Influencer, marketing consultant and podcaster Gordon Glenister offers a few tips on how to become successful at grabbing the attention of online users.
Nowadays the main source of acquiring knowledge, enjoying publicity and grabbing the public’s attention is via the internet. The internet has been growing in influence for the past couple of decades, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The level of its impact and importance is travelling in one direction only, so anyone wishing to make a name for themselves or their business can’t ignore its presence. You do so at your peril.
Established companies which pre-date the internet, certainly have a huge head start in the race to secure attention. But for new start-up businesses, the battle to standout above your competitors online is a treacherous route indeed. There are two ways for this to be achieved. Either you can implement your own strategy, or you could work with an experienced ‘influencer’ who has already learned how to engage audiences.
Many people make the mistake of confusing what is popularly known as a social media influencer, with someone who helps companies within the B2B sector. I belong in the latter group, and I am often referred to as a technical expert, speaker, author or entrepreneur.
In my book titled Influencer Marketing Strategy, I define an influencer as someone who can affect change in the behaviour of others. This happens through trusted opinion, knowledge or content creation. And here is my advice, with regards to getting yourself heard, seen and noticed online.
A: Be consistent with a single message which appears everywhere on social profiles. Here is mine, which can be viewed via my LinkedIn page.
B: Most B2B influencers use Linkedin and Twitter. It’s all about the conversation not the broadcast. So don’t share other people’s content unless you can add some detailed valued to it. Better to simply provide your own thoughts. You can even target potential customers, by adding your own opinions to their original comments and posts. This will be picked up by other members of their network, enabling your name and influence to travel even further across cyberspace.
C: Write monthly blogs and use the Headline Analyzer tool to help you construct the best title for your page or post. And make sure you use plenty of target keywords in the content.
D: Video works well and is growing in popularity. Use the creator profile on LinekdIn to record a 10-second clip, which is enough to show people who you are and what you represent.
E: Write ‘white papers’ and ‘e-books’ to reach your target audience. A recent document I prepared for Onalytica reviewed the social profiles of over 300 CEOs. These are the bosses of trade bodies and membership associations. It was then printed and sent to each one individually. These 300 men and women represent my target audience, so making contact with them in the future is now a little easier. That initial barrier has been crossed and I have gained credibility in the process.
F: Create your own podcast or be a guest on someone else’s. Podcasts are hugely popular nowadays, with more than 100 million being listened to or watched every month. Hosts are often happy to announce your contact details to their listeners. I have reached out to many, after hearing their podcast.
G: Offer to speak at functions or create your own events. You can also be part of an online panel or even host one yourself.
If you’re searching for an influencer to help develop your brand, you will need to consider which ones align best with yours. Finding the correct influencer is never easy. Within B2B, 72% of influencers have said they would work for a brand for free, providing there were mutually collaborative opportunities.
If you are launching a new product or service, having a review or blog written by an influencer would extend your reach considerably.
Always remember that an influencer’s primary focus is to build an engaged audience, so collaborations which help them to achieve this will certainly motivate them. That said, the bigger an influencer’s reach, the more likely it is that you will need to fund the collaboration.
The very best campaigns involve partnerships that work together long term. I’m not saying one-off crusades won’t work, but like most marketing and advertising campaigns, the more times a message is viewed and digested, the more likely it is to be absorbed by audiences. It’s a simple fact of life.
To find out more about the work of an influencer, a B2B marketing event will be taking place online on September 8th. I am one of the speakers, along with marketing platform Onalytica, and influencers Alex Galviz, Sarah Jayne Gratton and many others. Click here for more information about this gathering: https://hopin.com/events/influencer-marketing-how-to-grow-your-business-brand
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