How to Build an Effective Influencer Marketing Strategy

How to Build an Effective Influencer Marketing Strategy

Author: Brittany Berger / Source: Social Media Today Influencer marketing has gained a lot of popularity among marketers in recent years.

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Influencer marketing has gained a lot of popularity among marketers in recent years. Just take a look – it’s been on a fairly steep incline since 2015:

How to Build an Effective Influencer Marketing Strategy | Social Media Today

That presents a challenge to marketers who’ve been doing it for a while. Sure, you might have a network that’s engaged with your content and a few VIPs you can rely on to help promote, but they’re getting busier as more companies try to work with them.

The key is following the right steps in planning, research, and nurturing relationships consistently.

To demonstrate the entire process from start to finish, Paul May, co-founder of BuzzStream, recently joined us for a webinar to walk us through the complete influencer strategythey followed as part of the launch of one of BuzzStream’s eBooks.

Here are the steps they followed, along with Paul’s key tips.

1. Document your goals and key performance indicators

All of your research and all of your planning should revolve around your goals and set KPIs.

For BuzzStream’s eBook, they wanted to drive qualified leads to their product. They had KPIs around trial sign-ups, email subscribers, shares, and eBook downloads. This covered each step of the funnel involved in driving social conversation and generating leads from it, the two main goals.

How to Build an Effective Influencer Marketing Strategy | Social Media Today

2. Map the influencer landscape

Before reaching out to influencers or building a list, you need to understand the influencers in your industry and map out the different segments.

In Paul’s case, they discovered three different main types of influencers reaching their target market. The BuzzStream team then broke those down further into profiles of influencers they were looking for, such as link-building thought leaders and search marketing journalists.

How to Build an Effective Influencer Marketing Strategy | Social Media Today

When mapping the landscape, you need to ask:

  • Where do conversations and shares about your topic take place? How social is the market?
  • What motivates people in your market to promote content about your topic?
  • Is activity concentrated among a few publishers, or is the market more fragmented?
  • What’s the author model for key publications? Do they have in-house journalists, regular contributors, guest bloggers – or a mix of all three?
  • What’s the background of the popular authors in your space?

To truly understand your influencers, you…

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