How-To: Influence Influencers- Bloggers, Tweeters & Others

How-To: Influence Influencers- Bloggers, Tweeters & Others

Want to get the right people talking about you and your business in a flattering light?

Word of mouth marketing has always been an important vehicle for getting the word out about your business. Social media opens up a range of opportunities for leveraging the power of word-of-mouth.

In every social media circle there are people who have more influence than others. Whatever niche your business is in, it’s likely there are a handful of bloggers that are highly popular and influential. There are also people who have large numbers of followers on Twitter whose tweets are retweeted with high frequency.

When one of these bloggers or Tweeters mentions your company or links to your website, the impact can be tremendous (positive or negative). Understanding and identifying who the influential people are in your niche is important. And it’s equally important to understand how to reach out them to build relationships that will benefit your business. It’s also important to understand what NOT to do.

In this article, I’ve pulled together resources, tips and advice that can help you identify influential bloggers and other social media users and develop strategies to engage your targeted influencers in ways that will help you achieve your objectives. I’ve included a special section on Blogger outreach and relations as well. Finally, there’s a section on tools and lists to help you in your efforts.

 

Identifying, Targeting and Courting Key Influencers

Blogger Outreach and Relations

  • 10 Steps to Building a Better Blogger-Relations Program
    From Brian Solis: Helpful tips on how to approach blogger relations. Advice ranges from “being knowledgeable, transparent, honest and trustworthy” to “less is more – focus on quality relationships” and much more. For more see Brian’s e-book for Kindle: The Art and Science of Blogger Relations
  • How to Suck Up to a Blogger
    From Guy Kawaski: Guy’s terrific advice on the process of cultivating the most influential bloggers from “creating a great product” to “linking to the blogger’s blog” to “stroking them” to “making connections before you need them” and more.
  • The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics
    From the Ogilvy PR Blog: Some basic tenets of blogger outreach that the Ogilvy PR abides by when contacting bloggers on behalf of their clients.
  • How To Influence ME
    From Chris Brogan: Commonsense advice (which apparently isn’t common enough) from Chris on how to make a good impression with him – from “remembering he’s human” to “being brief” and more. Also see Chris’ book: Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust
  • BLOGGER RELATIONS CASE STUDIES
    From New Communications Review: Winning case studies of Blogger Relations Outreach programs from Molson, Zarafina, Graco, Kona Blue and others.
  • Comparing Six Ways to Identify Top Blogs in Any Niche
    From ReadWriteWeb: How then can you identify the top blogs in a particular niche field? There are paid services you can use to identify influencers online but they are expensive and not appropriate for quick hits in a new topic. Here’s a comparison of the pros and cons of six different options that are fast and free.
  • Blogger Outreach – How Not To Do It
    From Beth Kanter: Solid advice about how to NOT to pitch bloggers to write about your organization, product, service, or events. One tip: Don’t have your office intern send out canned pitches, get to know the bloggers first.
  • HOW TO Pitch: Mashable
    From PR Sarah Evans: First in a series of interviews with top bloggers on the best way for public relations professionals to pitch them and increase chances of story(ies) being picked up. First interview is with Adam Ostrow, Editor in Chief, Mashable.
  • 5 Things You SHOULDN’T Do When Approaching Bloggers
    From Daily Blog Tips: Rundown of things that you shouldn’t do when approaching bloggers for your networking efforts – from “asking for a link to your blog, article or service” to “declaring that their audience will be interested in your service” to “proposing a link exchange out of the blue” and more.
  • Best Practices for Blogger Relations Tip Sheet
    From the Society for New Communications Research: A “Best Practices for Blogger Relations” Tip Sheet with tips such as “doing your research to understand the blogger and focus on his/her interests” to “forgetting about the A-list and find your A-list” and more. Complete tip sheet is available to SNCR members free of charge. It is also available to non-members for a $25 donation to the Society.
  • How You Might View Bloggers
    From Chris Brogan: Advice on how to conduct a blogger outreach campaign directed at key influencers. Also see Chris’ book: Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust
  • Can Companies Engage Independent Bloggers? Ask @RealLifeSarah
    From Hubspot: In this video, blogger Sarah Pinnix addresses the question of what marketers can do to get bloggers talking about their products.
  • So How DO You Pitch a Blogger?
    From Search Engine Blog: Blogger Matt Collier provides advice on how and how not to pitch him on your company, product and/or service – from “referring to him by name” to “NOT simply sending a press release” to “actually reading his blog before pitching him” and more.
  • How to Get a Blogger to Promote Your Product
    From Lifehack: Advice on what to do and what not to do when approaching influential bloggers in your niche. From “doing your research first” to “taking bloggers seriously,” this post provides solid tips on how to handle your blogger outreach.
  • The Very Basics of Blogger Outreach
    From Social Mallard: Basic advice on pitching bloggers from “building the right list” to “not forgetting about niche blogs in favor of the big fish” to “researching who the bloggers really are” and more.
  • 11 Things You Need To Know When Pitching to Bloggers
    From Blank Canvas: Pat Law outlines 11 things to keep in mind when pitching your company, product, service, ideas, etc. to bloggers- from “finding out who their readers are” to “joining them online (subscribe to their RSS feeds, connect with them on Twitter)” to “joining them offline” and more.
  • How to Keep Bloggers from Hating You
    From IdeasOnIdeas: Nice list of tips on how you can build links with people who blog without practices the bad behaviors that might alienate them from “taking the time to get to know those you contact” to “respecting people’s choices even if they say no” to “thanking people who take the time to write something on your behalf” and more.
  • 10 Tips for a Successful Blogger Outreach Campaign
    From The Caffeinated Blog: Advice on what to do to catch the attention of influential bloggers. Includes tips on identifying the right blogs, persuading the blogger that his/her audience is interested in your product/service, to being honest in how you represent yourself, being prepared to deal with negative feedback and more.
  • Attention PR People: Here’s How To Pitch A Writer
    From Six Pixels of Separation: Mitch Joel includes 9 simple rules for pitching a writer from “personalizing your message” to “never sending attachments” to “not following up if you don’t hear back” and more.
  • 20 Tips for Pitching Bloggers
    From The Future Buzz: Adam Singer offers up a nice long list of tips for pitching bloggers from “offer a freebie” to “offer exclusivity” to “subscribing to their blog” to “commenting on their blog” and more.
  • Journalists’ Blogs Offer Valuable Clues About How to Pitch Them
    From The Publicity Hound’s Blog: Joan Stewart offers advice on how to mine journalists’ blogs, twitter pages and more to uncover clues on how to target your pitches to them.
  • How to Launch a Successful Blogger Outreach Program in One Day
    From The Viral Garden: Hour-by-hour step-by-step process for putting together a blogger outreach program. Key part of the process is creating a list of at least 20 bloggers who are talking about your company and posting comments on their blogs in response to their posts that reference our company.
  • For advice on Mommy Bloggers:
    • 7 Things Mom Bloggers Want To Say To PR People
      From Influential Marketing Blog: Rohit Bhargava shares the top 7 things he’s gleaned from conversations with mom bloggers that most of them want PR people to know – from “get to know me” to “stop asking for free coverage” to”remember I have kids” to “don’t tell me what to write” and more.
    • Some Advice on Reaching Out to Mommy Bloggers
      From Media Bullseye: Susan Getgood talks about who mommy bloggers are and offers up some tips for connecting with them effectively including advice on how to find the ones who will be interested in what you have to offer.

Tools and Lists