Influence Not Influencers

Rand Fishkin | Founder & CEO Influence… Not Influencers Marketing through influence must focus on finding the right customers, in the right places. Here’s how to make the shift.

Bit.ly/sparkinfluence

Influencer Marketing in 2012 Let’s travel back in time…

Identify Your Target Customer(s) Physical Therapists Gym Owners Personal Trainers People who Work Out at Gyms

Discover All the Sources of Influence that Reach Your Audience Physical Therapists Podcasts they listen to YouTube Channels they watch Websites they visit Twitter accounts they follow Instagrammers they follow Emails they subscribe to Publications they consume Events they attendBlogs they read

Do Marketing of All Kinds in Those Places Speak Be a guest Pitch stories Get Featured Sponsor

Earn Brand Recognition, Traffic, & Sales Physical Therapists All the sources of influence that reach physical therapists

Influencer Marketing in 2019 What about today?...

Pay Half-Naked Instagrammers To Pose With Your Product.

Does It Work? Sometimes… Is It the Best Use of Our Marketing Spend & Effort? Rarely…

The Consideration Problem: Google Ads Should we invest in… Facebook Ads Influencer Marketing Content Marketing SEO All our competitors are doing it! Start an Influencer Marketing Campaign

And Influencer Marketing is Crazy Hot Right Now… Via Google Trends

A Better Way: Product awareness among physical therapists Business Problem We’re Trying to Solve: 1) Brand Advertising Marketing Channels + Tactics ThatAddress It: Prioritized List of Experiments & Investments: Web Search Social Media Brand Advertising PR Events Direct Sales 2) Direct Sales 3) Press & PR 4) Social Media

A Better Way: Product awareness among physical therapists Business Problem We’re Trying to Solve: 1) Brand Advertising Marketing Channels + Tactics ThatAddress It: Prioritized List of Experiments & Investments: Web Search Social Media Brand Advertising PR Events Direct Sales 2) Direct Sales 3) Press & PR 4) Social Media Influencer Marketing might be a useful tactic for these two

What Influencer Marketing Gets Right

IM Focuses on Behavior > Demographics Your Target Audience Behavior Demographics What they read What they watch What they listen to What they attend What they engage with What they pay attention to How old they are What gender they are Where they live How much they make How many kids they have What religion they are

IM Focuses on Behavior > Demographics Your Target Audience Behavior Demographics What they read What they watch What they listen to What they attend What they engage with What they pay attention to How old they are What gender they are Where they live How much they make How many kids they have What religion they are These are vastly more useful to efficiently reach specific groups of people

IM Focuses on Behavior > Demographics Your Target Audience Behavior Demographics What they read What they watch What they listen to What they attend What they engage with What they pay attention to How old they are What gender they are Where they live How much they make How many kids they have What religion they are These are good for broad targeting of traditional media

Demographics and Psychographics Are Useful to Media Buyers (maybe)? Not so useful to marketers doing content, search, social, email, PR, etc.

IM Reaches People Through Sources They Know, Like, & Trust e.g. Andrew’s an award- winning mixologist and a friend. This post isn’t sponsored, but even if it were, I’d probably still trust his opinion.

Though… Paid Sponsorships May Have Trust Issues Longer Term Via CrowdFireApp

And Legal Issues Are Starting to Change the Landscape Via US FTC & UK ASA

IM Engages with People Where They’re Already Engaging

IM Emphasizes Brand Building > Pure Conversions Via Marketo

What Modern Marketers Need to Change

A Too-Narrow Definition of “Influencer” Primarily on Instagram & YouTube 25K+ IG Followers Influencer√ Primarily a Blogger 7K+ IG Followers Influencer?

Why Are Instagram & YouTube the Only Sources of Influence?

Your Target Audience Podcasts they listen to YouTube Channels they watch Websites they visit Twitter accounts they follow Instagrammers they follow Emails they subscribe to Publications they consume Events they attendBlogs they read These Are All Sources of Influence! Journalists they read

A Too-Narrow Focus on Certain Categories ViaInfluencerDB

Fashion, Beauty, Fitness, Food… That’s It? ViaInfluencerDB

Targeting on Audience Size > Audience Match 4mm followers Followed by 19% of profiles that frequently talk about “supercars”

What We Should Be Seeking: Source of Influence % of My Target Audience That Engages Here WebsiteABC.com The ABC Podcast ABC YouTube Channel ABC Conference @ABCOnTwitter @ABCOnInstagram ABC Email Newsletter 38% 31% 27% 25% 25% 22% 19%

Brands & Influencers Ignoring Owned Media Completely subject to Instagram’s algo, engagement rates, and editorial guidelines Full ownership and control of content, visibility, UX, & conversion paths

“They’ll take the scraps we give them and they’ll like it!” -Facebook ViaSocialChain

Letting the Platforms Use Us VS. Using the Platforms ViaRivalIQ2019

100,000 Instagram Followers < 100 Emails ViaRivalIQ2019

Social Follower Email Address Avg Engagement/ Post or Email Ability to Retarget? Reach on Other Platforms Ability to Get Audience Data Direct Outreach Possible? 20.81%* * Via Mailchimp Yes,Anywhere Yup. Tons. Yes. 1.73%* Onlyonthat Network Nope. Onlywhatthe networkgivesyou. No. * Via RivalIQ

Metrics Accountability Via TheDrum “I do campaigns for brands on a weekly basis and less than half ever come back for metrics; less than 50% ever want to know what’s happened. That makes me think it’s PRs playing a numbers game and once a campaign has gone no one is really interested.”

Via BusinessInsider I.E. likes & comments

If “Branding” and “Awareness” are your biggest goals… Measure that! Via Google Trends

Use Other Non-Owned Platforms Strategically Seeking Brand Awareness? Optimize for interactions Measure on Reach+Engagement Seeking Revenue? Optimize for CTR + Conversion Rate Measure on Conversions Seeking Maximum, Long-Term Benefit? Optimize for high-engagement streaks Capitalize with Conversion-Driving Posts Measure on Comparative LTV:CAC Ratio Leverage Other High- ReachAccounts Boost with Paid Promotion

When I have a low engagement post, my next post has a harder time reaching a big audience.

When a post gets high engagement, FB boosts the reach of my next post (unless it starts to show poor engagement)

In this way, Facebook (& Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc) reward high engagement streaks and makes accounts w/ low engagement invisible.

Via Contevo Rethinking Whether This Is the Best (or Only) Process for Influencer Marketing

Rethinking Whether This Is the Best (or Only) Process for Influencer Marketing Via Contevo Is paying “influencers” the best way to spread influence? Should brands own & control the creative? Is approval of content a net win? Could other processes yield better results?

to Better Influence Your Target Customers 4 Tactics

Survey Your Audience! (but be careful how you do it)#1

Want to Know Where to Reach Your Audience? Ask Them!

Key Questions to Ask: 2: How Do You Currently Solve the Problem Our Product/Service Addresses? 1: WhoAre You? (B2C: demographics/psychographics, B2B: professional/behavioral) 3: What Do You Read, Listen To, Watch, Consume,Attend? 4: What Influences Your Purchase Decisions (in the problem space of our service/product)?

Warning: It’s hard to design unbiased surveys e.g. When I editorially chose these events, I biased survey takers against ones that didn’t appear

Struggling to Get Great Answers (or to get them from the right people)? 1:1 requests are time-consuming, but effective

Reach Out to the Right Sources of Influence#2

Which of These Should You Choose? Via eMarketer

Trick Question… This is the Wrong Way to Think About Influence! Via eMarketer

The Most FollowedAccount(s) that Match a Keyword Search Traditional Influencer Marketing Seeks Out: The Most-ReachableAccount(s) that Match a Keyword Search OR But That’s Not Really What We Want…

What You Really Want: People & Publications YourAudience Engages With Most Followed by 16% of people who frequently talk about “Italian food”

What You Really Want: People & Publications YourAudience Engages With Most Small overall following, but reaches exactly who we want to reach!

Think Beyond Pay-to-Post#3

Don’t get stuck thinking only about ways to show up here. Especially when engagement may be bigger & cheaper elsewhere.

8 Pay-to-Post Alternatives 2: Story Pitches (to cover a space, trend, data, or news) 1: Guest Content (editorials, blog posts, native ads) 3: Podcast, Interview, or Video Guest Pitch 4: Day or Week-longAccount Swap/Takeover 5: Research Project or Field Trip Sponsorship 6: Content Partnership Invitation 7: Email Newsletter Inclusion 8: Brand Co-Creations / Partnerships

8 Pay-to-Post Alternatives 2: Story Pitches (to cover a space, trend, data, or news) 1: Guest Content (editorials, blog posts, native ads) 3: Podcast, Interview, or Video Guest Pitch 4: Day or Week-longAccount Swap/Takeover 5: Research Project or Field Trip Sponsorship 6: Content Partnership Invitation 7: Email Newsletter Inclusion 8: Brand Co-Creations / Partnerships BONUS: Many of these help with other channels of influence, upgrading their ROI

Use a Combination of Direct & Indirect Outreach#4

But, Rand… When I ask directly for coverage, amplification, links, mentions, etc, I get nowhere 

Direct Works Great Once a RelationshipAlready Exists… Request for something comes into my inbox… Do I KnowThis Person? Yes!And I like them. Never heard of them. No, but I know of them or their company/organization High Likelihood of a Yes High Likelihood of a No Depends on the ask, their brand, my history, the relevance, timing, etc.

In Some Cases, Indirect is the Way to Go: I want these things Get more people to know, like, and trust me (and my brand) Links to my site Create unique value that stands out to your audience Press coverage SocialAmplification What can I do that will deliver those? Focus outreach on these goals first

Getting Responses is Vastly Easier When You’re Already Known & Liked!

Not Just Influencers. Influence Let’s Create Ready?

Rand Fishkin | Founder & CEO Thank You! Bit.ly/sparkinfluence