4 Ways Online Influencers Can Build Your Business

John Follett

Influencer-based marketing has become a go-to online marketing strategy and is essentially one of many marketing tools to grow your business. Influencers benefit your business in a plethora of ways – improve its reputation, boost the visibility of your content, generate additional inbound links and increase web traffic and conversion rates. You can unleash a lot of power with a relatively small amount of work. Here are four specific ways influencers can help significantly build your business:

1. Share Your Content

This is very straightforward, and one of the simplest influencer marketing strategies you can implement. It is also quite effective. Don’t shy away from asking an influencer for help. In actuality, you can help your influencer too. Make sure you get to know an influencer before asking for a favor. Always double check the quality of your content to ensure it’s worth their time and effort to share it.

2. Contribute On Your Blog

This is an excellent strategy for influencers who have written on a variety of authoritative sources and built a name for themselves. Guest bloggers often look for the opportunity to publish an article on a new place to strengthen their network and visibility.

It’s typically easy to find an influencer and often simple to persuade him or her to write a post for your blog. Highlight that your influencer will get new audience exposure and diversity from posting on your blog. You will benefit as you tap into a new audience when the influencer spreads the word of the published article with his or her followers. If all goes well, you can make the relationship a regular occurrence.

3. Post A Testimonial

If you are looking to increase the credibility of your product or service quickly, ask your influencer for a testimonial. This is one of many ways to attract more new business. There are several types of testimonials, each with their own type of value. Video testimonials tend to be shared more quickly while written testimonials tend to be easier to distribute. Both offer SEO benefits.

To maximize your influencer’s testimonial, place it on your own site to gain authority. It’s also smart to post it offsite on your influencer’s blog to generate external links and new traffic.

To request a testimonial, consider sending a free sample of your product for him or her to try with an express invitation for him or her to post about the results.

4. Drive Conversations About Your Brand

This is one of several big business growth strategies your small business can use. Instead of honing in exclusively on swapping content, you can reap the benefits of influencer marketing by having online discussions. Platforms that allow for this are social media platforms, specifically Twitter and LinkedIn.

Twitter allows users to jump in and voice your opinion easily. There may be times when you don’t get noticed, but if you can keep a conversation going with your target influencers, you can get some big attention for your brand and may end up viewed as an authoritative presence in your industry.

Whether you are a Fortune 500 company, a small startup or somewhere in between, brand building is the path to success. Influencers can help your business – they act as a trusted voice that communicates to an audience who already has faith in them. This effective and organic exposure is exactly what any business would hope to receive.

How have you leveraged the power of social media and influencers to build your business?

 

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources and business news. Megan has several years of experience on the topics of small business marketing, copywriting, SEO, online conversions and social media. Megan spends much of her time establishing new relationships for ChamberofCommerce.com, publishing weekly newsletters educating small business on the importance of web presence, and contributing to a number of publications on the web. Megan can be reached at megan@chamberofcommerce.com.