Since the birth of social media, brands have been searching for an effective way to leverage the power of influencers — those social "awesomizers" who have a significant following and a powerful voice in their respective industries. Obtaining a mere mention by the right influencer could boost even the most niche business to the forefront of social buzz.
But how do you determine who to target? How do you enchant them and convert them into a brand advocate? Read on to learn about the steps we took at Rise Interactive in developing and integrating personalized content into a digital marketing strategy, and the significant impact it had in elevating Rise's digital presence.
Step 1: Identify your awesomizer
The first thing you need to do is identify your social media awesomizer — someone with a significant social following and powerful voice in their industry. Rise Interactive hosts routine digital marketing conferences where we bring together some of the brightest minds in the industry in our Internet Marketing Leadership Series (IMLS). At our first event, Travis Wright, global social media manager at Symantec and self-professed digital disrupter and marketing provocateur, gave a riveting (and hilarious) presentation about the power of social media. An avid Kansas City Chiefs fan, Travis described his experience sparring with the Chiefs through social media.
It all started with the below tweet, which created an unexpected but powerful ripple effect, due in large part to Travis's broad social media following (more than 129,000 Twitter followers when he spoke at IMLS).
Soon after this tweet was sent, @kcchiefs rudely replied to Travis, igniting an explosive and ongoing social media feud. Travis's battle with the Chiefs was eventually picked up by Reddit, Yahoo, Mashable and more. We like to think that this negative press contributed to the Chiefs firing their general manager, Scott Pioli, although we know that it was most likely Kansas City's abysmal 2-14 record.
Travis's story demonstrated the true power of social media and how he harnessed it to his advantage. He had a compelling story and a large group of followers, which allowed him to basically accomplish the impossible.
It got us at Rise thinking; could a brand create noise for itself on social media just as Travis had done? It was time for an experiment.
Key takeaway
Having a direct relationship with a social influencer will definitely help get your foot in the door, but even if you don't have a personal connection with them, you can still court them. Find people in your industry that you respect, that are viewed as influential thought leaders, and that have a large group of followers. Start developing an online relationship with them — reach out to them and tell them how much you admired one of their blog posts, or reply to and share their posts. Be sincere and see where things lead. If you are able to establish a solid relationship with an awesomizer, consider pitching them your idea to develop personalized content for them to share with their followers. The worst thing that could happen is they say no. Big deal — we've all been rejected before. Reach out to the next influencer, and sooner or later one of them will welcome the attention and say yes.
While having a pre-established relationship is the best case scenario, it's not a requirement. If you mine the data, find the story, and create and share the personalized content, that is definitely enough to start a relationship with an influencer.
Step 2: Develop personalized content
Travis's story was so compelling and rare, and because it could be structured with an easy-to-follow timeline of events, we knew it would make for an awesome infographic. We were excited to test out our experiment — if we created personalized content for Travis, would he share it across his large group of followers, and would that help turn him into a brand advocate while also capturing attention for the Rise Interactive brand? Only one way to find out…
We got to work compiling the timeline and getting the facts straight. Our graphic designer started laying out the infographic. It was a time-consuming process — reviews, revisions, legal hurdles that we hadn't considered, and more revisions. But it had to be perfect — this was a gift to our awesomizer, after all — so we labored on until we had our final product. We were proud of what we developed, but would Travis really share it? Would it have any significant impact for Rise?
Key takeaway
First, you need to identify which format your content should take. We chose an infographic because they're a popular format for sharing easy-to-understand content, the timeline nature of Travis's story would be easy to represent graphically, and they're also one of our creative team's specialties. Think about the best vessel for your content, what you're good at, and then let the creative juices flow. Even though it's pandering to your influencer, make sure it's compelling enough to stand alone in case they don't share it. The second takeaway is that you need to invest a lot of time to guarantee a great final product. You're creating personalized content for awesomizers, so it should go without saying that the final product is awesome.
Step 3: Syndicate content
It was the moment of truth. We posted the infographic to Rise Interactive's blog.Then I personally shared the infographic with Travis on Twitter; we didn't tweet this out first ourselves. Exclusivity was part of our strategy; we wanted Travis to be the first to see the infographic and allow him to share it first.
We waited in anticipation. Travis responded to my tweet, thanking us for creating the infographic. He then created a separate tweet and shared it with his Twitter followers, all 129,000 of them.
He then proceeded to embed the full infographic on his blog, along with links to Rise Interactive's blog.
He also tweeted about his new blog post.
Our experiment was a success — Travis was sharing our infographic. Travis found benefit in our efforts as well. We weren't just building an infographic; we were starting to build a brand advocate.
On top of Travis's efforts, our SEO team focused on link building to generate more attention and authority for the infographic by securing links back to Rise's blog.
Key takeaway
Provide your influencer with exclusivity in viewing and sharing your personalized content. Allowing them to create the first surge of the sharing wave will help reinforce that they are an extremely valuable, important part in the process. But don't rely on them for everything — have a two-pronged approach and invest in link building efforts to compliment the awesomizer's reach.
Step 4: Measure results
The last step is to measure the results of all of your efforts. Only the data can tell you how much of a success the experiment was.
Overall, Rise Interactive's blog received approximately 50 links and 12 total linking root domains.* Extra Mustard, one of Sports Illustrated's sister sites, linked to the infographic because of its sports theme, which was a big win because of the high traffic that the site receives. The first week of the infographic being live on our blog, the Rise website received approximately 15,500 referral visits; 98 percent of those visits were new visitors.
Aside from the spike in website traffic to Rise's website, we converted Travis Wright into a brand advocate. He loved the infographic we created for him, and happily shared it among his vast social network. It was truly a win-win scenario for both Travis Wright and Rise Interactive.
*It's important to note how we arrived at these numbers: We looked at multiple different sources (Moz, GWT, BWT, and Majestic) and de-duplicated link data from each source to arrive at a final number of links and linking root domains.
Key takeaway
Make sure that you have analytics in place to track the success of your initiative. While it was a great accomplishment that Travis shared the infographic with his social followers, we needed to have more objective ways to measure success. Only data can truly show you how successful any digital marketing investment really is, so make sure you have an analytically driven, data focused reporting strategy in place to define what success really looks like.
Conclusion
Ultimately, there are two significant takeaways we can gather from all of this. The first is that in our experience, developing personalized content for social awesomizers is an effective way to enchant influencers, convert them into brand advocates and elevate a brand's digital presence. The second is that involving multiple channels and uniting them with one common goal can lead to some innovative strategies and awesome results. Rise's creative, SEO, social, and event marketing teams all worked together on this project and accomplished more than any single channel could have accomplished alone.
Great case study of taking a tactic like an infographic that people often try to game by only thinking about how to benefit themselves by getting links, and demonstrating how it's supposed to be used creating win-win scenarios that get links in the process.
Great case history, one to share as successful example of "relationship marketing".
And showing how working focusing on creating content that will like to a targeted person influencing our audience is a wonderful alternative (and effective) to always trying to create something that will please a wider target.
Your case is an example of what Richard Baxter wrote last week about really targeted outreach (or I suggested in my webinar on Moz last February. Or check the Slideshare - final slides - in the Moz post.)
Thanks for sharing the other articles. I definitely agree with Richard that there is huge opportunity in analyzing content from influencers in Twitter. I also went over your slides and love the idea of leveraging the brand of influencers through curated content.
I've always thought of social outreach as one strategy and then content creation as a totally separate category. Creating unique content and then sharing. I think it is a great idea to combine and actually create content that will be useful and beneficial to the social influencer. Great tips - thanks for sharing!
Thanks Vicky! Convergence is happening across all channels, which is why an integrated strategy is so important to success.
This post really triggered cells in my brain making me realize that getting creative is a key element to being successful on social media. Rise is a role model company that every company should work to be like. Their team oriented atmosphere is amazing. Thank you for sharing this awesome insight.
Thanks for the kind words about Rise! We truely appreciate our advocates.
Wow, good spent a few minutes, thanks for sharing!
Thanks!
Once again its going out of your way to make something great for someone that leaves a long lasting impression. #classic #itworks
Appreciate post!
Really an awesome case study. Will try with perform this experiment. Perfect "relationship marketing".
You are awesome Jon! Thanks for the guidance. I jumped to followerwonk to identify my awesomizers already:)
Excellent case study, Jon. Building links takes time and is a strategy in and of itself, but it's worth the effort. Interesting to see how this targeted outreach ended up multiplying links through Travis' blog.
Many thanks for sharing
Have you or would you actually use the word 'Awesomizer' in a client meeting to get their buy-in to invest in this type of strategy? Thinking about the clients I work with, if I ever used the word 'Awesomizer' in a client meeting I would laughed out of the conference room. In my experience, this is not how marketing professionals talk or conceptually present strategies.
Travis, our influencer in this case, goes by the title 'Social Media Awesomizer' so I have only used the term in this context.
First off, let me just say that 'awesomizer' is a fantastic way to describe someone. Secondly, thanks for the awesome post breaking down how to put together effective and relevant content based around influential topics/people. This is a brilliant example of how extract worthwhile content from a situation in a beneficial way. Great stuff.
Thanks! The credit for 'awesomizer' definitely goes to Travis Wright.
As a tactic this is obviously beneficial, but I suspect executing the plan would be exponentially more difficult if your business isn't in the marketing or digital space.
What the audience is passionate about here is football, not marketing. The key is to find that connection between influencer, his audience and your product/blog/site. If you put this same infographic on a gardening blog I doubt it would have the same effect; it just doesn't fit. It's far easier to shoehorn an idea into a digital marketing site than it is to almost anything else. Useful all the same.
Great actionable content, and as a Chiefs fan, I am hearing the "Tomahawk Chop" in the background :)
Interesting case study! It's amazing what can happen these days with just a tweet. :-)
Calling it just a tweet doesn't really do this justice. An authority was identified, timing was right, content was created, some thought was given to the delivery and the authority was contacted. It looks like an extraordinary amount of work but appears to have a great return. I really enjoyed this post, it opened up a new line of thinking. Nice work.
Real good case study!
Strategy of relationship marketing done with creativity proves out to be great way to reach your new target audience.
Thanks for sharing a great study, I look forward to implementing some of you tricks for relationship marketing and social networks.
haha nice term. social awesomizers.
I was looking for information on this topic for a long time and here I find many posts with very interesting and didactic content, many thanks go on like this
Great case study and history. I also have the same opinion with Richard that there is massive prospect in analyzing content from influences in Twitter.
Thanks for awesome guidance.
Thanks for the post...really insightful!
In a sense, I think this is related to the political theory that you punch up. In politics, you attack candidates who are threats to you, poll higher than you, etc.
In social media, you reach out to influencers and people who have more weight than you and who can give you a legitimate boost.
It's not a perfect analogy, but its the type of tactic that is definitely effective. The only downside is that it takes a non-trivial amount of effort to execute and can have zero positive impact if you're not succesful.
Thanks for the great post Jon!! Great efforts !! Good to see that how social media is helpful nowadays for building up a brand. Your post has cleared that social media nowadays playing a vital role and it can be used in any way if you really want to take your business to the top. Thanks for sharing.. Insightful post!!
Thanks for the post! It's amazing at how much social media is used in the business world today.
Over Twitter, if you have good relationship other followers then your content easily viral otherwise it take time to build your image and then people start sharing it. I also experienced over Twitter, First I build relationship and sharing good quality content then other followers following me and share my content also.
In this case its more of credibility factor then building relationships :)
Hello Morris,
Now I am brainstorming to influence you after reading your AWESOME post. Now it is very clear that Social Media has become an integral part of our life, it has the capability to make something/someone successful in the same manner it may ruin. Every personalized item has a unique charm whether it is goods, website or whatever. Thanks for making me aware for the CONTENT too.
I can be influenced with anything soccer related! I'm glad you enjoyed the post and that it got you thinking.
So you identified this influencer at your conference, but where else would you recommend a company look to find these people in the different industries?
In this instance, I met the influencer at a conference and after realizing how 'awesome' he was, I invited him to speak at our Internet Marketing Leadership Series. After seeing him speak twice and connecting on social media, we began developing relevant personalized content. So, I think it first starts with recognizing who may be a key influencer in your particular industry. Maybe start with industry blogs, trade magazines, events or other relevant sources. Once identified, check them out on social, look at who they follow, who follows them, and you will learn who has a powerful voice in the space. Read the content they're sharing to understand their interests (ie KC Chiefs) and then you'll know how to connect with them and what kind of content to create to get them engaged.
Nice post. There are a couple of points in here that were the most important for this success in my opinion:
"We were proud of what we developed" - creating something that you are proud of is important, as if you are proud of it, chances are that it is good. If you are proud of it then you're also more likely to be unashamed and more forceful in promoting it. We've all seen examples of awful infographics in the past. If I was having to contact blogger/site owners/thought leaders, telling them that I've put together an infographic that they might be interested in and asking them to take a look, and I was embarrassed of the quality of the infographic, there's no way I'm going to be as persuasive or as persistent in as if I was truly proud of it.
Secondly, I think the ego factor was very important here. The fact that someone had taken the time to produce something directly about this one person, largely siding with their viewpoint was surely a huge benefit and would have been pretty hard for Travis Wright to ignore once he had taken a look at it.
Thank you. We were proud of what we developed and hoped that our awesomizer would be too (and turns out he was!)
Awesome tip to influence your awesomizer, Jon! I think it is the practical way of link earning & relationship building with real & valuable people. The key point is; your traffic would increase beyond imagination. But be ready for the hard work that will take the heck out of you.
Thanks for the comment. The hard work is what creates a differentiator between you and your competition. We always want to find great opportunities that are difficult.
Yours is not only hard work; it is working hard in a creative way!
Undoubtedly, amazing experiment. It shows how effectively you can make use of such influencing people for your brand as your ambassdors and that too, without paying them. :)
This strategy can be extremely effective, but it requires a decent amount of time to execute properly.
This post REALLY demonstrates the power social media can have. Even a single tweet of an infographic can be a game changer for sharing content. Great post @JonMorris!!!
#Thanks
This reminds me a bit of a musical artist that shares someone's rendition of their work that they created in their bedroom or basement. I see this all the time. All of a sudden...poof! This is great evidence to prove case and point. Great work.
At first I was not sure where this comment was going...but thank you
@Jon: great post though analysis would be complete only if we can know the input efforts to make that inforgraphic which will reflect ROI in a better way. Also did you guys measure the benefits of turning Travis into a brand advocate?
It is hard to measure, but we have done a great job of building a strong relationship with him. We now talk regularly and I consider him a friend. If done right, this is definitely a door to building a relationship with your "Awesomizer".
hmm... Jon would you also give an idea of how much effort had gone into making that infographic. I ask this since convincing the top management for such an initiative is tough.
"Allowing them to create the first surge of the sharing wave will help reinforce that they are an extremely valuable, important part in the process."
I think that's a great idea. When you're taking a risk why not give them awesomizer the chance to give it the once over before you just throw it out there? They might love it, they might hate it. But either way it's going to get them talking!
As a sports fan, the case study was really interesting (although I felt like Travis took a little too much credit for the end result) and I found the approach to connecting with him really inspiring. That infographic must've taken hours and hours and its success depended completely on ONE tweet at Travis Wright. That's some impressive risk-taking right there. Love it!
I've always told my clients and staff, "if it's difficult that means your competitors are probably not doing it." In this case maybe we can substitute risky.
good idea！
Thanks!
Really an awesome case study seen here.