5 Steps to Expand Your Business with Industry Influencers

Have you stepped outside the box yet and made new connections in your industry?
Would you like to work with top level individuals and brands for more sales?
As a business owner trust is everything when it comes to attracting more leads that can be converted. With the right marketing strategies in place such as stellar content, active communication with your audience online, and target market research you can move toward this slowly. But having the right influencers to network with can speed up this process as well as open the door for more opportunities.
Webster’s Dictionary defines ‘influence’ as:

the power to change or affect someone or something : the power to cause changes without directly forcing them to happen

: a person or thing that affects someone or something in an important way

Once a strong level of trust has been built with the audience in your niche then sales become much easier. An influencer who has a good level of reach can enable you to have more access to these great leads. Wikipedia shows there can be many steps and processes a person experiences when making a decision:

So how can your brand or business find and build relationships with these people?

The answer begins with a solid marketing plan, which needs be a very specific and focused approached.

Create a list of goals for each social network and have a plan of action for each.

While not all social networks may be right for your industry, the focus should be on these top contenders:

• Facebook Fan Page Objectives – Post and share content tailored to the target market to include blog posts, memes, videos, and blog posts from trusted brands in your industry. Create 2 – 3 posts per day, and engage with the community and ‘Liked’ Pages at least once a day.

• LinkedIn Network Building – Join professional, active groups in your industry and begin engagement at least once per week without being promotional. Share valuable content within your groups and to your connections on LinkedIn in addition to publishing a blog each week on the network. Identify companies and individuals of interest in your market and invite them to connect.

• Use Google Plus to Connect with Individuals and Pages – Find out whether your influencers are actively engaged on Google Plus, then take a look at their profiles and pages. Your brand or business should be optimized for SEO with the right keywords, and a strong description with links to your online properties. Plan to make a post at least once a day plan to start with, and include content, images, video, or anything your audience is drawn to. Interact and add to circles influencers, and slowly build your network there.

• Can Pinterest and Instagram Benefit Your Marketing? – Depending on your market Pinterest and Instagram could be highly beneficial in creating visibility, and connect with high-level users with the right images and content in place. Start with 1-2 posts per day on each, and optimize your descriptions on each with links to your website. Comments will help get you noticed along with sharing others’ content. These social networks tend to grow very quickly, and can be beneficial in connecting with your followers on your other accounts.

• Create a Steady Stream of Quality Content – Posts that are published at a minimum of three times per week will become an avenue for sharing on social media, a stronger website presence, and guest blogging opportunities. Create a content schedule and use keyword research to determine which words are the strongest for your market. Keep in mind that all of your posts do not have to be text. You can include infographics, videos, and presentations that will draw and audience.

With the right marketing plan in place your company will establish its voice in your industry, which will enable to you to better connect with influencers. When scouting out the right people or brands keep in mind that it is the genuine sales and consistent trust of their communities that reveal a true influencer who has a proven track record of building a solid reputation that people trust enough to purchase from.

After some research make a list of who you could connect with determine how you could best meet their needs, and study the patterns of their communication online to learn more about what they are open to. Attend their webinars, and connect at offline events to establish your presence. Follow their content to learn more about their patterns of success, and to learn what their strategy involves. Before long your brand or business will be able to offer an incentive or promotion with these new connections, which will build your level of influence and eventually more sales.

Once a successful marketing and blogging strategy has moved your brand or business into the next phase of contacting influencers in your niche don’t be discouraged if the process begins slowly. It just takes just one connection to make a way for recommendations to other influencers after successfully contributing something of value to their brand.