It has long been known in the marketing and communication fields that personal testimony is often the most powerful way to persuade and influence a decision. This advocacy allows for a respected individual (friend, relative, celebrity, respected figure) to endorse your services or product as a credible source of information. In today’s digital world, online influencer marketing has become a powerful and effective strategy for practices, businesses, and organizations.
How does this work? First, it is important to identify social media and blog influencers within your area of business or expertise. There are a number of software tools available to help with this, or you can research yourself on social media platforms and by searching various credible blogs. Once your influencers are identified, you can often work with them to develop or support content they post on their own social networks. By doing this, you are able to be part of the larger social media follower groups of the influencer and be part of the conversations taking place there.
Another strategy involves reaching out to identified influencers in your vertical to share or post on your social media networks, being sure to tag the influencer to gain the equity of their large base of followers. This not only brings increased traffic to your social media account, it also lends credibility through the involvement of the influencer.
While using influencers with your social strategy, it is important to strategically target specific audiences and utilize the best influencer for that group of people. Determining these target audiences in a detailed manner can also help you to identify the proper influencer(s) for that specific population.