Top 5 Influencer Marketing Misconceptions

June 18, 2012 by

Don’t Let your Influencer Marketing Program Get Hung Up

Lately I have been thinking and reading a lot about influencer marketing. I’ve spent the last three years or so focusing on OpenView’s influencer marketing program and helping our portfolio companies implement and improve their influencer programs. I’ve spoken to some brilliant minds in the space about the topic over time, too. But for some reason I still see companies holding off on getting started with influencer marketing. What is the hang up?

My Take on the Top 5 Influencer Marketing Misconceptions

It’s all about the number.  I am not the first one to bring up this point, and I will certainly not be the last. With the growing popularity of tools like Klout, PeerIndex, and Kred, it is really easy to get caught up in the numbers game. Ex: Steve Roberts has 10,000 Twitter followers — he is our top influencer. It is important to remember that there is more to online influence than just these numbers. I agree that these tools do offer some insight (at least directionally), but there are several other factors to consider such as blog readership, audience, subject matter, offline activities, reputation, etc.

Audience size is everything. Sure someone could have a few thousand followers and blog subscribers, but what does that really mean? What is the makeup of the audience?  What do they care about?  Jay Baer tackled the topic of audience vs influence in a recent blog post in which he highlighted an example of Wilson Leather sending Chris Brogan a leather jacket for free. While it is true that Chris has a huge audience, he doesn’t really have influence or sway over leather jackets. This wasn’t a targeted influencer marketing effort, and I imagine that it wasn’t wildly successful for Wilson. To beat this misconception, do your research to ensure your pitches target the right influencers with the right audience.

It takes a lot of time. Just like in dating, it takes time to develop meaningful relationships. But influencer marketing doesn’t have to take a lot of time if you set it up right.  It is all about staying smart and focused. Several months ago, I offered five quick tips to help you get started with influencer marketing without being overwhelmed. Here is another practical tip to get started quickly: Research and build a list of the top five to ten influencers within your company’s space. This list could include bloggers, thought leaders, company executives, etc. Release the list and reach out to each influencer explaining why you are recognizing them as an influencer. This recognition really helps to open the door. When you reach out to them, try to see if your influencers are interested in creating any content with your brand. It could be as simple as a Q&A or guest article. This is really a simple way to get on the radar of your influencers and start building the relationship.

You only have one shot. There is a thought that you only have one shot to tell your story and break through to your influencers. While it is true that the pitch is INCREDIBLY important (read some tips to improve your chances here), it is also true that you can make more than just one. More often than not, you are not going to receive a response when you reach out to or pitch an influencer. The silent rejection is completely normal and it doesn’t mean you should stop your outreach! But when you do continue, be sure to target your pitches.

It’s just another database. In several blog posts I have referred to managing a database of influencers. That is because I have utilized Salesforce.com to help me organize and manage my contacts. Luckily David Fine of Influencer50 helped point out that it is a huge mistake to treat your influencers as just another database for you to mass-market to. Influencer marketing really works best on a one-to-one level and you shouldn’t follow a spray and pray strategy.

What influencer marketing misconceptions have I missed?  Where are you getting hung up?

photo by: Jinx!
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Discussion

  • Anonymous

    This is a great list, Amanda. I really like what you said about focusing on the right influencers with the right audience. That’s so important. Context is everything.

    Jay Baer’s post about Chris Brogan and the leather jacket highlights why context matters in the influence marketing discussion. That’s why Appinions gives agencies and brands the ability to identify influencers by topic. We also identify influencers based on their entire digital footprint – not just social media. Both of those components provide a much more accurate picture of someone’s overall influence and ability to drive action.

    Then, once you identify the right influencers, as you said, it’s important to build the relationship the right way. Influencer marketing is certainly not a silver bullet. It takes time to get it right.

    • http://blog.openviewpartners.com/author/amaksymiw/ Amanda Maksymiw (@amandamaks)

      Amen sister!

  • http://www.it-sales-leads.com/ Barbara Mckinney

    Hi Amanda. Another bunch of insights I’ve learned today.

    Yes, numbers can be deceiving right? Then the war between quantity and quality could be an issue. But it depends on what are your core purpose. If you really like to do niche marketing then, you must target the right audience and the right influencers regardless of the numbers.

    • http://blog.openviewpartners.com/author/amaksymiw/ Amanda Maksymiw (@amandamaks)

      Barbara,
      You bring up a great point. It is all about the numbers! Some may think it is important to go after the top 5 or 10 “big guns” (think top of the top influencers) but it may be extremely fruitful to build solid relationships with the 10-20 tier 2 influencers in a specific niche. Another thing to keep in my with the latter approach is that you may realize benefits earlier on since these “lower level” influencers may not be getting bombarded with a million things a day.

      Thanks for your comment!

  • http://twitter.com/crawford_pr Jim Crawford

    An excellent and most insightful post, Amanda.

    I think for many young companies, the “$64,000 question” might be: “How do I go about identifying my key influencers — and knowing I’ve picked the right ones?”

    In the tech and telecom PR arena, we typically streamline this process by targeting well-known industry analysts at mainstream organizations such as Gartner, Forrester, Infonetics, The Yankee Group, and others. Within these analyst groups, it’s usually a simple matter to locate the specialists that cover a company’s niche. Then we look to schedule phone or, preferably, in-person briefings with the analyst. Such sessions might include live product/service demos.

    Why industry analysts are so important: They routinely write sector reports or even individual company profiles that are used by prospective B2B and B2C customers to stay abreast of new players — and make purchasing decisions. Analysts, of course, also use social media to alert their clients to hot new companies that look like trend-setters. Once your company makes it onto an analyst’s radar screen, you’re a member of the club.

    Another reason to put analysts high on your list of key influencers: Media commonly contact them to look for story ideas, verify a lead, or provide independent, third party verification on company news — particularly when that company is a relative newcomer.

    Lastly, analysts are often matchmakers that can accelerate exit strategies. Many a time I’ve seen important analysts help bring together startups and suitors. It’s never too soon to start planning for that big buyout, and analysts can speed the process.

    • http://blog.openviewpartners.com/author/amaksymiw/ Amanda Maksymiw (@amandamaks)

      Jim,
      Great point — analysts should never be overlooked as influencers.

      Thanks for sharing!