How to Use Content & Influence to Grow Your Business

How to Use Content &
an Influencer Network
to Grow Your Business
@LeeOdden
TopRankMarketing.com

@LeeOdden TopRankMarketing.com
Minne-snowta
Photo: Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune

Photo: Lee Odden
Ah, That’s More Like It!

TopRankMarketing.com
MarketingBlog.com
Integrated Marketing
for B2B & B2C Brands
@LeeOdden
About Lee Odden & TopRank Marketing
OptimizeBook.com

Information Overload
90%
Every 2 Years
Source: IBM A Smarter Planet
@LeeOdden Image: Shutterstock TopRankMarketing.com

Competition is Increasing
Brands Publishing
34% F500
Source: UMass Dartmouth
Consumers Publishing
254 Million Blogs
Source: Tumblr / WordPress
Content
Marketing
Budgets
Social Media
Budgets
58%
Source: CMI / MarketingProfs Source: Advertising Age
58%

Content Shock!

Social Media Shock!

Marketers: Do More With Less

Maybe It’s Time To
Catch A New Wave

Brands Need to Move From
Mechanical to Meaningful
From Spray & Pray to
Building Relationships & Trust

Buyers Trust Experts
Expert Over Branded Content
• 88% Lift in Brand Familiarity
• 50% Lift in Brand Affinity
• 38% Lift in Purchase Intent
85%
Consumers seek out
trusted expert content
when considering a
purchase

Content Marketing Is Social
#1 Content
Marketing Tactic:
Social Media

Social Amplifies Content
Most Effective:
LinkedIn 62%
Twitter 50%
YouTube 48%
Slideshare 45%
Vimeo 40%
Facebook 30%
Pinterest 26%
Instagram 23%
Most Popular:
LinkedIn
Twitter, Facebook

Content Marketing Maturity
Stasis
Focus: status quo
Static
Few resources
Initial experiments
Brand centric
Production
Focus: quantity
Strategy
Process
Creation
“More is Better”
SEO centric
Utility
Focus: quality
Functional, useful
Customer focused
Refined process
Social centric
Storytelling
Focus: experience
Seek to dominate USP
Brand leadership
Optimized buy cycle
Integration
Multi & Omni Channel
Monetization
Focus: ecosystem
Marketing ROI
Content Publishing ROI
Syndication ROI
Services ROI
Scale
SEO Focused Social Networks & Influencers

Image: Shutterstock

“Influence is the swaying of
beliefs, behaviors or actions.”
Sam Fiorella, Author of Influence Marketing
“Influence is not racking up
50,000 Twitter friends.”
Anonymous.
OK, I admit it, it was me.

So, Where’s the Awesome
Wave With Content, Social
Media & Influence?

Content & Influence
INSPIRE ACTION
Content = Influence = Content

4 Essential Content Types
Evergreen
Curated
Repurposed
Co-Created

Co-Created = Participation Marketing
Community Customers Thought Leaders

Opportunity & Hypothesis:
How to Solve Multiple Problems With
Co-Created Influencer Content To
Achieve High Impact Exposure, Grow
Networks with Influencers And Earn
Influence Ourselves?

360 Degrees of Win – Conference eBook
69k Views on SS
6 Months
140 Embeds
Objectives:
Promote the Event
Promote Speakers
Create a Resource for all Marketers
Asked 36 speakers for 1 tip as a preview to their presentation.

Influencer Content: Strategy & Tactics
MarketingProfs B2B Event
Audience: Midsize to large B2B
Marketers
Pain Point: Challenge of boring
in B2B – to stand out
Strategy: Align B2B event with
“Innovation”
Topic: B2B Marketing Innovation
Tactics: Thought Leader eBook,
interviews, blog posts,
social shares, image shares, contest
Featured on SlideShare
40,000 views before event
1,000+ social shares
100 embeds
Generated demand: search,
social
Referred 100+ to event inquiry

Social Media Marketing World 2014
Objectives:
Promote Conference Awareness, Signups, Highlight Speakers/Brands
46,000 Views on SS
1 Month
1,000’s of Shares

Brand Awareness & Affinity
153k Views
Objective: Grow awareness & affinity for Dell Social Media Solutions
Short interviews with 15 social media industry thought leaders

Hub and Spoke - Amplification

Influencer Networks @ Scale
Brand
Topic B Topic C
Topic D
Topic A
Topic E

8 Steps to Co-Created Social Content
1. Define goals
2. Select topics
3. Identify type of content & mix
4. Find, qualify & recruit influencers
5. Plan & co-create content
6. Inspire participation & promotion
7. Performance measurement &
ongoing optimization
8. Continue relationships

What’s Your Hypothesis?

1. Define goals
2. Select topics
4. Find, qualify & recruit influencers

The Essential Goal for Social
Content Isn’t About Fans,
Friends & Followers…
It’s About
Being the Best Answer
For Your Customers
What Is Your Brand
“The Best Answer” For?

Goals for Co-Created Influencer Content
• Create affinity for your brand
• Creates demand, inbound
• Answers buyers’ questions
• Asset to optimize, socialize, publicize
• Creates influencer relationships
• Connect with prospects
• Grows social networks
• Supports marketing strategy
• Provides content to repurpose
• Creates value all around

LinkedIn Sophisticated Marketers Guide
Objectives: Grow affinity for LinkedIn
as a Marketing Solution, Lead Gen
Interviews with 8 marketing industry and LinkedIn
specific thought leaders, plus marketing best
practices tips from LinkedIn marketing staff.
Repurposed interviews & list of experts to blog post.

Pick Your Topics
How do you want to be known, long term?
What does your brand stand for?
What do your customers care about? Sales cycle.
What topics will pull your customers closer to your
brand?

Content Plan: Topics & Tactics
Themed Content Plans call for “content creation, curation,
repurposing and co-creation” throughout the year.
Anchor
Piece
Q1, 2014
Blog Posts
Thought
Leadership
Report
News
Anchor
Piece
Q2, 2014
Blog Posts
Thought
Leadership
Infographic
News
Anchor
Piece
Q3, 2014
Blog Posts
Thought
Leadership
Webinar
News
Anchor
Piece
Q4, 2014
Blog Posts
Contributed
Article
Video
News
Social, SEO, CRO, Monitoring
Topics &
Theme Tracks
Brand
Narrative
Utility
Story
Sales Cycle

Content Plan: Topics & Tactics
Influencer participation can be blended into your content
marketing mix.
Anchor
Piece
Q1, 2014
Influencer
Thought
Leadership
News
Anchor
Piece
Q2, 2014
Blog Posts
News
Anchor
Piece
Q3, 2014
Blog Posts
Thought
Leadership
News
Anchor
Piece
Q4, 2014
Contributed
Article
News
Social, SEO, CRO, Monitoring
Topics &
Theme Tracks
Brand
Narrative
Utility
Story
Sales Cycle
Influencer Influencer
Influencer
Influencer Influencer
Influencer

1. Define goals
2. Select topics
4. Find, qualify & recruit
influencers

Where Do Influencers Come In?
Topical focus - People who are
already authoritative, trusted and
effective for that topic.
Identify which of your content
projects would be a good fit for
co-creation with thought leaders.
- Webinars, eBooks, Interviews,
Lists, Reports, Contests, Media

Where to Find Influencers?
• Influencer discovery tools
• Social Media listening tools
• Your industry participation
• Industry blogs, news, social
• Talk to your sales, public
relations & marketing staff
Start long BEFORE you need
them!

Influencer Discovery Tools

Filter by content type
and date range
Buzzsumo.com – Social Shares & Influencers

Buzzsumo.com – Social Shares & Influencers

Keyhole.co – Event Influencers

Mechanics of Co-Created Content
Goals
Type of content
Influencers to target
Qualify: Topics,
engagement, scores
List: Name, title,
business, social nets
Image: Shutterstock

Organize content
according to your target
topic & influencers
Design, organization =
metaphor or “hook”
Plan social amplification
in advance
Image: Shutterstock

Create several pitch
messages according to
context:
• Email – Direct
• Network - Get introduced
• LinkedIn – InMail
• Twitter – DM
• Facebook - Message
Empathy: Focus on how
this will help them get
what they want
Be credible, create
credibility
Be succinct
Test & refine
Be patient – they’re
busy!

Co-Create Content
With An Influencer,
You Have a Friend for a Day
Help Upcoming Talent
Become Influential,
You’ll Have a Friend for Life
Don’t Just Borrow Influence – Give It!

Some of My Favorite Tools:
LinkedIn
GoogleDocs
Evernote
Most Important Tools:
Empathy, Creativity, Enthusiasm,
Genuine Interest

Inspire Participation & Promotion
• Set expectations
• Give examples: contributions &
success
• Communicate a timeline
• Give advance preview
• Pre-write social shares
• Make it easy to share, embed,
blog

Performance Monitoring, Optimization
Track EVERYTHING
 Research
 Collection
 Creation
 Promotion
 Outcomes
• Social Monitoring
• Web Analytics
• Platform Analytics

Maintain & Enhance Relationships
Connect via social networks (Twitter,
LinkedIn)
Create Twitter lists, Google+ circles,
Paper.li, List.ly for each influencer group
Monitor and share their content, engage
Shortlist them for other projects
Ask for opinions, reviews, advice
Offer opt-in opportunities
Connect in person!

Takeaways
1
2
3
Grow your influencer network BEFORE you
need them
Use content to create value for influencers
to gain influence for yourself
Content is the short term gain, but the
relationships are where the gold is

Thank You!
@LeeOdden
lee@toprankmarketing.com
TopRankBlog.com
OptimizeBook.com
Need Help Developing a Content
Marketing Program? Contact Us:
1-877-872-6628 - @TopRank

How to Use Content & Influence to Grow Your Business

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