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Influencer Marketing

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing focuses on delivering your brand message to a targeted set of industry influencers rather than to the market at large, relying on those influencers to amplify your voice to a relevant and pre-qualified audience.

Who qualifies as an influencer?

An influencer is someone in your industry or niche with some degree of sway, authority, or special knowledge on a subject. They typically have a large following on social media networks, contribute to thought leadership, and are subject matter experts.

What are some examples of influencers?

  • Moz's own founder Rand Fishkin is an example of an influencer in the online marketing space.
  • If you run a cooking blog or make how-to videos, Ree Drummond might be a great influencer to reach out to.
  • Influencers don’t always have to be people. Get creative. If your industry happens to be pet insurance, for instance, check out places like Instagram for influencers like Harlow & Sage—they have 1.5 million followers with a vested interest in your subject!

How do you identify an influencer?

Look for trustworthy voices in your industry. Which personalities are interviewed in relevant publications for their insight on your niche? Who do you see quoted by your industry peers time and again? Prolific bloggers, well-known speakers, media personalities—identify the people making a splash in your niche, and you’ll find your influencers.

Feeling a bit lost? Here are a few ways you can begin to identify your influencers:

  • Followerwonk, a Twitter analysis tool, will allow you to slice and dice Twitter data several different ways. Try searching bios for industry keywords, then sorting the resulting list of users by “Social Authority,” a measure of how much influence they have based on their account cues.
  • BuzzSumo has a specific influencer marketing tool that will help you pick out influencers by subject and location.
  • Research conferences and meetups in your niche. Who’s offered a speaking gig at event after event? Read over their slide decks, watch recordings of their talks, and begin to follow them on social media.

How does influencer marketing work?

Because influencers have earned the trust and loyalty of a very large and relevant audience, they tend to have more sway. Their following is likely larger and more diverse than the audience whom your marketing efforts are currently reaching, and is often comprised of people that are deeply invested in your target niche. When influencers amplify your voice (via guest posting on their site, mentioning you on social media, or otherwise engaging with you), your message reaches a larger audience that’s naturally more receptive to sharing and linking because they trust the influencer.

To ensure your message is well-received by the influencer, however, you’ll need to focus on developing a strong, healthy, and trusted relationship. How you build that foundation is largely up to you, but it can involve email outreach, interactions on third-party sites like Twitter, sharing ideas in comment threads or on industry forums, and more.

How influencer marketing works

The bulk of the hard work in influencer marketing is building these lasting relationships with sometimes hard-to-reach people and offering value to the larger community via your high-quality content, unique insights, and meaningful interactions.

Keep learning

Put your skills to work

  • Followerwonk - This Twitter analysis tool allows you to discover, identify, and connect with the most powerful influencers in your niche.

  • Buzzsumo - Dive deep into data about influencers in your industry by discovering, analyzing, following, and reaching out to them with this tool.