A recommendation could instantly net you some
new followers and set you up for future opportunities (such as interviews
and collaborative content) with that influencer. And that's all good and well.
However, if you’ve ever tried executing this
strategy on a whim, you know it’s not that simple. Influencers generally have
hundreds of thousands of followers, and getting their attention isn’t easy. So,
how are people doing it?
Here are six secrets to getting an
influencer’s attention:
1. Don’t jump in the deep end first.
First, you need to stop chasing distractions
and bypass the top-level influencers of your industry. When you’re just
starting out, you’re unlikely to get attention from these people because
your message is one of hundreds or thousands they see every week.
Instead, narrow your focus to one or two
influencers at a time, and choose them carefully. Look for influencers with
lots of followers, but not so many that they’re unreachable.
2. Get your foot in the door before you ask for any big
favors.
Don’t rush into a major request for your
influencer. Instead, start with some basics of social media networking.
Follow your influencer and interact in a helpful, friendly, engaging way.
Start by simply reading what the influencer posts and watch how he or
she engages with others; just get to know this person.
Once you know a bit more about who this
person is and how he or she communicates, you’ll learn more about the area of
expertise as well as the best way to get a response. At that point, you can
start getting the influencer's attention in subtle ways; for example, you
can start retweeting or sharing this person's content, or commenting regularly
on his or her posts with insightful, helpful contributions.
3. Always give before taking.
Influencers are busy people, not charity
workers. If you start your relationship by asking for a favor, they’re almost
certainly going to turn you down. So, instead of leading with a request, lead
with some contribution of value. There’s a lot of wiggle room here, so use your
imagination in combination with the knowledge you gathered earlier.
What’s important to this influencer? What
will get his or her attention? For example, this provision of value could be as
simple as sharing one of this person's most recent pieces, or giving a strong
counterpoint that boosts its visibility.
4. Stand out.
There are billions of social media users and
hundreds of thousands of people leveraging for any one influencer’s time; what
makes you special in this crowd of competitors? If you don’t stand out in any
way, influencers aren’t going to pay attention to you. So, first, optimize your
profile to stand out by showing off your specific niche and expertise, and work
on creating and promoting unique content in your own right.
Most influencers will do some background
research before engaging with you. Then, when it comes time to address an
influencer directly, make sure you come to this person with a unique
proposition. Don’t open with a line that a million people have probably already
used; instead, draw upon your own personality, and offer something the
influencer has never seen before.
5. Respect their time.
Next, you need to respect influencers' time.
These are busy people, and they can’t afford to answer every request that comes
to them. If you acknowledge this in your approach, you’ll be far more likely to
earn their respect and admiration. Nothing will turn influencers away from you faster
than demanding attention or disrespecting the value of their time.
6. Learn to take rejection.
You probably aren’t going to be successful
with the first influencer you work with. You’ll go through a few -- maybe
a dozen or more -- before you get a response. Learn to handle rejection,
and move on to the next candidate if your original target influencer doesn’t
work out. In many ways, influencer marketing is a game of patience and
consistency; maintain these critical tactics, and eventually, you’ll find an
ideal partnership.
If you follow these six tips, you should
start to see better results in your influencer marketing campaign. That doesn’t
mean you’ll be successful with every influencer you approach, and it doesn’t
guarantee a higher ROI, but these are the strategies to follow if you want to
get a response from some of the top names in your industry.
If you find yourself struggling, consider
boosting your reputation in other ways until you’re on similar plane; it’s much
easier to network with peers than with people who have significantly more
clout.
Written By:
Jayson Demers
Credit:
Entrepreneur.com
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