Which Influencer Marketing Strategy Results in MoreCustomers?

blog.dlvr.it /2014/10/influencer-marketing/

Bill Flitter

(#ToolboxTuesday) Every niche has them; “brand influencers”, people consideredinfluential within their domain. If they mention your business or website, youshould expect your sales and traffic numbers to skyrocket. If you search Googlefor influencer marketing tips, you will find no shortage of opinions on how to findand ‘influence’ the influencers. Today’s social media tools make locatinginfluencers easy.

However, given your small business’ limited time and budget, is spending timetrying to connect with a person with a high influential social score (a.k.a. Kloutscore), the right approach?

Two Schools of Thought

Influencer marketing, should be a core part of your social media strategy andrequires you to focus on a small subsection of your audience.

There are two conflicting schools of thought when it comes to influencermarketing. Although many will focus on one of these two methodologies, bothhave their place in marketing strategies.

1. The Law of the Few: Malcolm Gladwell’s theory of the Law of the Few,states viral marketing is heavily dependent on the involvement of a fewhighly influential people; the Noteworthy in their niche, the Kings of Kloutand the Mavens of Media.

2. Peer Influence: Duncan Watts’ Peer Influence theory states that everydaypeople, our friends, followers, and parents influence what we read and buy.

I view the conflicting theories on influencer marketing as similar to the story ofthe tortoise and the hare. Both can reach the finish line but at different speeds andat different times.

1. Hare: The Law of the Few. You benefit from a huge immediate impact intraffic. You might use this tactic for a new product launch.

2. Tortoise: Peer Influence. Slow, growth over a long period of time. You likelyare already doing this with your everyday marketing.

Regardless of which methodology you decide to employ, to be successful at trueorganic influencer marketing (vs. paid) you need to have both a great product,service or content worth talking about AND patience and persistence. Bothstrategies have the potential to create viral marketing opportunities. What’sdifferent between them is the marketing strategy you apply.

Applying Gladwell’s Law of the Few Strategy

You have one opportunity tomake a first impression. Whenapplying Gladwell’s theory, thestakes are higher, especially ifyou are in a small industry witha few big influencers. Youneed to have a plan and bemethodical in your one-to-onemarketing outreach.

Law of the Few: Tightlyfocused relationship-building process.

Step 1. Identify a Dozen Influencers. Don’t go overboard. This isn’t aboutreaching a mass of people. This is about identifying a few key people in yourniche. Here are three web tools to get you started:

PeerIndex

BuzzSumo

Keyhole.co

Step 2. Create and Send Personalized Messages.

Get Acquainted. Research each influencer, read their blogs, follow themon social media, comment on their blogs, retweet something they write.Gently let them know you exist. This won’t happen overnight. Be patient.

Make the first move. Create a short customized email containing relevantinformation you discovered. Be personable. Offer to send them yourproduct or offer a free trial. Keep the message brief and warm.

Step 3. Measure your Success.

Are the influencers following you back on social media?

What’s the response rate of your email? Send out a few emails and wait tosee the reaction. Tweak as needed and send to the other influencers notyet contacted.

Always respond with a thank you when you get mentioned in their social

media stream or when they write a blog post about your company.

A good mention by a niche influencer can do wonders for your brand in terms ofgrowth and new customers.

Applying Watts’ Peer Influence Strategy

This is likely something you arealready doing as part of your socialmedia strategy. I view the PeerInfluence theory as the everydaythings that create a wonderfulcustomer experience. For example,the Social Media Minute is aboutcrafting content our customers willenjoy and benefit from. We want tounderstand their top pain points anddo what we can to help them out. Thisis marketing to a few vs. the one-to-one strategy discussed above.

According to the Harvard Business Review, Duncan Watts peer influence modelalso called big seed marketing…”does not rely on identifying a small number ofspecial people, but rather on harnessing the power of a large number of ordinarypeople. By reaching a mass audience, and encouraging them to share, youincrease the likelihood that a viral chain emerges and, even if it doesn’t, you stillimprove performance.”

Crowdtap, an influencer marketing company, discovered that 92% of us rely onpeople we already know for recommendations. Nielson backs up the claim:

Ninety percent of consumers surveyed noted they trustrecommendations from people they know, while 70 percent trustedconsumer opinions posted online.

As a business owner, we want to add fuel to our online growth. The PeerInfluencer marketing approach is more like a pot of boiling water. The waterdoesn’t boil as soon as you add a heat source. It takes time. The benefit of time, isloyalty and a source of new customers.

Source: Crowdtap

Step 1. Identify Brand Advocates. These are people who are talking about youin social media, writing positive reviews on Yelp, or taking the time to send a

written letter.

Step 2. Say Thank You. Sounds obvious. Thank them for retweeting your blogposts, send them a personalized letter. Invite them to participate in a specialprogram or give them and a friend, a coupon.

Step 3. Measure. If you are creating a compelling product, service or content, andacknowledging brand advocates, a simple measure is to look at the lift in retweets,positive feedback and overall customer satisfaction – positive responses. Alsoconsider more granular data:

What content is being shared most often and where?

What’s the level of the advocate’s commitment? Are they responding tosurvey requests? Are they participating in further dialogue?

Are you seeing a lift in sales or traffic? Turn to Google Analytics. Forexample, look at time on site and bounce rate to see if engagement in yourbrand is increasing.

Now it’s your turn. Which influencer marketing strategy do you believe in? Are youa Gladwell or Watts believer?

Featured Image by: Scott Cresswell