Brands hound influencers to take a look at their product, meet with an executive to learn more about the company, and then hopefully write about the company.
What’s odd is this “pay attention to me first”-style engagement is considered “normal” corporate communications. Yet, this is not how we behave in normal human-to-human relations. Flip this broken relationship between influencers and brands and demonstrate true interest in the influencer first.
We’ve found the best way to express your interest is to produce content featuring the influencer. Interview them, profile them, and then publish their wisdom for everyone to see. This takes a lot of work, and the influencer will be very impressed you took the effort to make them look good. It’s an excellent technique to establish or strengthen a relationship and as such they’ll be far more receptive to a pitch about your business.
Creative Commons photo attributions to Dickson Phua and Thomas Hawk.
