Content Marketing Strategies For Dummies

Chapter 18

Working with Influencers

In This Chapter

Examining the changing role of influencers

Measuring the value of influencers

Looking at influencer types

In today’s marketplace, many types of people make up the constellation of customer influencers. Sometimes a family friend can supersede any referral made by your hand-picked celebrity. It’s important to know your audience and understand what really matters to them. The key to using influence is putting the customer at the center of your content-marketing efforts.

In this chapter, you look at how content marketers can harness the role of influencers to satisfy a customer’s greatest needs and make their brand indispensable. You examine both the accepted industry expert and the influencer whose word of mouth (WOM) recommendations drive conversions.

Discovering the Evolving Role of Influencers

First, what is social influence is? Pam Dyer, host of the Pamorama.net blog (see Figure 18-1) and one of the Forbes Top 20 Women Social Media Influencers, defines social influence as the following:

Social influence occurs when a person’s thoughts, feelings, or actions are affected by others. Essentially, influence is the art of persuasion ...