How to Use Influencers to Amplify Social Media

Audience ≠ Influence

As it tends to do in social media, the landscape, it is a-changin’. The rise of influencer marketing has forced many organizations to rethink their approach to social. It has ceased to be about the number of followers or the reach of each post; it’s now about calls to action from trusted third parties that have come to be known as “influencers.”
But who are these people and where do we find them? Thankfully, we here at Convince & Convert have heard the call and are launching a new podcast dedicated to this very topic called “Influence Pros.” This week the co-hosts Heidi and Cameron discuss the launch of the podcast, what they have learned already, and their ever-evolving 50,000-foot view on influencer marketing.

In This Episode

• Why having a large audience doesn’t mean active buyers
• How releasing control of your message leads to more powerful influencers
• Why celebrity endorsements can mean disingenuous content
• How successful influencer marketing leads to empowered and loyal consumers

Quotes From This Episode

“Everyone has influence. It’s about how you choose to use it.” —@redfoxstrategy
“The whole purpose of media relations was ‘I want people to be my advocates, to talk about my brand in a really authentic way, so that I can reach my target audience.’ What we’ve seen with social is that that audience is totally fractured.” —@hksully
“We tend to confuse influence and audience.” —@jaybaer
“When you look at celebrity endorsements, those can begin to seem disingenuous unless it’s something that organically happens.” —@hksully
“As you begin to delve into advocate and influencer marketing, it’s important to empower your community to own your message themselves.” —@hksully
“It’s not always the biggest audience that is the most impressive.” —@redfoxstrategy
“It could be great content, but when it’s coming from the brand there’s still going to be a level of skepticism around it.” —@redfoxstrategy
“Influencers are the way to amplify content, to make content actually resonate and to put eyeballs and earholes against it.” —@jaybaer
“We don’t lead the conversations anymore but we need to be a part of them and it’s about how we do that.” —@redfoxstrategy

Resources

• Heidi Sullivan on Twitter: @hksully
• Todd Cameron on Twitter: @redfoxstrategy
• Influence Pros
• Cision
• TapInfluence
• Zuberance
• “Is Influencer Marketing What You Think It Is?”
• Content Pros
• The Business of Story