when I’m in the market for another, I’m very likely to choose a C-Max after my experience driving one for several months. (And that’s worth about $30,000!)

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Here are some tips for nurturing influencer relationships (and measuring the contribution these bloggers and social media stars bring to your bottom line):

Don’t forget your influencers in between major events.
As Ramsay observes, “[Ford is] working very closely with our regional teams to keep in touch, and not simply parachute in for a national event or two per year.

”Those smaller events might seem insignificant, but they deepen your relationship with your influencers and keep a baseline of buzz going all year long.

Know what you want out of the influencer relationship.
Engaging digital influencers is a smart way to amplify your reach, but is that where your aspirations end? It shouldn’t be! Give influencers personalized links to landing pages, so you know exactly where your traffic came from. Give them discount codes so you know when people convert because they’ve come across an influencer’s content.

Give them direction in terms of what you’re hoping to achieve: what product lines you’re interested in promoting, what upcoming events you’d like people to attend, what corporate charity initiatives you want people to know about.

If you want influencers to share your story about sustainability (like Ford’s “Farm to Car” initiative) or charitable giving (like how Mullinax Ford dealerships in Central Florida give all employees $250 per year to contribute to any charitable organization they like), you have to tell them so.

Otherwise, influencers will do their best to promote your brand, but might miss the points you’re trying to emphasize. This ties into the next tip.

Give influencers the information they need to share your brand story.
Influencers appreciate gaining an insider’s view of your brand (if they’re truly passionate about what you do), and they’ll want to help you get our brand message out. That’s easier to do if you give them event press kits and real-time press releases as you hold conferences and make announcements.

Remember to build relationships with each individual influencer, not “digital influencers” as a group.In between group events for area influencers, occasionally reach out to individual influencers when you have something going on you know would interest them in particular.

For example, before driving the C-Max, I had expressed interest in hybrid vehicles, so after my successful experience with that car, Ford gave me the chance to test drive a Fusion hybrid. They asked only that I provide them feedback about how the two vehicles compared.

This kind of personalized outreach ensures that influencers feel like partners, rather than shills—a critical difference to people who love your brand, but don’t post product reviews for a living.

Finally, choose your influencers carefully.
You want people who are passionate about your brand (or at least your industry), and who will represent you in a professional manner.

The last thing you want as a brand is to have someone stand up and poke his head out of the sunroof of your roped-off prototype vehicle, then wave away show staff while saying “it’s okay, I’m an influencer.”

I’m a muscle car girl, but I’m also a marketing industry professional—nice fit for an auto brand!

Which brings us full circle: muscle car girl makes friends with Ford, gets to attend NAIAS and see the sexy cars.

Who will your brand’s best friends be?

Sexy @Ford Shelby! #FordNAIAS

A photo posted by Kerry O’Shea Gorgone (@kerrygorgone) on

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The Real Reason Why You Aren’t Using Social Media More

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It’s because you aren’t seeing the results you want, or because you don’t know what those results should be.  Right?  Because if social media was working for your business, you’d make a bigger commitment to using it.

Believe it or not, I get it.  I’ve been using social media for 11 years now.  It’s led to almost all of my income for over a decade, it’s allowed me to travel and speak throughout the country, work with global brands, and even write a wildly successful business book.  Yet when I sit down to write a blog post, I have no idea how much of an impact that post will have on my business.  Or if it will at all.

Crazy, right?  Social media has been an evolving process for me, and probably for you as well.  The more I use social media, the more I work with clients helping them with their social media efforts, the more I learn and the more my efforts improve.

And I want to share what I’ve learned with you.  But not here, on my newsletter.  As I talked about last week, I am also evolving how I use my newsletter. For the last 2-3 years I’ve approached my blog and newsletter audiences as being essentially the same.  Which in my mind meant I was basically replicating the experience and content in both channels.  And since my blog was more established, why would I start to build my newsletter when that audience was already here?

But then I realized that my blog and newsletter SHOULD be two different audiences.  My blog here is where people meet me, while my newsletter is for the people that already KNOW me.

So my newsletter is written for my friends and the people that know me.  As such, my best advice and tips on social media, brand advocacy and digital marketing will go there.  It will also be a bit more personal than this blog.  Some of the advice and ideas I share there may eventually make it here, but it will first show up in the newsletter.

If you want to get my weekly newsletter, please fill out the form below and you’ll be set! Remember, this is NOT the same thing as subscribing to this blog via email.  If you are subscribed to this blog those posts will still come in your inbox.  The newsletter is different, and it’s where you can find my best tips and ideas on how to use digital marketing to take your business to the next level.

Are you in?



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The Key Difference Between Your Blog and Other Social Media Channels That Most Companies Miss

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8469030267_83837249f7_zYour blog is where people meet you.

Your social media channels are where they seek you out.

It’s important to understand these differences because they necessitate adjusting your social media strategy accordingly.

Let’s use Twitter as our social example.  On Twitter, people are sharing your content and it’s where people are going if they have a customer service issue or a question for you.  They are more likely to want to connect with you on the sites they are already using, like Twitter, versus coming to your blog or site.  They are also more likely to know you because how would they know to connect with you at all?

On your blog, a good portion of your traffic is coming from search engines.  So many people are clicking on a link from Google, and then being sent to your blog, probably for the first time.  This is where people meet you.

So if you think about how people are interacting with you via social and your blog, you can see that you are dealing with slightly different audiences.  And you can even expand this to include newsletters, where people already know you, and want to develop a deeper connection with you.

Let’s think about how we are talking about slightly different audiences:

Social – People that are aware of you, that are following you or seeking you out.

Blog – Some people that also follow you on social, but also people coming from search who are likely being introduced to you (and your content) for the first time.

Newsletter – People that know who you are, and who enjoy your content so much that they will give you access to their inbox in order to get it as soon as its available.

Or put more simply:

Social – People that know of you.

Blog – Strangers.

Newsletter – Friends and fans.

Granted, that’s not a perfect representation and I can already hear some of you howling “But my friends all read my blog!”  True, but look at your blog’s traffic from search.  Almost all of that is coming from people that have never visited your blog before, and if your blog is older than 6 months, the odds are that at least half its traffic is coming from search.  For older blogs like this one, that percentage can go over 75%.

So each channel is a slightly different audience and requires slightly different approaches to your content.  Here’s how I tweak my content strategy for each channel:

Blog – This is where I create content based on the topics I want to be known for.  I assume that you are visiting here for the first time, so I am sharing what I know and more importantly, what I want to be known for.  It’s also used as my best channel for establishing thought leadership, since blog content will stay seeded in search engines.

Social – This is where I interact with people that know of me around topics that I am passionate about.  It helps us develop deeper connections plus to some extent it drives traffic back to my blog.

Newsletter – This is where I interact with people that know me and trust me enough with access to their inbox.  This is often people I know, and have met.  So my newsletter subscribers are far more likely to be friends that I love.  So I share my best content with my newsletter audience.  I give them first access to any new tools or tricks I come across, and try to be as helpful as possible to them.

Now it’s worth noting how your social media strategy would change if you didn’t use each of these channels.  For example, let’s say you only have a blog, and you are trying to use that blog to generate sales.  You can see how your job is going to be more difficult because your main audience at your blog will be strangers, and it’s typically more difficult to see to strangers than it is people that know you and value your work.

Blog – I don’t know you. (Content – Here’s who I am)

Social – I know of you. (Content – How can I help you?)

Newsletter – I know you and I like you.  (Content – This will help you, my friend)

Also, if you are trying to generate sales, those sales would likely come from Social and your Newsletter.  But at the same time, these are the audiences that know you and that you know.  So you don’t want to sell too much to your friends, right?  Instead, you give them your best and most helpful content, and make sure they are AWARE of how they can help you.  Friends don’t just sell to friends, right?

At least that’s how I do it.  How do you balance your content for different audiences?

Pic via Flickr user mkhmarketing

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The Biggest Mistake That Brands Make When Working With Influencers

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SocialGraphI just came across a quote in an eMarketer interview with an agency CEO that made me stop and shake my head:

“We don’t start to work with an influencer unless they have 50,000 combined followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.”

This thinking is soooo backwards and lazy.  Picking an influencer isn’t about the size of their network, it’s the connections they have to that network.  I once wrote a post, and shared it on Twitter.  I had two people RT my link:

1 – An ‘influencer’ with over 80,000 followers on Twitter.

2 – A friend with 15,000 followers on Twitter.

The ‘influencer’ sent a grand total of THREE visitors to my blog.  The friend with 80% fewer followers sent over 300 visitors to my blog.

Why?  Because even though the friend had a far smaller network, her network trusted her and the content she shared.  I’ve been actively tracking referral traffic from Twitter for years, and I find that the people that send me the most referral traffic tend to have between 5,000 and 20,000 followers on Twitter.  At that size they are following fewer people and can develop more relationships and connections with their followers. Influencers with between 20,000 and 100,000 followers typically send LESS traffic to my blog.

So does that mean that number of followers is meaningless when evaluating which influencers to work with?  No, but it’s far less important than the levels of engagement that the influencer has with their audience.  And you have to dig deeper than just looking at RTs or Likes.  Look at how many comments they get.  Also look at how often they reply to followers and engage them.  You want to work with influencers that have a larger following, but who also are engaged with their following.  If I had to chose I’ll take working with the influencer with 15,000 followers that gets a ton of engagement with her network over the other influencer with 75,000 followers that never engages with or gets replies from his network.

Numbers aren’t everything.  Remember the whole point of this social media stuff is to be social.