We are really good at identifying and engaging influencers. So good that I often open up a client presentation with that thought. I believe strongly in the discipline of Influence Planning which is a model of making influencer engagement work better and be more impactful without robbing the practice of the human soul that brought us here. I realize that last phrase seems a little off the marketer's beaten path. But it is what attracts many people to the two-way dialogue inherent in lots of social media - it forces us to be more human, more personal and to hide a little bit less behind scripted 'official-speak' or marketing messages.
But what does it really mean to maintain those relationships? We still live in a marcom world dominated by campaigns. Campaigns are bursts of activity often defined, sadly, by paid media spend. The world often revolves around the media "flight" - a short lived journey to piqued awareness. Our influencer engagement too often maps to that burst. Influencers - "high influencers" - are those bloggers, Twitter-handle owners, message board-mavens who rank high in our influence mapping scale.But in campaign-based world, the risk is that we only reach out to influencers when when we want them to "activate" as if they were just waiting to hear from us.
Deliver Continuous Value
When we say we "identify and engage" them with a brand, it is completely understood by my team that we have thought (and discussed with them) long and hard about the true value they will get from talking or receiving content or experiences with a brand. We cannot trick influencers to be engaged nor would we ever want to try. That only explains how we get them involved in the first place. Now, how do we actually maintain that connection in a way that they find valuable?
If you want to walk the walk of influencer relationship management, you actually have to do stuff besides agonizing over which database to store their information in.
1. Continue to connect them with valuable content and experiences they have expressed interest in from the brand
Simply enough - think beyond the campaign. If you are reaching out this month because of a tie-in with a tennis event, that same tennis blogger may be interested in your tennis sponsorship four months later even if you are not producing a big marcom campaign around the next event.
2. Go beyond the brand engagement and connect them with other content and experiences they may find valuable that has nothing to do with a brand
Are their things that your company (brand or agency) is doing that might interest the influencer that is not toed into a campaign or marcom effort but that they might still find valuable. For an agency, it might be something tennis-related from some other brand.
3. Pay attention to what is happening in their lives and reach out from time to time
It's impossible to maintain deep relationships with lots of people just as its impossible to read hundreds of influencer blogs to keep on top of what they are up to or wrestling with. Spot-checks of blogs and twitter feeds are all many of us can even for the folks we do know best. Read their blogs once a quarter or more often if you can. Follow their twitter handle and reply or retweet when it is natural to do so.
4. Send them an email twice a year to remind them to send you feedback on how the brand/agency is doing
Time slips away from all of us. If you make it a habit to send an email to a selection of influencers 1-2 times a year just to ask them how you or your team is doing in their side of the relationship, you will likely learn valuable feedback and demonstrate that you care.
Happy Birthday?
I stop short on sending birthday greetings. I don't want to turn personal outreach into a "cue" delivered via a script of "how to be more personal." that just feels disingenuous. I am certain we all know who we should be wishing 'happy birthday' to out there.
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