I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: getting referral traffic ranks up there as some of the warmest traffic you can get. That’s because you have a trusted person in your niche who’s telling others to come to your site. When this recommendation comes from a well-respected person, you can bet the traffic is going to come stampeding to your virtual front door.
Now, there are a few different ways you can get this traffic, including:
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- Starting a referral program, where customers refer their friends.
- Creating an affiliate program, where other marketers recommend your products in exchange for a commission.
- Distributing viral content so that members of your audience share this content with their friends.
We’ve talked about (and will be talking about) some of these strategies elsewhere in these newsletter issues. For this issue, however, I wanted to focus on one particular method: finding influencers and getting them involved in sharing your content and promoting your site.
An influencer isn’t necessarily another marketer in your niche, though it can be. Sometimes an influencer is someone within the niche community who seems to have a lot of respect and a lot of “pull” in a specific corner of the community, such as a blog or social media page. In other words, this person may be either a member of your audience or a fellow marketer.
For this particular lesson, we’re going to focus on the influencers who are actual members of the community (i.e., they’re prospects more than they are marketers). If you find a few marketers using this strategy, that’s perfectly fine. Just know that you’re not necessarily looking for marketers.
NOTE: Elsewhere you’ll learn influencers who are marketers, and how you can recruit them as joint venture partners and affiliates.
So, let’s take a look at how to find, identify and recruit these influencers….
Step 1: Identify Influencers
Before you can go in search of influencers, you need to know how to identify them. Basically, these are the people in your niche who are well respected on forums, Facebook groups, and blog communities.
Here’s how to recognize these folks:
- They may own the platform. This could be a niche blog, forum, Facebook group, page with a large following, or other social media community. Owning a platform isn’t a requirement, but owners tend to have the most influence.
- They may be respected members of someone else’s community. Generally, these are folks who’ve been members of a community for a long time (at least a year, but often three, five or even ten years or more).
- They may have a large following. If you find them on a social media platform – such as Twitter — they often have a large network of followers. When they post, they get a lot of likes, shares and comments.
- The influencer is often the first to talk about/share a new product, a new strategy or even breaking news. The influencer enjoys being the first to know about trends and news items in the community.
- The influencer is usually aware of their position in the community. This means they tend to be particular about what they promote (even if they’re not affiliates).
That should give you a pretty good idea of what an influencer looks like. Now let’s go find them…
Step 2: Search for Influencers
You may already have a list of names in mind of people you know to be influencers (such as people whose blogs or social media posts you already follow, or influential people who visit your platforms). Write those names down, and then expand your list using the following steps:
Search Social Media
Check the top social media platforms (such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter) to uncover the biggest and most active groups and Pages. Take note of the people who own each group or Page, as well as people who seem to get a lot of respect within the community.
TIP: Facebook offers “badges” to top Page fans on their site. Look for people with these badges, as that indicates they’re active in the community.
Next…
Run a Google Search
Your next step is search Google to uncover the top niche blogs, forums and other communities. For example, you can run a search for “dog training forum.” Again, take note of who owns the platform, as well as the established influencers within the community.
Ask Your Audience
Finally, ask your existing audience about the blogs, forums and social media accounts they regularly follow.
In all cases, be sure to research each potential influencer. For example, if they’re in a Facebook group, then research their past posts, visit their personal page and even run their name in Google to be sure the person does indeed have a good reputation.
Then move onto the final step…
Step 3: Recruit Influencers
Now that you’ve identified a variety of influencers, the final step is to recruit them to your team. In other words, you want to encourage them to help spread the word about your content or offers.
If this person works as an affiliate, then you can send out an invitation to them to join your affiliate program. You may even want to give them special perks, such as a higher commission rate than the public gets or special perks for their customers (such as bonuses or discounts).
If this person is influential but doesn’t promote anything with affiliate links, then you’ll need to take a different approach. It’s a good idea to develop a relationship with this person first, as that will make him or her more receptive to any requests you extend.
One good way to bring an influencer onboard is to simply invite them to be a beta user in your business. Remember, many of these influencers are early adapters, so they actually enjoy being the first to know about anything that’s new in the niche. They’ll appreciate having the chance to offer early feedback on products as well as other content (such as lead magnets).
Once an influencer is part of your beta user team, then encourage them to share their reviews of your products and content on their platforms or in other communities they frequent. If you want to reward them for sharing, then you may set up a “perks” program where they get points for sharing that they can exchange for things like gift cards or products. (See PerkZilla.com for an app that automates this process.)
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Conclusion
While creating an affiliate program and/or a customer referral program are good ways to generate viral/referral traffic, don’t overlook the other influencers in your niche. Invite them to become a beta user, and be sure they always have your latest content and offers so they can share information about them on their platforms.
Speaking of offers, let’s turn our attention towards creating high-quality products with very little work. Take a look…
Keep Reading: How to Quickly Create a High-Quality Product – Without Writing It Yourself
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