How to Create A No-Cost Influencer Marketing Program 🚀

An influencer is someone who has developed trust and engagement with their audience. Their value to a brand isn’t solely about the number of followers they have, so you should never overlook the power of nano- and micro-influencers with small but mighty communities. Someone with only 500 followers can be a powerful influencer if their community is highly engaged with their niche content.

Influencers can be Instagram creators or YouTube stars, but they can also be bloggers, podcasters, or people with engaged email lists or membership communities. For business-to-business (B2B) brands, an influencer could be someone with a highly active Facebook group or LinkedIn presence.

By following this four-step process of research, content creation, outreach, and ongoing engagement, you can build authentic influencer relationships that expand your reach and credibility without spending a dime on paid sponsorships.

Step 1: Research 🕵🏻

Start by asking your own community who they find valuable in your niche or industry. Post questions on LinkedIn, Facebook, X/Twitter, and other social networks to gather names, asking your followers to tell you who their favorite experts are in the comments!

You can also search for relevant job titles and keywords and look for people who post frequently and get high engagement and comments. Focus on the relevance and value of their content, not vanity metrics.

Make a spreadsheet of 25–35 well-known experts and up-and-coming voices in your industry. Rank them based on their overall engagement, posting consistency, and resonance with your brand.

Step 2: Content Development 🧑🏻‍💻

Create a blog post featuring your top 15–25 influencers. Use an engaging title like "25 AI Experts to Follow in 2024." For each influencer, include their headshot, name, company, title, and a short description (50–100 words) of why you chose them.

Add screenshots and links to 1–2 of their best LinkedIn posts, articles, videos, or podcast episodes. These examples prove their expertise and give your audience a preview of their content. Be sure to include a variety of content types and perspectives.

Next, create custom images featuring each influencer's headshot and info about being featured in your list. These "social cards" can be easily made in Canva. They should include your company branding and the list's name (e.g., "Jane Smith, Top 25 AI Experts to Follow in 2024, Presented by [Your Company]"). The influencers can share these eye-catching cards on social media to inform their followers about the recognition.

Step 3: Outreach 👥

Email each featured influencer individually to let them know they made your list. If you don't have their email address, send them a friendly LinkedIn message explaining the good news and asking for the best email to reach them.

In the email, explain why you chose to feature them and highlight a few of the other awesome people on the list. Make them feel special! Include a pre-written social media post with their social card and a link to your blog post they can share, something like: "I'm excited to be recognized as one of the Top 25 Social Experts to Follow in 2024, along with other industry leaders like @otherexpert and @coolperson.

Step 4: Deepening Relationships 👩🏼‍❤️‍👨🏻

Continue developing creative ways to collaborate with your influencers and help them build their authority and personal brands. As you develop stronger relationships, some may even help promote your company's events, products, or offerings. 

Here are 5 ideas to get you started:

• Comment on and share their content. 

• Introduce them to each other. 

• Invite them to contribute a quote to an eBook, be a guest on your podcast, or write for your blog. 

• Profile a different influencer each month in your email newsletter.

• You can also ask your influencer community for their predictions on industry trends or timely responses to breaking news and use their quotes to create more round-up content.

Q&A

• So, are you ready to harness the power of using influencers for your business?

• Do you have any pain points I can help you with smoothing out?

• What do you think you could utilize if you had an influencer and how would it impact your business?

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help you:

1. Book a {10 MINUTE} Business Power Call with me, to arrange working together to make your social media videos stand out online as I tweak your approach, and analyse how to improve your current video, business strategy or marketing.

2. Don’t have time to create great videos yourself? Focus on your business, whilst we focus on creating the videos that you’ve always dreamed of. Get in touch to find out more.

Until next Friday, love to you all!

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