C2C15: Leveraging Influencers For Credible, Valuable Content

Nearly all (90%) of B2B companies are using content marketing, and 82% of senior executives say content is driving their buying decisions. Demand is high, not for more content, but for more meaningful content. Meaningful content is obtainable through partnering with influential people in the industry, according to Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, during his session at the B2B Content2Conversion Conference.

"Buyers are overwhelmed by the amount of content out there, and content marketers are looking for new ways to create this meaningful content in a way that is valuable to their prospects," Odden added."Influencers can help bring value to your content that resonates with your target audience."

Here are some key takeaways from Odden’s session:

Customer-Centricity Is Key

"Be the best answer for the questions your target audience has,” Odden said. “Understand their needs, then begin identifying influencers that can help you answers those questions the target audience has."

Identify, Qualify & Recruit

"Influencer programs start with specific goals for a specific audience,” according to Odden. “Then companies can identify and qualify influencers that can help them reach these goals. I recommend using two or three tools to help identify qualified influencers for specific areas of the market that you want to target."

Odden added: "There is a popular saying when it comes to recruiting influencers: Work with an influencer, they're your friend for a day. Help someone become influential and they're a friend for life."

"Inspire co-creation; create value for the influencers, as well as creating value for yourself and your target audience."

Influencer Engagement

"There are several tactics companies can take to engage influencers, without coming off as stalkers. This can include retweeting their content on Twitter, commenting on their blog posts and having conversations with them on the topics they cover."

Odden also highlighted six steps to creating awesome B2B Influencer content:

  1. Setup program goals;
  2. Identify, Qualify & Recruit;
  3. Content co-creation;
  4. Content amplification;
  5. Influencer content performance; and
  6. Building valuable influencer relationships.
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