Communicating with Influencers

In the marketplace - and in social media, especially - you may hear a great deal about influencers.  These influencers may be individuals or businesses which have a great deal of authority and expertise in a specific niche or they may be individuals who simply influence your target audience. 

There are 3 specific kinds of influencers:

• Expert Influencers: authorities in a specific niche, people depend on them for information and advice, have a high effect on purchasing decisions (ie: subject expert)
• Referent Influencers: may not be directly connected to the customer, more a social connection (ie: ie: co-worker)
• Positional Influencers: inner circle around specific user, directly affected by purchasing decisions (ie: family member)

For social media marketing purposes, lets focus on the expert influencers.  The expert influencers are the people who your business needs to not only follow on social media platforms but also interact with. First, analyze the social media accounts which affect your industry and consequentially the purchasing behaviors of your products or services. Once you have identified them, here are some tactics to aid in your communication:

• Connect with them on Social Media: Most obviously, the first step you should take once you have identified the influencers is to connect with them on social platforms in order to stay up-to-date with their updates and general knowledge
• Analyze their updates: What do they find most relevant? What do they retweet? What information earns a reply from them? With the goal of connecting with these influencers, you will need to determine what information the influencers find relevant and valuable enough to interact with,too.
• Introduce yourself in person: Although the avenues for in-person interaction change depending on the niche industry you are a part of, sometimes introducing yourself isn't as hard as you may have first imagined.  If they are local, connect with them and offer to buy them a cup of coffee. People love to talk about what they know.  Connecting with a major influencer could mean the opportunity for a new mentor.  If you are a part of an industry that is typically more professionally conservative, introduce yourself at specific professional gatherings or conferences.
• Respond: Respond thoughtfully to the influencer via social media to get on their radar screen. Did you find a specific tutorial on their blog especially helpful? Tell them! Make sure to include some additional resources of your own in your response. It is all about give and take. Make yourself worth their time, too.

For more information on social media tactics and other internet marketing resources, contact Blue Archer for web development, design, and marketing expertise.

Carla Rosemarino
Internet Marketing Analyst
@BlueArcherPGH