6 Influencer Marketing Lessons Marketers Can Learn from Journalists. Truly, the people I engaged with were more than connections. Now as a digital marketer, my community connections and sources often go by a new name: influencers. Influencers lend authority and credibility to your content, and connect you with new audiences. This will ensure that you’re presenting them with a relevant ask, as well as help you personalize your message when reaching out. #2 – Make influencers feel like an essential part of the story. To get the most out of your influencer marketing efforts, you have to be present and engaged with your influencers. The regular interaction will keep you or your brand top-of-mind, as well as maintain and grow your relationships. Journalists can never have too many insightful and credible sources—and the same goes for marketers when it comes to influencers. While we’re living in a digital world, nothing replaces face-to-face communication—and industry events are huge networking opportunities.
As some of you regular TopRank Marketing Blog readers may know, before making my way into the world of digital marketing, I was a journalist covering the wild news happenings in a handful of Twin Cities metro towns.
While I wore many hats during those days—from reporter to managing editor to social media maven—building strong community connections was probably the most important hat of all.
Truly, the people I engaged with were more than connections. They were lifelines. They represented untold stories, interesting perspectives, inside scoops and friendly gateways to new sources, allowing me to craft quality news pieces that people actually wanted to read, share and talk about.
Now as a digital marketer, my community connections and sources often go by a new name: influencers.
Influencer marketing is booming—and it’s not hard to see why. Influencers lend authority and credibility to your content, and connect you with new audiences. In addition, influencer marketing content delivers 11 times the ROI than traditional forms of digital marketing, according to a 2016 study by TapInfluence and Nielsen Catalina Solutions.
But the secret in the sauce here is that your strategy, content and the influencers you choose have to be quality and relevant to your audience.
Thankfully, there’s a few pointers marketers can take from journalists to ensure that quality and relevance is there.
Let’s dive in.
#1 – Vet your sources.
As the old journalism adage goes, you’re only as good as your sources. Before reaching out to any potential influencer, you have to do your homework. This will ensure that you’re presenting them with a relevant ask, as well as help you personalize your message when reaching out.
Use journalism’s “5Ws and H” model (Who, What, Where, When, Why and How) to answer essential questions for each influencer:
- Who are they? (i.e. company, title, mutual connections, personal interests, etc.)
- What expertise do they bring to the table?
- Where are they on social? (i.e. networks, number of followers, level of engagement and consistency of engagement, etc.)
- When would they be a good fit for my content? (Are they a good fit for a current project? Something down the road? Both?)
- Why would they want to participate? (What’s in it for them?)
- How relevant are…
COMMENTS