December 10, 2010
In the digital age, with the rise of social media and the ‘attention economy’, brands are wrestling with the question of how to get their name not only heard but trusted when there are so many voices out there.
Social media has empowered consumers and changed the face of marketing. Traditional ‘push’ marketing has been replaced by ‘pull’ and monologues have been replaced by conversations. The influence of traditional marketing is being rapidly replaced by social media such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook which provide trustworthy, personal recommendations.
People now spend so much time engaged with all aspects of social media that these sites have become the first place they go to for advice. This means it’s crucial for brands to utilise social media to influence consumers’ decision making, build brand advocacy and increase brand consideration.
Influencer outreach provides a cost effective and measurable solution to this need. Offering their own personal view, influencers on blogs and micro-blogs, such as Twitter, are in a unique position to foster a relationship between brands and consumers. Their personal recommendations are a way to greatly improve brand awareness – when your audience read a blog or Tweet that positively endorses your brand or product they are much more likely to be receptive to it.
The question is: how do brands successfully reach out to bloggers and forge a relationship with them? For any company looking to engage with the blogosphere there is a list of ‘must dos’ that are essential in helping to build genuine and long-lasting relationships with these influencers. It requires careful and expert planning, an extensive network and a willingness to engage on a personal level with them.
It starts with in-depth research into your target market and the influencers within this market. You need to find relevant influencers who post content that your audience find interesting – and then begin to build relationships with them. This process requires hard work and if you don’t have the time, manpower or tools to do this it would be beneficial to your brand to hire someone who does.
You must get to know the bloggers you’re targeting – having a clear understanding of each influencer’s offering and their audience before approaching them could prove to be the difference between success and failure. Make sure your products and brands are relevant and that the influencer is open to writing sponsored posts. Our experience in reaching out to influencers has also taught us that sometimes bigger isn’t better: it can be difficult to try and get very popular influencers on board who may not be the best fit for your brand. A better tactic could be to engage with passionate influencers who have a small (but perfectly formed) following of people who are within your target market.
Each influencer then needs to be contacted individually. Remember these influencers will receive similar offers everyday so you need to make sure your brand stands out. Don’t patronise them. Get your business proposition right and clearly set out how it will benefit the influencer (a fee or the offer of a free trial of your product, for example).
The time it takes to do this is definitely worthwhile and will prove beneficial not only to your brand but everyone involved. Consumers receive relevant, tailored information; influencers gain greater traffic and income; and your brand will gain invaluable (and trusted) brand exposure.
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