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Pinterest Marketing

Using Influencer Marketing to Establish Brand Identity & Promote Engagement

Influencer marketing framework

Influencer marketing is the practice of using individuals with the power to impact purchase decisions to promote your brand. It is a key component in most marketing campaigns online because of its proven success. Research from Twitter found that 49 percent of consumers look to social media influencers before making purchases. Forty percent of Twitter users said they made a purchase solely because of an influencer’s tweet. These results are hard to ignore and that is why many businesses have begun reaching out to industry leaders to build their brand’s reputation.

1) Choose the Right Influencers  

The first step in successfully using influencers to market your brand is to identify your target market. You want to understand their interests and needs before you choose influential people in the industry to help you spread the word about your product. Figure out which channels will guide you to your target market. This can be done through Google Analytics. It will show you the geographic location, age, and interests of those who visit your site most often. In addition, you can identify which sites drive the most traffic to your page. This will allow you to zero in on the most effective platforms for engagement. Once you have identified the channels your audience trusts the most, you can develop appealing content.

 2) Develop Your Own Pages to Attract Attention

In order for influencers to agree to contribute content to your sites, it is important that they view you as a credible and authentic source. Make your profile pictures on social media sites unique and memorable. Design your sites with consistency in mind. Create and publish content that reinforces the strengths of your brand. You want your content to be of value to influencers. If your work is well researched and informative, industry leaders are more likely to repost your work on their own pages which gives you more exposure.

3) Repost Influencer Content

The goal of influencer marketing is to reach a larger audience. One way to do this is to repost the content of influencers and then share your own insight. If you acknowledge their pieces, they may return the favor by sharing some of your posts. You can also recruit influencers to help promote your brand. For example, showcase an influencer using your product in a short video. Have the individual speak about your brand. This will gain you more viewers and increase engagement as the video is shared. You want to be able to gain access to whole new audience to increase visibility.

While you will build and increase your visibility, influencer marketing will also have a positive impact on your SEO ranking. The more you are mentioned on social media, the higher up you will appear in Google searches. This will also hold true for the influencer you promote on your own page. Just make sure to secure a memorable domain name so users can easily remember and revisit your site.

4) Develop Long Term Relationships

While it’s easy to focus only on how the influencer will help your brand, you want to think about what you can contribute in return. To create a meaningful and lasting relationship with influencers, you have to offer value. For example, you can offer a content swap, free products, or the promise of a positive review. Just remember that a mutually beneficial relationship will last longer than one that is one sided. Influencers can offer a fresh approach to your brand adding to its value. Consumers want to hear an outside perspective that is trustworthy to equip them with information they need before making purchasing decisions.

5) Opt for Consistency

When you are looking to reach out to influencers, visit their pages to get a sense of their writing style and tone. You want to find someone whose identity is consistent with your brand message. It is easier to share and exchange content that has a cohesive look. Social media influencers have already built a strong persona and won’t post content that detracts from their message. By finding someone with similar taste when it comes to design, you will better be able to seamlessly contribute to one another’s pages.

6) Measure Results

Request analytics and detailed reports on the success of posts. Tracking influencer marketing campaigns can be tricky because you do not have easy access to your influencer’s analytics reports. You can use 3rd party tools to monitor brand mentions or campaign hashtags. Gauging results will allow you to see if you need to target other influencers or whether the relationship is proving mutually beneficial. It will also permit you to see which sites are gaining the most traffic so you can narrow your focus and develop sites that are lagging behind.

As social media becomes the channel by which businesses can reach consumers, promotional tactics have changed course. Potential customers no longer make buying decisions based on advertisements alone. Instead, they depend on a two way conversation with those who have actually experienced the brand. Consumers expect to be entertained and informed. Brands need to incorporate influencer marketing into their strategy in order to project authority and gain trust.

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Success Stories

Turning Your Passion for Pinterest Into Profit – Pinterest Influencer Interview With Jill Harness

Passion Pinterest Profit

Pinterest is a powerful marketing tool for those fortunate enough to have a substantial audience. But how do you grow a following that numbers in the tens of thousands? More importantly, how do you do this when you have a business to run and time is limited?

To learn more about what it takes to be successful on Pinterest, ViralWoot reached out to one of our users, Jill Harness. Jill has helped brands develop five-figure audiences on Pinterest. She is also a writer for Rue the Day, Neatorama and Oddee. In addition, she operates social media accounts for Neatorama, The NeatoShop and Today I Found Out, as well as the Pinterest accounts for Nerd Approved Media, which includes Nerd Approved, Fashionably Geek and That’s Nerdalicious. Here’s what she had to say.

Give us some background on your business. What do you do? How did you get started?

I started blogging years ago and have been writing for Neatorama for about six years now. A few years ago, I got obsessed with Pinterest and when I realized that I was not only enjoying it but also seeming to attract a lot of followers, I asked the owner of Neatorama if he might give me a shot at building up his follower base on the site. I did so well with his Pinterest that eventually I ended up taking over as the social media manager on all of the site’s channels.

Eventually, I reached out to a few people who run sites that have a relationship with Neatorama and offered to assist them with their Pinterest or Facebook efforts and that brings us up to date.

How are you building your following on Pinterest?

I do a few things to attract viewers on Pinterest, but the most important thing is to remember the old adage that “content is king.” All of the sites that I work with are content-based, so I add photos from our blogs every day using ViralWoot. It’s a great tool for helping me schedule out all those images throughout the day rather than just adding a block of them once a day.

Aside from that, I really try to have well-curated boards. If I notice a lot of posts aren’t fitting into other categories, I’ll go out of my way to create a new board that can incorporate them all. At the same time, I think it’s important to not have too many boards as I think that could intimidate potential followers. Every few months I’ll actually look at our boards with the lowest follower counts and see if they might be better off being combined with one of our better performing boards.

I also really make an effort to follow people that bring us a lot of repins or clicks according to the Pinterest analytics so they know we appreciate them and will hopefully pin more of our content.

How do you engage with your Pinterest audience?

I go through our feeds at least once a day and pin photos that come from other sites that relate well with our content. I also try to follow boards of our most active fans, respond to comments and join related group boards.

What’s your most favorite tactic?

My preferred Pinterest marketing strategy is reviewing our analytics. It’s always interesting to see what pins are performing well and what kinds of people are sharing our content the most.

How much time do you spend on Pinterest marketing? How do you make that time productive?

I probably spend a few hours every night sharing pins from all of the sites I work with. ViralWoot makes scheduling those posts easy to the point where I watch television while I do it, which is nice because the work is not particularly involved and it makes it even more enjoyable.

How do you use ViralWoot for marketing on Pinterest?

I like getting new followers through ViralWoot, but I find the scheduling feature to be the most beneficial. It’s just nice to not have to post all of my pins at once so hopefully they’re seen by as many people as possible throughout the day.

What role does Pinterest play in customer research?

Since most of the companies I work with post blogs, we don’t really need to research customers all that much, but it is useful to see what resonates well with people. For example, if everyone is obsessed with Deadpool emojis, we might post more emojis or more Deadpool stuff than we otherwise would.

Deadpool Emoji

What words of wisdom do you have for someone just getting started marketing their business on Pinterest?

I would recommend spending a lot of time on Pinterest in the beginning so you understand how it works. I see a lot of companies and websites with two or three boards and that’s not the point of the site and it’s not going to get you a lot of followers. Then, once you really understand what you’re doing, set up an account with ViralWoot so you can schedule out posts according to when your target audience is actually using the site.