How to Find & Connect With Influencers In Your Industry

Industry influencers wield a lot of power online. Make the right connections and you could get your brand in front of a huge (highly targeted) network of people who wouldn’t ordinarily see you. But how do you go about finding and connecting with industry influencers? What does it take and where do you get started?

Don’t worry. The hardest part is getting started with your influencer marketing strategy, and we’re here to help. Here are some simple, practical tips to help you track down and connect with the key influencers in your industry.

Decide which social platforms you will target

Before you start researching, take a minute to think about which platforms you will target. Which social platforms will be the most beneficial for you? Twitter? Facebook? LinkedIn? Instagram? Snapchat? There are a wide range of platforms to choose from and each has its own unique audience demographic.

Use social media tools

Why do all the hard work alone when you could be done in half the time? There are plenty of social media tools available to help you find, target and track influencers. Here’s our pick of the best:

• Buzzsumo: Find the key influencers to promote your content. Gather key data about industry influencers, including reply ratio, average retweets, page authority and number of followers.
• BuzzStream: Research influencers, manage your relationships, and conduct outreach from one central hub.
• Followerwonk: Lets users find and connect with new influencers and dig deeper into Twitter analytics.

Influence Vs reach

Do you know the difference between influence and reach? It’s easy to confuse the two, especially when you’re struggling to find influencers in a niche industry.

It’s not the number of followers that’s important, it’s the influence they have. How powerful is their punch? Does their content create waves or splashes online? What kind of content do they promote? Does the influencer engage with their audience? Take all of this into account when measuring influence. The tools we mentioned above are very useful here.

Follow & share back

Nothing in life is free – no even online connections. You’ll have to pay for them one way or another. No, we’re not talking about paid promotions and influencer partnerships, we’re talking about reciprocity.

If you want to build long-lasting relationships with influencers and guarantee that they will be happy to click ‘share’ when they see your posts, it’s important to make sure that the relationship is mutually beneficial.

Put simply, you’ve got to give something back. Share or like posts when you feel the content is useful to your audience, thank them for any retweets, shares or comments, and actively engage with their digital channels.

Remember: influencer marketing can be tricky. It takes time to build contacts and relationships. Don’t give up!

Kick start the conversation

Let Bing Digital bring your business all the benefits of social media without the hassle. Get in touch with our team of digital whiz kids to learn more about our flexible social media marketing packages.