Many creators are sometimes struggling to drastically grow their audience. Find acquisition channels for  new customers is sometimes hard, but as we often said it’s a game that (really) worth it! Connect with influencers to get a promotion is a very powerful lever which must be planned.

When we start with an audience of zero or almost, it’s the best way to grow quickly. Take as an example the youtubers, many of those who were able to build a strong community, often were highlighted by other popular youtubers (via a featuring). These “inch” are often actually true accelerators.

Releasing a movie, a series, a web series or launching a SVOD service, influencers that you need to target in the first place are: journalists, bloggers, youtubers (when it comes to video business, it seems particularly strategic to find a relay amongst them) and, if it’s relevant to your content, artists (directors, actors, singers, musicians…) !

2 main questions arise when looking to connect with influencers:

> Where to find influencers?

> How to connect with them?

 

I. TECHNIQUES TO IDENTIFY INFLUENCERS:

There are many tools to identify top influencers who might talk about your contents. The idea here is to build a list of people to contact. Try to build an exhaustive list, however, we recommend you to focus on quality over quantity.

There are different type of influencers, here we recommend to target especially the following categories: bloggers, journalists, youtubers, or even artists!

For each influencer, try to get his email address, services like hunter can help you. Otherwise, note his/her @instagram @twitter or his/her facebook page to be able to contact him/her directly from social networks. But we recommend that you find the email address because it is often the most effective way to get a response.

The goal is to have a list (Google Sheet or Excel) like this:

list-eng

Now let’s see methods and research tools to fill in this spreadsheet :

 

1.TWITTER

 

  • Do a bio search :

Thankfully, you don’t need to have an active Twitter account, with hundreds of subscribers. You only need a Twitter account.

1 / create an account on Followerwonk (and go to bio ‘Search’ tool)

2 / type keywords you are interested in and Followerwonk will give you a list of influencers

3 / select those who have a high enough number of subscribers (more than 5 k or 10 k subscribers is a good start). Also look at whether there are activities on their tweets (retweet, likes).

 

  • Common followers on Twitter:

With Followerwonk you can also identify people who are followed in common by influencers. If 3 influencers from a same “thematic” follow the same person, there is a good chance this person is also influential in this thematic 🙂

To do this, go to the “compare tool“, choose 3 influencers that you have identified in the previous step, type their handle twitter and look for the common followers.

 

follower-wonk

 

2.GOOGLE + FACEBOOK

There is not only Twitter. Facebook and Google should be your best friends too.

For bloggers: type on Google “Blog” + “Name of your theme”, then when you have a blog name, check Facebook if there is an important associated community (look at the number of fans/likes).

For journalists, if you type just the name of your topic on Google, you will see in the first results “important” articles from media or pure plays. Go to this articles, usually the name of journalist is written, with sometimes even his/her Twitter handle.

 

3. YOUTUBE

  • Search engine:

First, type your keywords into the search bar, you will have a list of the most important youtubers who have made a video in your thematic.

 

  • Look the competition:

You can then search by typing the name of competing content and watch if influencers have already spoken about similar contents or services. If they were talking about a competing offer, no reason that they do not talk about your offer.

To find their emails, go to the “About” section

ytube-eng

 

4. LISTINGS OF BLOGS

  • Simply: go to listings of blogs, like Teads Labs and search by topic.
  • Use tools that reference internal and external links: go to Majestic and then type the url of a blog that you have listed previously. The tool will give you name of other blogs who “backlink” to the one you entered, so you can increase the list of blogs that cover your theme…

If you have a doubt about the popularity of an influencer, you can take a look at their Klout score (above a score of 50, it’s start getting interesting).

 

II. CONNECT WITH INFLUENCERS

Here, we enter the most difficult part. The best method, should take place in 3 steps:

  • Phase 1: the hook (make first contact)
  • Phase 2: highlight the angle chosen for your communication and/or what you can bring to the influencer
  • Phase 3: the value you can bring to his/her community

Style is quite flexible: you can write to them via twitter, email, facebook (via their page if they have one, but not on their personal profile) etc…

You can do it in 2 separate steps (hook first phase, allow yourself a period where you make the influencer trust you, and only then you start requesting a promotion) or write a single message that includes all 3 steps.

Finally, start with the “easiest” access: the less influential or closest to you (for example local press). Once you will already have 1 or 2 press cover, you can use them as a reference for other influencers.

 
PHASE 1: THE HOOK

There are several techniques to get the attention of an influencer and maximize opportunity for their help. Below few of them, but of course feel free to find more :

> Consolidate their credibility by validating their content

Like, share and comment on their articles/videos. Get noticed while approving them. On Youtube or Facebook for example, most liked comments appear at the top and are the most visible. Make relevant or funny comments and hope you will be liked.

If they write articles, feel free to comment, by being relevant. Don’t tell not just that it’s good. Tell why it’s good.

If you are blogging, quote them in your articles, then mention them in your tweets.

> Break Ice

Call them directly on social networks. Ask questions, react to an article, be relevant, if you do not agree with what they say, argue intelligently (some like the verbal jousting or debates).

> Offer networking

If you know an expert on a topic they want to cover, you can offer them to put them in touch with your contact.

> Get introduced

Try to find someone who can put you in touch. Ideally, common knowledge or someone from his entourage, less influential, that you could more easily contact.

> Offer a service based on your expertise

You make great videos? Invite them to create video contents for them. Are you a graphic designer? Offer your services for free etc… Bring them services in exchange of a promo .

If you have none of this, just say that you like what they do, by being as specific as possible show them you know their work and that it is not a completely impersonal message. Flatter the ego works every time 😉

 
PHASE 2: BRING THEIR VALUE

Before going further, small tips on the style: be short (not discouraged reading with a loooooong text), precise (say exactly what you want), dynamics and write a personalized message.

Do not try to contact as many people as you can. Prefer quality before quantity in order to maximize your chances of success.

Avoid copy/pasted message. Instead, explain them immediately what you can provide:

> Give them a “social proof”: basically, proof that people are interested in your offer. If you have a lot of comments, shares, retweets or likes on social networks, this means that your content starts to generate interest. If so, do not hesitate to make screenshots and attach them to your message!

> Give them trendy topics : If your thematic is among current trends, focus on that. Add datas to strengthen your point.

> Bring them traffic: If you already have a first community, you can tell them that you will highlight them in your next communications. Always good to take.

> Bring them exclusive or free contents: give them free license footages from your contents so they can use in their videos/articles.

> Have a ready-to-serve folder: prepare an online folder with useful information about your content: press release, images to download, quotes, datas etc… Especially for journalists they love when work is already partially done (create a press kit to download on Google Drive for example).

> Give them a free copy of your film or a trial subscription period to your offer, asking them, if they like, to share with their community. And you know what? With OKAST you can do this very simply (with Free copies tool)

 
PHASE 3: BRING VALUE TO THEIR COMMUNITY

Finish them by explaining how you can add value to their community/readers/subscribers.

  • explain how their community fits exactly to your target. Find similarities: tone, topics, position on an issue, appetite of their community for video contents like yours etc…
  • give details of what their community can get from you. This can be, for example:

-a promo coupon for members of their community (discount always work)

-a trial period (free things are the best)

-an exclusivity (being a part of a community which can get privilege strengthen their sense of belonging)

Keep in mind that an influencer wants above all to please or to favor his community. If you can provide good plans in that way, then they will listen you carefully 😉

 

Last tip: follow up one or 2 times with them after your request (without being too pushy). Keep tracks on who you have contacted, how many times and what they told you. As always, be patient, it’s going to pay.

 

Are you ready to launch your videos offer? Register HERE it’s free!

 

With Love,

The OKAST Team.

Categories:Marketing tips
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