B2B buying, the importance of identifying and engaging online influencers to spread the word about your business has grown. But how do you figure out who has influence and how do you engage them to share a positive message? Approaching and cultivating knowledgeable influencers requires a different approach than working with traditional journalists. So, in this interactive session we'll discuss what to look for when seeking online influencers, and which strategies deliver productive engagement and meaningful relationships. Plus, we'll cover suggested metrics for determining the impact of your influencer relations on the bottom line. Bring your challenges and questions to discuss with the group.
2. What We’re Talking About
Who We Are
What Is Influence, And Why Does It
Matter
Tools of The Trade
Questions
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3. A marketing technologist and
Digital marketer + practitioner, with
deep strengths in social media
Current Role
Global Director of Social Media at
PTC
B2B software, long sales cycle, high
switching costs
Why IR Matters to Me
People rely more on what analysts
and practitioners say than what we
say
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4. Writer, speaker, B2B social
marketing strategist
Author of four books on social
media marketing
Advisor to IBM on digital
marketing for midsize businesses
Trainer, Profitecture social media
boot camp
Why IR Matters to Me
It’s a core element of any successful
social media marketing program
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5. Traditional Influencers
Authoritative 3rd parties, community leaders, press, gov’t.
Active
Haters Lovers
Desire to
Influence Critics Enthusiasts
Others
Skeptics Mainstream
Passive
Dismissers Followers
Reject Favor
Brand Engagement
source: Sean Moffitt, BuzzCanuck
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9. Started blogging 2006
48,000 daily visitors
1 million monthly page views
Covered in Hachette Home, Wedding
Flowers, Adore, Mollie Makes, Family
Circle, Lonny, Canadian House &
Home, Red, InStyle, Easy Living, Your
Home, Real Living, Good
Housekeeping, Homestyle, Brigitte
and La Petit magazines
And that was just in 2011
Her book, Decorate, was the #1
interior design book on Amazon for
seven months
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10. Estimated monthly traffic: 73,000
Google Indexed pages: 6,560
Alexis ranking: Top .12%
Links from 13,195 sites
40,000 unique monthly visitors
Avg. post retweeted 129 times
New York Times citations: 6,510
Newsletter subscribers: 150,000
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11. Word of Mouth Awareness
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13. Market Wisdom
Advice
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14. Make it personal
Treat influencers as you would media
But remember they aren’t traditional media
Make your contacts meaningful and positive
Offer something of value
Follow through
Expect to be challenged
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15. • Don’t wait till you’re on fire to engage
• Read, comment, understand
• Reach out with something of value
• Play to ego, interests
• Engage before you pitch
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16. Wrong
Dear <blogger name>:
I'm a big fan of your site, <blog title>, and think you provide a
tremendous value to the construction trade. I would like you
to know about a new site we have just launched...
Right
Dear Susie:
GreenBuildingElements.com is a must-read for us here at
Energy Efficient Solutions. We particularly like your focus on
designing homes with sustainability in mind. I have personally
recommended your Green Building 101 Series to several of my
colleagues as examples of how the process of building green
homes can be fundamentally rethought. As you wrote
recently, "It all starts with the foundation. So let’s start from
the beginning."
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17. Invite them into the club
Offer links or small promotions
Exclusive access
Special events
MODEST discounts, giveaways, trials
Affiliate programs
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18. In B2C market, influencer relations successes
include:
Molson Beer
Toro Lawnmowers
Zarafina Tea
PBS
Parents magazine
Goal Turn customers into fans
Tactic Recruit 10 prominent bloggers for access,
trials
Metrics Blog posts, videos, tweets, traffic
Results One video received 320,000 views
6,200 downloads of Facebook app
Many blog entries
Program renewed for second year
Quote “12 months of relationship building, “Since 2002, this annual event has evolved
meetups and feedback gathering has into the cornerstone of SAP's influencer
changed the way we think, act and plan
our communications and events.” programs, now serving as a key event to
-Ken Kaplan, Intel validate SAP's transformational market
strategy.”
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26. Run the name through Google (sometimes with a company name or one other word that helps
describe them).
I look at the first page of results. What’s at the top? If it’s a link to a social site, then they are prolific
online. Blog? Ditto.
I look at them on LinkedIn
(for NA; Xing or Viadeo for eastern Europe)
Do they have a lot of connections? Any recommendations?
I search for them on Twitter.
Are they there?
How long?
What do they tweet about?
Who follows them, and vice versa?
If they have a site or a blog, I gauge the traffic to that web property….
Alexa: http://www.alexa.com/
Quantcast: http://www.quantcast.com
URLFan: http://urlfan.com/
Compete: http://compete.com/
Popuri.us: http://www.popuri.us/
If they are on Twitter, I use a few tools to gauge impact, reach, and influence…
Klout: http://www.klout.com
Twitalzyer : http://twitalyzer.com/
Twitter Grader: http://twitter.grader.com/
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27. Search their name:
top spot appearances
‘owned’ by them
What are they
talking about?
Public speaking?
Content creators?
Frequency?
source: http://lmgtfy.com/
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29. Followers, following, the ratio
Age of the account
Topics
Size up an account quickly…
picture
bio
recent past tweets
follower/following counts
ratio: broadcaster, lurker, or sharer
how long they’ve been on Twitter
source: http://www.subjectivelyspeaking.net/2010/08/20/why-your-twitter-follower-count-matters-why-your-twitter-follower-count-doesnt-matter/
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31. Twitter Grader
you’ve already seen a bit
Twittercounter
not much for influence, but good data
Tweetstats
find out when your influencers are online and
tweeting
Followerwonk
more later on Followerwonk
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32. Number of connections
Recommendations
Groups they are in
Earned ‘expert’ status
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42. Influence
Is online and offline
Comprised of different variables
Influencers
Aren’t always who you think they are
Hang out in lots of places
Are people, too
Absent context, numbers are just squiggly lines
The temperature isn’t the weather
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43. Alan Belniak Paul Gillin
@abelniak @pgillin
http://www.abelniak.com http://gillin.com/blog/
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