Collaborating with industry thought leaders and influencers is an effective method to increase reach, credibility, and demonstrate your expertise. But what is a thought leader? Two of Forbes contributors describe a thought leader as “one of the foremost authorities in selected areas of specialisation, resulting in its being the go-to individual or organisation for said expertise.” The authors also incorporate a second part to their definition; a thought leader “significantly profits from being recognised as such.” This is important because there are mutual benefits to this collaboration. In this article we will explore strategies and tips to help you engage with thought leaders and influences effectively.
Identifying High-Impact Influencers
Before you start reaching out to influencers, you want to be clear on your goals and values, as this will help you find compatible and like-minded thought leaders and influencers. So it’s important to start with why you want them to attend your events. Once you have your objective in mind, you can start to research relevant influencers on different platforms such as industry events, social media, blogs, podcasts, webinars, publications, industry newsletters and books.
Creating authentic partnerships
You want your relationships with thought-leaders and influencers to be genuine and mutually beneficial. Thought leaders and influencers are interested in like-minded individuals who can share insight, challenge ideas and promote valuable conversations. Afterall, their purpose is to spread awareness or a particular viewpoint on a topic or subject to as many people as possible. So, it’s important that you engage with them in a way that offers value to the relationship.
You could start by engaging with their content. If you find their information genuinely interesting, you will want to comment on their posts and get involved in the conversation by sharing insights. It’s important to express you have a common goal and share your support and initiative. This helps to build rapport, trust, and increases visibility with them.
It’s also important to prioritise your outreach. By doing so, you will have a better focus and can devote time to building the relationship. You can then expand on these relationships as you grow your connections.
Joining industry membership organisations can also give you access to training and networking events, interviews and guest appearances to enable you to build relationships with businesspeople.
Leverage multiple platforms to increase exposure
A successful partnership benefits both sides. Once relationships are established, collaborate with influencers to generate event interest across multiple platforms, leveraging their networks to reach a larger audience. Share exclusive materials like special discounts, giveaways, or early access, and encourage influencers to create engaging content for social media, podcasts, and more. This multi-platform strategy can expand your reach and attract media attention and new partnerships.
Each platform has specific benefits, so it’s important that they are used carefully for its intended purpose. This section is great (KEEP)
- Instagram is good for visuals
- Twitter works best for real-time updates and conversations
- YouTube is good for longer and more informative content
- Podcasts for in depth discussions
- Email marketing is great to promote event information and call to actions
Don’t forget live streaming too, as this can help you reach audiences in real time.
Measuring the ROI of influencer marketing
It’s important to share and promote your results with your thought leader or influencer. This will demonstrate the value of the partnership and provide a benchmark for continuous improvement. You can measure the impact of your collaborations using metrics such as:
- Increased registrations at events
- Engagement on content including traffic
- Engagement rates and conversion
- Leads and sales
- Reviews and reputation
Using this information, you can analyse what worked well and what didn’t. It’s important to know what worked for your collaborators too, so that you can build the feedback into your future work.
You can measure the above using tools such as HubSpot for influencer outreach and Google Analytics for ROI tracking.
Conclusion
Collaborations are not a one-time opportunity, and if you stay connected and check in with your partners, you will be able to continue with successful collaborations and future opportunities. Continuous engagement leads to authentic and high-quality discussions for your events.