How To Get Traffic From Influencers

On LinkedIn

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Introduction

LinkedIn is one of the largest social media platforms used byprofessionals with an estimated 467 million userbase. Therefore, it makes a great site for driving traffic to your website when used for marketing purposes.

One of the best ways to do this is through Influencers, these are professionals with huge following on the network and are able to post your content on their platform for the audience to see.Statistics show that LinkedIn generates more hits to corporate sites than any other social-media application in existence today.

Typically, influencers can be anyone from high-profile executives, prominent businessmen, news media personalities, musicians and so forth. When you post smart comments that encourage useful discussions on the content found on these individuals’ platforms, your brand/company will ultimately enjoy greater visibility from a wider network of potential clients. The content distributed by these people usually reaches millions of people at a go.

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LinkedIn marketing is a more discreet way of advertising comparedto other traditional forms such as billboards, or TV and radio ads. This is because the information shared on an influencer’s dashboard is likely to reach only the target audience, and not just anybody else.

As the platform continues to grow, professionals are learning the importance of reaching a large online audience, not just forthemselves but also other marketers interested in their outreach services.

If a popular person shares something on his/her profile page, the message shall be read by interested followers and if foundcaptivating again shared down the line to reach other people. The good thing is that this can be done within a very short periodof time, possibly making your content to go viral if it’s exciting enough.

This networking platform has huge potential for brand marketers when used correctly. Below are some ways you can get LinkedIn influencers to boost your online presence:

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1. Define what type of influencers you want

The decision to choose a preferred professional depends on the kind of product or service being marketed. For instance, if you want to promote a new clothing line then it would only beappropriate to get assistance from established fashion industrygurus, not just any other popular person. However, there are some influencers that cut across different audiences, such as sportsmen or musicians, and they can be useful in reaching diverse target groups.

Nevertheless, be wary that a LinkedIn professional is not simply defined by the number of followers they have. It’s also important to do your own research about them to know whether these followers are real or generic.

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Nowadays, there are some users that employ shady tactics togenerate fake followings on their account. This usually results in profiles with huge numbers of people, but very little engagement to go by.

2. Find The InfluencersWith so many professionals signed to the networking platform, sometimes it can be difficult to pinpoint one that will carry all your marketing aspirations. Even so, there are online tools such as Traacks that can make this process simple.

You can use them to find top influencers in certain niche areas based on factors like their audience reach, relevance to your brand and general resonance.

BuzzStream is yet another effective tool that can be used to connect with influencers.

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BuzzStream Image

It has an interactive and simple-to-use interface, whereby you can reach out to professionals by simply pointing and clicking on their respective profiles. Other similar tools include;

Image of the folowing

Inkybee,

Hunter.io,

BuzzSumo,

Followerwonk and

Ninja Outreach.

After identifying the appropriate personalities, these tools can help you make preliminary contact and start building working relationship with the experts onLinkedIn.

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Nonetheless, it’s still crucial to research the person before makingany contact. Some individuals may be popular but also havecertain flaws like erratic behavior that may badly influence on your brand. Your content should only be handled by a credible, respectable source to help strengthen brand reputation.

Additionally, pay attention not just to the amount of followers a person has, but also live responses and discussions that they are able to generate on their posts. These are key indicators forproviding a solid perspective into how many active fans anInfluencer has.

There are various other aspects to consider, such as the tone in which they address the readers/viewers. Depending on yourparticular niche, it’s good to get someone who can talk in mannerthat’s likely to get audiences to take action, or perhaps evencapture the interest of an industry insider who can be useful in building more contacts.

Another factor to take heed of when identifying potentialinfluencers is what kind of market reach you are look-ing for. Is the goal to drive traffic to a website/blog, or is it strengthening social media presence? This totally depends on what you think would be best for promoting the brand.

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3. Make Contact With ThemBefore writing anything to the LinkedIn professional or calling them, take time to customize your pitch and conversational tone so that it can be appealing to them. Ideally, get to know the person well before sending them your marketing requests. Check their person-ality to determine whether they are friendly and approachable, or whether you’ll have to work harder to convince them.

LinkedIn is a great tool for connecting with established profession-als in your field. Simply send a request by introducing yourself to them, or even better, try finding common connections and ask for an introduction on your behalf. However, if this is not possible, reach out to them on other social media platforms as a fan, pref-erably sharing posts and replying to their postings with respectful comments. After establishing yourself as a common name, you’ll then be at a better position to request for a promotional favor on LinkedIn.

Some examples of the type of messages that you can send toinfluencers are;

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a) Hi Sharon,

You may not know me but I’d like to interact with you, I have an awesome clothing line that’s taken off for young women.

Can I send you a few photos?

Best regards,

Charlotte

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b) Hi John,

You might not be familiar with me but I often read your articles about challenges that startup companies often face. I was hoping if we could connect since I started a new business and would like to get your assistance.

Thanks in advance and I look forward for your response.

Kindly,

Richard

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4. Create A Content Generation Strategy

To capture the interest of your preferred influencers, the content should be as appealing as possible. Start by formulating a magneticheadline that can attract click-through by its own, without thereader even having to check the remaining content.

Similarly, factors such as contests, free giveaways and video-based content can evoke emotion from the audience, plus they usuallytend to yield positive engagement results. Your message shouldalways be relevant to the content so that it can make sense.

Remember that reaching those clients starts with your influencer. Therefore, if they are continuously reaching a large target group, then chances are that they understand their audience and what kind of content is likely to interest them. Furthermore, pay close attentionto reactions elicited by followers on your content once posted,influencers will be keen in knowing how popular each kind ofcontent they post is with their followers.

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In addition, it would be prudent to actively participate in encouraging readers to view the content, and not just leave all the work to the influencer. You can do this by referring your own friends or colleagues to their LinkedInpage, or linking the post to your other social mediaaccounts.

The concept is quite simple, the more valuable content is out there concerning your brand, the more noticeable it shall become. This translates to more traffic, improved conversion rate and generally more leads.

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5. Your content should be realistic and people-centered

Since the ultimate goal of marketing is converting visitors into clients, it’s only reasonable to construct your marketing plan around them. Focus all efforts on getting to know who they are and how they will potentially react.

It’s also helpful to know which particular influencers they are likely to follow on the networking site, as well as what kind of content they would gladly want to read. This pro-cess may involve checking out popular blogs, websites, articles, or forums to see which influencer they are more attracted to.

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Generally, LinkedIn visitors are more inclined to cherish the opinions of professionals that they hold in high esteem, as opposed to those of 3rd parties who may not hold so much influence over them.

6. Build And Maintain Strong Relations WithInfluencersThis is very important in ensuring that your content will be visible on their platform for a long period of time. When the professional shares your brand to his/her followers, remember to show some gratitude for the favor offered. You can either send a direct message of thanks, public post of acknowledgment for their effort, or even a small gift basket if they are willing to accept.

Through these actions, you’ll also be introducing the professional to your own fan base, which can help in further expanding their own influence and popularity. This is the best way to show appreciation and improve the influencer’s status as a respected person.

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After establishing a good working relationship with them, the next step is nurturing that rapport over the subsequent weeks and months that follow. Occasionally, try to share and interact with their posts but still taking care not to go overboard.

Similarly, take steps such as making them look great on social media, using and buying their services, as well as providing them with mean-ingful introductions to further advance their career. With time, the influencers will be more than willing to recommend or market your brand on their LinkedIn platform as a payback favor.

Building rapport with influencers is a very effective way of reaching your target audience in a manner that’s credible. But with that said, influencer marketing will not give you over-night success and it’s key to be patient.

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7. Continuously Measure Results

There are top online analytics tools that can be helpful in tracking the progress of your LinkedIn content, to see whether influencers are effective in driving traffic to your site or not. The outcome will giveinsight on whether to adjust the marketing efforts or content strategy,so as to reach a wider audience.

Some factors to check are; whether the content is engaging and suitable for viewers, or if it added a significant number of new follow-ers to your social media pages.

Preferably, results should go beyond basic reach andinitiate tangible action from the recipients. This action can be anything from direct click-throughs to your website, or purchases from the online store where you are selling your product.

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If the LinkedIn content includes a special offer for visitors, be sure to designate a particular coupon code that will allow you to track the amount of customers who interacted actively with the campaigns. This shall give you the necessary data to measure the influencercampaign’s ROI.

When measuring results, always remember to give a smallmargin-of-error even if things don’t seem to work your way at the beginning. Influencer marketing is still the most affordable marketing strategy there is today, with brand owners being able to generate returns that are several times bigger than their original investment.

This simply means you have space to experiment and determine what influencer marketing strategy works best for you, even if the initial results weren’t so good. If you are persistent, things will break even at one point or another and the benefits will definitely come.

Likewise, if you succeed in generating enough traffic and sales there would be a bigger budget right at yourdisposal, which opens up more influencer brand-promo-tion possibilities.

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One of the types of traffic that you can generate from influencer marketing is top search engine ranking on Google, this happens when the search engine favors your high-quality organic links that are shared on the influencer’s LinkedIn page.

You can also improve your YouTube subscriber base, especially if the influencer recommends their followers to check out your brand’s online videos.

8. Reward Your Influencers In KindWhile there’s no legal obligation for this action, it’s just a good sign of respect and thankfulness for their efforts. Give them some amount of money that they shall gladly accept as a sign of gratitude, this should be done out of an honest heart and not taken as a form of paid ad.

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You can also give away discounts or commissions for certain services or products that have been sold as a result of their marketing strate-gies, and tell them to keep the change.

SummaryKnowing how to get traffic from influencers on LinkedIn is very crucial when you are planning to market your brand on the platform. The first step is identifying an appropriate professional with the correct kind of following that you can easily benefit from. Thereafter, work on building your relationship with them over time so as to gain their full trust.

As a rule of thumb, never ask influencers to do any favors for you before first building a relationship with them. This way they’ll be more likely to participate in the content creation and marketing efforts, which is very important if you want to capture the interest of their followers.