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Content Marketing Tactics: Influencer Content Pros, Cons, Examples and Best Practices

Influencer-Marketing

While the world is more connected than ever, it’s also more cluttered than ever. Yes. It’s the age of information overload, and competition to get noticed is fierce. As a result, marketers are focusing on creating scalable content that gets shared more often and reaches more people by using influencer content programs.

Influencer marketing often refers to celebrities or brandividuals advocating for a brand. Influencer content goes beyond advocacy to focus on the actual content being produced for marketing. Influencer content isn’t something new, but the digital era has changed how it’s used. Influencer content marketing in its current form started gaining momentum in 2014, and it’s now the fastest growing and most cost effective marketing channel.


Content Marketing Tactics: Influencer Content Pros, Cons, Examples and Best Practices

Defying Gravity: Our 5 Most Shared Influencer Marketing Posts of 2015

Top-Influencer-Marketing-Posts-of-2015

If you have ever seen a space shuttle launch–and let’s pause for a moment of silence for NASA’s funding—you remember how small the shuttle itself looks on the launch pad. Even though it’s a massive vehicle, it’s dwarfed by the fuel tanks that will boost it into orbit. It takes a lot of energy to defy gravity, and the shuttle needs all the help it can get.

For marketers, influencers are the fuel that can get our content out of the gravity well and up where people can see it. We know influencer marketing gets results, and it’s great to see it emerging as a trend. Eighty-four percent of marketing and communications worldwide expect to launch at least one influencer marketing campaign in the next year, and 81% who have already tried it say influencer engagement was effective.


Defying Gravity: Our 5 Most Shared Influencer Marketing Posts of 2015

A Visual Guide to Influencer Marketing

Influencer Marketing

In 2016 there will be a significant push towards influencer marketing from all areas of digital marketing: from content marketers to public relations to SEOs.

Companies considering the role of influencers in their marketing efforts will come at it from as many different perspectives as there are benefits. Luckily, there are a growing number of useful resources on the topic, including this blog.

But there’s more to the topic than what we’ve covered here, so I’ve curated a collection of influencer marketing infographics that present a mix of statistics, best practices, research and models for planning, implementing and measuring the performance of influencer marketing. Take a look, click, download and enjoy!

Traackr Infographic
Traackr: The Many Faces of Influence also Content and Influence Framework.


A Visual Guide to Influencer Marketing

Want to Add More Participation to You Content? Follow These 5 Keys to Success [Guide]

5-keys-success-participation-marketing

By this point, there is no denying that content marketing should be an essential part of every brand’s integrated digital marketing strategy. Content enables brands to create a connection with current and potential customers that can also support many other digital marketing initiatives if optimized correctly.

Since we’re all on the same page about content, the question many marketers are wondering is: what does the next iteration of content marketing look like? Try this on for size: 84% of worldwide consumers will take action based on the reviews and recommendations of trusted sources above all other forms of advertising (Nielsen).

Based on that statistic alone, everyone reading this should have just had an “aha moment”. If consumers trust reviews and recommendations from sources that they trust, that means that you should be adding additional trusted sources outside of your brand to build credibility within your content marketing.


Want to Add More Participation to You Content? Follow These 5 Keys to Success [Guide]

How Collaborating With Influencers Generated Over 110k Views on SlideShare

Influencer-Marketing-Header

Brands large and small are searching for ways to separate themselves from the pack. At the same time, most marketers are struggling with everything from producing enough content, to measuring content effectiveness. As more and more brands become publishers, it has become increasingly difficult for brands to create a variety of engaging content on a consistent basis.

To stay relevant and continue learning, many marketers attend workshops, trainings and industry events. Unfortunately, there are so many to choose from it can be difficult to weed out those that may not be worth the investment.

Therein lies the challenge:

  • Quality conferences need to build awareness of their events
  • Influential speakers need to drive people to their presentations
  • Marketers need useful information presented in an engaging way

How Collaborating With Influencers Generated Over 110k Views on SlideShare

Rule the School: 5 Essential Lessons on Co-Creating Content with Influencers [eBook]

GroupHigh eBook CoverAh, the nostalgic memories of making new friends on the first day of class, the thrill of getting a new Trapper Keeper notebook and finding your place amongst your peers likely take most of us back to our school days.

Once you’re out of school, you realize that you don’t always have teachers by your side to help you plan for how to approach strategies like content marketing. There’s no lesson plan, pre-test or extra credit to help you figure everything out. And the true test comes from how much your audience likes (or doesn’t like) the content assets that you create. Which presents an opportunity to innovate your approach.


Rule the School: 5 Essential Lessons on Co-Creating Content with Influencers [eBook]

Influencer Marketing: Should You Pursue High Profile or Socially Authoritative Brand Advocates?

searching-for-influencers

We’ve been talking a lot about influencers lately – and with good reason. The right mix of thought leaders and valuable content can catapult any integrated marketing campaign into vast new heights and audiences. Finding and connecting with those ideal influencers, however, has always been the challenge.

While there are multiple discovery tools available for influencer marketing research, identifying your influencers is only part of the battle. The next part is reconciling them with your overall program objectives. It’s here that we’ve witnessed disconnects between marketing teams and their executive leadership – and where the need for executive buy-in is crucial for any influencer marketing campaign. Executives may crave big names – chief executives of major industry organizations who may/may not have an active social presence.


Influencer Marketing: Should You Pursue High Profile or Socially Authoritative Brand Advocates?

How to Improve Influencer Engagement? Avoid These 50 Fails

Influencer Marketing

Brands: Stop Doing These Things!

Influencer Marketing is hot and that means the value of influencer relationships is higher than ever.

Working hard to romance in-demand experts to collaborate, co-create and even advocate can be a substantial investment. The mutual benefit from these long term relationships can mean anything from hugely successful marketing programs for brands to top billing at speaking events, book deals and consulting work for the influencers.

Unfortunately, outreach communications, expectations and negotiations with influencers to work together are often so lacking of empathy, relevant context or even courtesy that the industry expert “checks out”. Losing influencers is sad and wasteful.

But it doesn’t have to be that way if you know what makes them leave. Trust me, I work on influencer outreach nearly every day (sending and receiving) and am both guilty of committing some of these influencer marketing sins and having them committed against me.


How to Improve Influencer Engagement? Avoid These 50 Fails

3 Examples of How Partnering with Influencers on Content Creates a Winning Combination

Collaborate-with-influencers

“Influencer Marketing” is a phrase that has gained momentum over the past few years. It seems that everywhere you turn, marketers are telling you that you need to incorporate influencers as part of your integrated digital marketing strategy. But the question is, does it really work?

Many companies may not have the staff or resources to run a full-fledged influencer marketing strategy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t begin dabbling in influencer marketing campaigns to help meet marketing and business objectives. A successful approach to influencer marketing provides value for both the company, and the influencers that participate. 

One ripe opportunity for building awareness and integrating influencer marketing into your marketing mix is to use it as a means to help promote events. 

Below are three stories of how TopRank Marketing helped three companies incorporate content and influencer marketing to create a winning combination for event promotion.


3 Examples of How Partnering with Influencers on Content Creates a Winning Combination

If You Want Your Content Marketing to be Great, Ask Influencers to Participate

participation marketing with influencers

Participation Marketing is at the Intersection of Content and Influencer Marketing

With ubiquitous internet connectivity and billions of people empowered to create and publish online, digital marketing competition is greater than ever. Companies are increasingly challenged to create quality content that can stand out to attract and engage new customers.

How can businesses grow their reach and improve content quality in such a market?

Through participation marketing with industry influencers.

Over the past year, the expression “influencer marketing” has exploded in popularity and many marketing communications professionals are continuing to see influencers in the light of “celebrity endorsements”.

There’s more to influencer marketing than advocacy.

But there’s more to influencer marketing than advocacy and all influencers are not created equal. With participation marketing, companies can take a view of working with influencers of different types to produce a variety of benefits – all through content.


If You Want Your Content Marketing to be Great, Ask Influencers to Participate

How to Get Results You Can Measure with Influencer Marketing

Douglas Karr

Marketers salivate dreaming of attracting attention from “influencers” – be it celebrities, established experts in a particular field, or talking heads. Convincing an influential industry leader to promote your brand would feel like a major win any day, as that kind of exposure can dramatically increase your brand’s reach and influence.

So let’s say you nail a pitch to a Coveted Influencer. You create a partnership. How do you measure the results of that outreach?

Not only has the team at TopRank measured the impact of influencer marketing and seen incredible results, but so has the popular blogger and speaker I’m listening to today at Social Media Marketing World 2015 (#SMMW15).


How to Get Results You Can Measure with Influencer Marketing

The Difference Between Brandividuals & Influencers – Why You Need Both

influencer brandividual

From creating advocacy programs to the content co-creation we specialize in at our agency, working with influencers presents a number of challenges, especially when it comes to effectively identifying, qualifying and recruiting.

In fact, according to a study by Augure, 61% of companies say finding “true” influencers is a top challenge.

Everyone is influential about something, but the ability to influence varies greatly across individuals, between different audiences and even at different moments in time.

Defining Influence. As Sam Fiorella, Co-Author of Influence Marketing says, “Influence is the swaying of beliefs, behaviors or actions.” Therefore, it stands to reason that identifying influencers must take into account their ability and willingness to affect action – not just achievement of high fan, friend and follower counts.


The Difference Between Brandividuals & Influencers – Why You Need Both

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