For decades, advertisers and marketers have clearly understood that word of mouth is one of the highest returning forms of exposure you can invest in. However, that doesn’t make the challenge of identifying and leveraging brand influencers any easier.
The hardest aspect of maximizing word of mouth in the age of social media is discovering who they are and how to best utilize them in a way that’s fair to all parties involved.
Not every customer is a brand influencer. Even some of those customers who share your content wouldn’t be considered brand influencers. Only a very small, highly targeted portion of your customer base is powerful enough to be considered influential. Here are some of the characteristics you’re looking for:
Let’s go back to high school for a moment. Whether your class had 100 or 1,000 students, there was almost certainly a popular clique. This elite group set the trends for the entire school. From clothes and style to new phrases and interests, if someone from the popular clique liked something, everyone took notice. In this sense, social media is no different than your high school – just on a much larger scale. Brand influencers are those people that social media users look to for guidance and affirmation. They have a large reach and are able to influence the majority of their followers.
There’s a difference between being popular and being trusted and respected, though. Anyone can have 5,000 Facebook friends or 10,000 Twitter followers. The question is do those thousands of followers trust and respect their opinion? In order for an individual to be an influencer, they must be trusted. Otherwise the size of their reach doesn’t matter.
Finally, you have to consider context and relevance when thinking about brand influencers. For example, Miley Cyrus is certainly a valuable influencer for the 14-28 female demographic, but does she really have any impact on 70-year-old males? Context is everything when it comes to influencers.
In summary, a brand influencer is someone who is popular, has a very large reach, is trusted and respected, and is contextually relevant to the target audience. When all of these things come together, you have the ideal candidate for a brand influencer.
According to Forrester Research, an impressive 94 percent of consumers trust word of mouth recommendations. To put that into perspective, 34 percent trust search engine ads, 28 percent trust emails, 18 percent trust personal blogs, 16 percent trust company blogs, and a mere 14 percent trust advertisements and paid media.
Clearly, word of mouth is what you need to be investing in. And if you want to do that, you’ll have to identify influencers that match the characteristics mentioned above. Here are some of the techniques leading brands use:
Sometimes you just need to listen. Social listening is a popular industry buzzword right now, but it’s incredibly important. “Social listening is being aware of what people are saying about you on social media, and then responding appropriately,” writes Neil Patel. “It’s half awareness and half response – the response part is critical. Basically, social listening boils down to good communication.” If you want to find influencers, you have to be willing to listen and communicate with followers.
You won’t discover everything by listening, though. It often takes a determined effort on your part. By manually sifting through your followers, you can sometimes identify influencers and engage them. This where you find really good untapped opportunities.
Social followers love contests – especially if it means winning a free product or unique experience. However, in addition to the added engagement, contests are valuable because they provide you with unique insights. In other words, they separate average followers/customers from serious followers/customers. An indifferent follower isn’t going to participate in a contest that asks them to share a photo and tag their friends, but a serious follower will. By running contests you can attract these potential influencers.
Don’t be bashful about it. Tell people you’re looking for brand influencers or representatives and set up a formal application process. Carefully set your criteria and ask targeted questions that demand specific responses. This process may be a big flop, or it could give you some good candidates.
Are there certain blogs that are extremely popular in your niche or industry? Are you familiar with the bloggers and writers that manage these blogs? These influencers are hard to gain access to because they’re likely already associated with other brands, but it’s something you should at least look into.
Product reviews will tell you a lot. Does your brand sell physical products on a site like Amazon.com? Read through these reviews and flag the best ones. This is helpful for two reasons: (1) You already know that these users are proficient at relaying positive experiences to others, and (2) You already know they love your brand.
Okay, so we’ve discussed who brand influencers are and how to find them, but that’s only half of the equation. Once you find these influencers and align them with your brand’s goals and initiatives, how do you get them involved?
Thankfully, activating influencers isn’t a task you have to handle on your own. Using a tool like Influential, you can empower influencers by giving them preapproved messages to share with their followers. This eliminates much of the risk associated with allowing random users to advocate for your brand and puts you in control. A tool like Mixpanel is good for tracking the ROI of content after it’s shared. These are just a couple of tools on the market, but the takeaway is that you need the right tools if you want to succeed.
Did you notice in the Forrester Research from above that 18 percent of people trust personal blog posts, while only 16 percent trust corporate ones? That’s a minor difference, but it just goes to show that consumers trust their peers more than brands. By asking influencers to write guest posts for your blog, you may see a small increase in engagement and trust. This is something to keep in mind if you have influencers who are also good writers.
Many brands and organizations that target millennials have found campus rep programs to be valuable. These are essentially formal groups of brand influencers that you use to spread positive word of mouth throughout their respective college campuses. Popular brands like Redbull, Apple, Spotify, Chipotle, and Victoria’s Secret have all had success with these initiatives – you may be able to as well. Other people call them brand ambassador programs. Regardless of what title you use, this is something you could potentially extract value from.
Sometimes you just need to leave your influencers alone. Giving them too much direction can be overbearing. Remember that they were already influencers before you located them. Your goal is to give them the resources they need to be a better influencer. You don’t want to change things so much that they’re no longer comfortable or useful. Let these influencers know you’re there – and definitely monitor their activity – but don’t control their every move.
Brand influencers are extremely valuable. Unfortunately, most brands don’t take the time to identify and leverage these profitable relationships. Yes, it takes time, effort, and energy, but these partnerships are almost always worth it in the long run. If you want to invest in marketing efforts that deliver high returns, take a look at influencer marketing. When combined with paid media and other organic efforts, influencers can elevate your brand to an entirely new level of visibility.
Thanks to Larry Alton for sharing his advice and opinions in this post. Larry Alton is an independent business consultant specializing in social media trends, business, and entrepreneurship. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.Image credits: Gabriel S. Delgado C.
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