Between Facebook’s constant fiddling with their algorithms that affect how posts are viewed, and how complicated GDPR’s email marketing is, this has been a tricky time lately for marketers and makes finding new ways to reach target audiences even more essential. One of the most effective ways of connecting with new audiences is by getting traction through visibility in front of other people’s audiences (OPAs).
Influencer engagement is one of the best ways to get your brand in front of OPAs. By seeking out appropriate partnerships and building influencer relationships, you can expand your audience base quickly and significantly.
Here are three effective ways to do that.
Find Appropriate Marketing Influencers and Get Their Attention
Engaging with influencers requires providing value, which typically boils down to increasing comments, tweets, and shares. To connect with B2B influencers who can further your brand:
Comment. If your targeted influencer posts fresh content regularly, add meaningful input comments. Stand out by providing value. Just saying “Nice post” is not going to get their attention or provide value. Ask a question, add your unique perspective, or provide a new way of resolving a specific challenge the influencer has mentioned.
Join their communities. Find the social media hangouts they frequent, such as LinkedIn groups, and Facebook groups. Find the online forums the follow and join discussions they engage in. Make comments that provide value to build a one-to-one connection.
Get Influencers in Front of Your Audience
One of the best ways to show your value is by getting influencers in front of an expanded audience. If they share a topic on their channels, reflect them on yours. Don’t just comment on their status updates — share their concerns with your own audience. Write about them in your blog. They are most likely trying to get their brand, message, and products out to the world, so featuring them as a topic in your blog can help them achieve their goal and build a connection. People tend to do business with people they like, who bring value. Building rapport will make your desired influencers more open to you. Making friends with your prospective influencers should be a key objective.
Create Co-branded Content
Creating co-branded content works when you partner with a complimentary, noncompeting brand that shares your audience values, needs, or desires, or has an audience similar to your brand. Working together, you create valuable content that is appropriate and natural to promote both of your audiences. Both of your brands will enjoy an increase in subscribers and leads, resulting in a win-win scenario for everyone.
One of the best places to look for potential partners is LinkedIn. It’s easy to research relevant industries or job titles in fields related to yours, that aren’t competitors. When you locate potential influencers, get on their radar by reaching out to them with a personalized message that clearly states the mutual benefits of a possible relationship. Explain how your partnership could bring them value. People love talking about themselves, so let them know how you can help get their message out to a wider audience. By helping an influencer achieve their own goals, you can create an opening for yourself to do the same. When it comes to marketing, working with B2B marketing influencers is more about building mutually beneficial, long-term relationships than it is about persuading thought leaders to share your content.
