Use Influencer Marketing to Grow Your Business

Yes, even you can use influencers to help you market your business. Small businesses can get in on the action and grab more attention just like large businesses!
Just in case you’re unsure what influencer marketing is, let me share.

Influencer marketing is a type of marketing that focuses on using key leaders to drive your brand’s message to the larger market. Rather than marketing directly to a large group of consumers, you instead inspire/hire/pay influencers to get out the word for you. ~TapInfluence

Let’s first start with the value of influencers to your business. The right influencer(s) will be a brand advocate, come with an expansive network, offer their expertise, and create awesome content.

But, how do you find your influencers? First, start with your audience. Who are you trying to influence? Think deeper than a need to just influence your community. 

Consider influencing those responsible for purchasing what you sell, for example. Once you have a clear picture of who you want to influence it’s time to find the right influencer(s).

Step 1:

Start with people who are already following or interested in your business. These will be the easiest people to bring on as influencers because they already understand what you do and it’s an authentic connection.

An easy way to begin if you’re on Instagram is to simply look at those people following you. This example comes from Flying Pie Pizzeria.

Look at followers that catch your eye and find those with at least 1,000 followers themselves. I clicked on Alex Morgan and found she is a soccer player with 4.8 million followers. Jackpot! But wait, we need to look at the kinds of posts she posts. Since Flying Pie is a restaurant, we need to look for food images.

 Well being the great soccer player she is, she doesn’t have food posts. So, likely this might not be the best influencer for Flying Pie. It may take too much work to get a soccer player to share how great a pizza place is. So, I continue my search.



Next, I found Find Me Gluten Free. They don’t have as many followers as Alex Morgan, a humble 2,834, but they post images of food. This is the real jackpot and an influencer I would target!

 Step 2:

Look to connect with people your customers & prospects trust. If you have a younger audience, connect with content creators – like Youtube Stars. If your demographic is older, connect with traditional celebrities. Once you find these influencers check their followers. 
Are they engaged – are they following, sharing, commenting – with the audience you are looking to connect with?

Step 3:

Now, how best to use your influencers and how to entice them? From my example above, to engage Find Me Gluten Free, I’d offer them free food or discounts for an exchange of images on their social feeds about Flying Pie Pizzaria.

Step 4:

Look at your content and determine which influencer(s) will best help you optimize it. Just like you craft different messages for different social feeds, consider this as another medium to share on. Think of ways to create a mutual value and consistent look, feel, and tone with what your influencer is sharing.

Step 5:

Continually work on building your influencer relationships. The relationship you have with your influencer(s) is essential. Just like you use social media to build relationships, you need to build relationships with your influencer(s). 
Over time, as your relationship grows, you will notice more organic leads. Build these relationships by including them in your articles, querying them with frequently asked questions they can answer with an outside perspective, or include them in your corporate social responsibility.
The way you build this relationship will likely be different from the way you build relationships with other influencers.
Source
 If you’ve already started influencer marketing, how do you go about it?  Please comment below.