Influencer marketing can be a powerful tactic, but the practice is far too narrow, and often focused on wrong metrics. In this presentation, Rand expands on what marketing through influence can do, and shows examples of a higher ROI form of marketing through channels of influence (not just Instagram & YouTube "influencers")

1. 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.

2. Bit.ly/sparkinfluence

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

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

5. 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

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

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

8. Influencer Marketing in 2019
What about today?...

9. Pay Half-Naked Instagrammers
To Pose With Your Product.

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

11. 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

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

13. 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

14. 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

15. What Influencer Marketing
Gets Right

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

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

20. 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.

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

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

23. IM Engages with People Where They’re Already
Engaging

24. IM Emphasizes Brand Building > Pure Conversions
Via Marketo

25. What Modern Marketers
Need to Change

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

27. Why Are Instagram & YouTube
the Only Sources of Influence?

28. 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

29. A Too-Narrow Focus on Certain Categories
ViaInfluencerDB

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

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

32. 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%

33. 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

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

35. Letting the Platforms Use Us
VS. Using the Platforms
ViaRivalIQ2019

36. 100,000 Instagram Followers < 100 Emails
ViaRivalIQ2019

37. 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

38. 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.”

39. Via BusinessInsider
I.E. likes &
comments

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

41. 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

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

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

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

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

46. 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?

47. to Better Influence Your Target Customers
4 Tactics

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

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

50. 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)?

51. 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

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

53. Reach Out to the Right
Sources of Influence#2

54. Which of These Should You Choose?
Via eMarketer

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

56. 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…

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

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

59. Think Beyond Pay-to-Post#3

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

61. 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

62. 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

63. Use a Combination of Direct
& Indirect Outreach#4

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

65. 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.

66. 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

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

68. Not Just Influencers.
Influence
Let’s Create
Ready?

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