Catering to those with an interest in a specific niche is important, but this alone is not a guaranteed recipe for success.\u00a0 The other necessary ingredient is to cater to the influencer audience within that niche.\u00a0 It\u2019s simple, effective and not a novel strategy.\u00a0 Although this concept seems rather basic to marketing, most either try to do this and fail or don\u2019t consider it altogether.<\/p>\n
Reaching influencers has been such a core element to so many of my successful campaigns over the years, I want to share both why this is important and how to be successful in doing so.<\/p>\n
Why catering to the influencer audience is vital Simply put:\u00a0 when influencers take an interest in you, it matters.\u00a0 Those with influence within any vertical or network or even those with horizontal influence are those who will have real power to help your ideas, content or products spread.\u00a0\u00a0Buzz is a vital element of digital PR, and those with influence are a gateway to buzz.<\/p>\n As numbers of those participating in\u00a0social media\u00a0grow, those who matter will have their influence reinforced.\u00a0 And as digital communications becomes so common they become\u00a0invisible, the value of that influence will only go up.<\/p>\n Media continues to undergo change at an accelerated rate, and this shows no signs of slowing.\u00a0 Make\u00a0relationships\u00a0with influencers now and when communications shift you\u2019ll ride the waves of change instead of constantly paddling to catch up.<\/p>\n The best part is relationships transcend trends.\u00a0 So if you are a content producer, marketers, artist or business and have strong relationships with the influencer audience who are first to adapt new tools or techniques, your work will permeate emerging networks even before you participate.\u00a0 This will provide a layer of security for your own continued influence in the world.<\/p>\n Reaching influencers<\/strong><\/p>\n Influencers are pitched constantly.\u00a0 Everyone wants a piece of them and the trust, traffic and authority they can lend.<\/p>\n The solution isn\u2019t complicated, in fact I stated it above:\u00a0 you need to make relationships with them.\u00a0 Influencers will and do share content and ideas from those they don\u2019t have relationships with, but if you want to repeatedly reach their networks you\u2019ll need to develop a relationship.\u00a0 And relationships aren\u2019t built through push:\u00a0 it\u2019s just so unartful.\u00a0 The fact that everyone is trying to push content and ideas on this group also means they\u2019re extremely weary of push communications.\u00a0 Most pitches fail miserably (although some do understand\u00a0digital PR).<\/p>\n Reach them organically:\u00a0 join the platforms they use and participate alongside them If you want to reach bloggers as one example, you should be blogging too.\u00a0 If you\u2019re not using the platforms that you\u2019d like to gain influence from specifically you\u2019re not one of them, and they\u2019ll always see you as an outsider.\u00a0 That\u2019s not to say you can\u2019t create ideas that rally a group together behind your content, but it isn\u2019t sustainable and doesn\u2019t allow you to build permission in the same way as a continued dialogue would.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to reach all of them An interesting element about catering to the influencer audience is this:\u00a0 influencers are generally connected with other influencers.\u00a0 They form natural networks within niches \u2013 therefore having deep relationships with a few key individuals may be all it takes to reach objectives if your ideas are sticky enough.\u00a0 I\u2019d rather have deep relationships with a small, but interested group than fleeting connections with greater numbers.\u00a0\u00a0The real value of your network\u00a0can be measured in depth, not volume.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to reach them directly<\/strong><\/p>\n A misnomer is that once you join the network, you should immediately reach out to the most influential people.\u00a0 You could, but they probably won\u2019t have a reason to interact with you.\u00a0 A better way to reach them is to do so indirectly.\u00a0 Carve out your own following and in time\u00a0social proofing\u00a0will catch up with you and you\u2019ll attract influencers as organic members of your network indirectly.\u00a0 If you want to reach influencers effectively, you may need to become one yourself.<\/p>\n It is frequently not the most popular person who has real influence<\/strong><\/p>\n In many cases those with the largest numbers or biggest names aren\u2019t the most valuable to reach.\u00a0 They frequently draw from those less obvious influencers who have great ideas, but not access to the same level of audiences or the ability to distill their thoughts to more accessible communications.\u00a0 Also in many niches, the popular personalities produce\u00a0 so much, their signal to noise ratio isn\u2019t so great.\u00a0 Rather, the layer of those below the top or even the tertiary influencers may, in reality, have more pull over time as they\u2019re the ones with real influence over the top.<\/p>\n Nurturing relationships with influencers<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen businesses do this:\u00a0 engage influencer audiences with something smart, get positive reactions, and end it there.\u00a0 This is a missed opportunity as the most desirable outcome is for this audience to help you become a referential source your brand.\u00a0 And the forgotten thing is the influencer audience knows they have influence and wants to use it to help others rise as this helps their own sphere of influence grow.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t carve out a\u00a0digital reputation\u00a0to do nothing with it.<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve discussed the ideas of\u00a0influence, trust and authority\u00a0previously.\u00a0 Marketers need to be cognizent that they are driving their efforts to influence first, as it is through influence that trust and authority are forged.\u00a0 Catering to the influencer audience can be a powerful strategy to bring you into the mix of the conversations that matter on the web daily.\u00a0 But without influence, trust and authority are difficult to forge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Catering to those with an interest in a specific niche is important, but this alone is not a guaranteed recipe … <\/p>\n
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