(The answer to at least two of those questions should be “no”. Otherwise, why would you be here?)
Not to worry though, in this post we’ll break down all of those questions, and get you on your way to leveraging their influence properly!
For our purposes, an influencer is someone who has influence over your desired customer. They are a point of reference to your customer, someone they would listen to follow the advice of. In theory, you will become an influencer to your customers through your articles, but mostly these people are bloggers, podcasters, journalists, celebrities, etc–people who create interesting content on a topic.
Knowing of the influencers relevant to your niche serves two functions: to stay updated on popular topics in the niche and to become someone they can turn to.
As we said, following an influencer in your niche can help you stay on top of what’s going on in the industry. Influencers often are at the head of trends, so they’ll keep you in the loop of what you’re writing about.
As for the second point, the ideal situation is one in which after building a relationship with an influencer, they also turn to you for information. This could mean they quote you in an article, have you on a podcast episode, or even mention your name. Any of that would mean you’ve been shown directly to the sphere of their influence–your prospective customers.
The two easiest things you can do to build a relationship with an influencer also happen to be the simplest. Lucky you!
The first thing would be to talk to them; crazy, we know. Follow them on social media, comment on their pictures and blog posts, respond to their tweets, do anything to get your name on their radar. They’ll likely respond, and then the public will start to see a connection between the two of you.
Next, include them in articles you write. Do they host a popular podcast you think would help your customers? Tell them about it, link to the influencer’s website. This, again, makes your name pop up on their radar, and shows the influencer that you want them to succeed too.
After you’ve mentioned the influencer in an article or two, you can email them something simple. Tell them you love their content, you think it’s great for your customers to consume, and that you’d love to work with them in the future.
It doesn’t have to be a big and fancy pitch. In fact, it shouldn't. This email should just make them aware of you and the publicity you’re giving them. Building relationships are slow, even online, and if you really want this one to be worthwhile you’ll have to give it some time and back-and-forth. But eventually, they’ll think of you as the go to for their next project.