There is a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to blogging. In addition to creating tutorials and writing posts about other sorts of merriments, I have to put on my marketing hat as part of the . For example, in order to provide many of my giveaways, I make contact in some way with a company or a network to arrange it all. In this case, I would be considered an influencer. On the flip side, there are larger blogs, sites and people who I would love to work with (*cough Felicia Day cough*) someday.
I was pleased to receive a review copy of Influencer Marketing for Dummies so that I could learn more about the process in-depth. This book was written by Kristy Sammis, Cat Lincoln and Stefania Pomponi, with Jenny Ng, Edita Gassmann Rodriguez and Judy Zhou, who are all founders and employees at Clever Girls, an influencer network. I have been a member there for years and have enjoyed the opportunities that I have had to work with them. They do seem to really know their stuff, so I anticipated that this book would be useful.
My favorite experience working as an influencer happened to be through the Clever Girls network. On a separate blog (Super Hot Chica in Training, which has gone into hiatus so I can focus here more and such), I was selected to be part of the Just Sweat Dream Team to help promote the game Just Dance as a method to help people exercise and lose weight. Several bloggers (some included teams of family members) were chosen and we made a series of videos and otherwise chronicled the experience on our sites.
It was a win-win for both sides: I was able to lose 25 pounds that way in a very fun and geeky way and generate a series of blog posts. They got to show that their games could indeed be used to ditch the pounds. You can check out my post on Just Dance for weight loss for some of my tips. These types of collaborations are what the book can help you create.
Lessons You Can Gain From Influencer Marketing for Dummies
Knowing who your audience is will help you create the right program. If you could use only one fact from this book, it’s this:
“Women influence up to 90% percent of purchasing decisions in U.S. households. So, it almost doesn’t make matter what you’re selling — appealing to women simply makes sense.”
As they do clarify right afterward, it doesn’t mean you ignore men or that they are “lesser” somehow. It simply means that if you are trying to get people to buy something, the transaction is likely to have a woman involved in the purchase. Knowing this alone will have you ahead in the game.
I really liked the different sections that went into specifics on how some of the common social media platforms worked and the best ways to utilize them. I am getting into ones like Instagram more and I want to make sure I do it right so that people will want to work with me. What works on Twitter is not necessarily what you need to do on Pinterest, for example. If you are trying to market your business by using influencers, you want to choose the platform that will work the best for your product.
Case Studies Help You See How to Get Results
I also enjoy the different case studies and examples they present. Details are given as to how the campaign was run and why it worked. One that was included was Lay’s Do Us a Flavor, where the company let entrants suggest flavor combinations. The finalist flavors were actually created and people could try them, with one chosen as the winner. There were almost 4 million submissions at the end of the campaign and over a million new fans were gained on social media. Too bad none of my flavors were chosen. Wouldn’t you have liked to try Mexican Chocolate Covered Bacon? Heh.
This book helps me think about how I would want to approach other influencers for possible collaborations and opportunities. I will be writing eBooks soon, so getting it out there so people are aware it exists is key. I also have a wee dream of working with Felicia Day someday in the future. I plan on using this book to help me see if it’s possible to do so someday without looking like too much of an overeager fangirl. 🙂
Have you read Influencer Marketing for Dummies? How has it improved your business?
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
