B2B buying, the importance of identifying and engaging online influencers to spread the word about your business has grown. But how do you figure out who has influence and how do you engage them to share a positive message? Approaching and cultivating knowledgeable influencers requires a different approach than working with traditional journalists. So, in this interactive session we'll discuss what to look for when seeking online influencers, and which strategies deliver productive engagement and meaningful relationships. Plus, we'll cover suggested metrics for determining the impact of your influencer relations on the bottom line. Bring your challenges and questions to discuss with the group.

1. source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8533266@N04/4457182603/
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2.  What We’re Talking About
 Who We Are
 What Is Influence, And Why Does It
Matter
 Tools of The Trade
 Questions
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3. A marketing technologist and
Digital marketer + practitioner, with
deep strengths in social media
Current Role
 Global Director of Social Media at
PTC
 B2B software, long sales cycle, high
switching costs
Why IR Matters to Me
 People rely more on what analysts
and practitioners say than what we
say
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4. Writer, speaker, B2B social
marketing strategist
 Author of four books on social
media marketing
 Advisor to IBM on digital
marketing for midsize businesses
 Trainer, Profitecture social media
boot camp
Why IR Matters to Me
 It’s a core element of any successful
social media marketing program
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5. Traditional Influencers
Authoritative 3rd parties, community leaders, press, gov’t.
Active
Haters Lovers
Desire to
Influence Critics Enthusiasts
Others
Skeptics Mainstream
Passive
Dismissers Followers
Reject Favor
Brand Engagement
source: Sean Moffitt, BuzzCanuck
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7. •Cupboards Kitchen and Bath •Nest by Tamara
•Details and Design •Sara Baldwin Design
•Gold Notes •Velvet & Linen
•Johnny Grey •Appliance Buyer's Guide
•KitchAnn Style •Appliancist
•Kitchen and Residential Design •Decorating Diva
•Kitchen Clarity •Design Commotion
•Kitchen Design Notes •DIYdiva |
•Kitchen Design Trends •european-kitchen-design.com
•Kitchen Solutions •From the Floors Up
•Kitchen-Exchange •Hooked on Houses
•PamDesigns •John Bridge Tile Forum,
•Susan Palmer Designs Blog •K+BB
•The Blog of Kitchen Designs by Ken Kelly •kbculture
•The Kitchen Designer •Kitchen Design Think Tank
•useful spaces •Modenus, Interior Design Resource
•Stagetecture •Retro Renovation
•Coffee with an Architect •The Granite Gurus
•Life of an Architect •The Steampunk Home
•Living Well in Westchester •Things That Inspire
•Sarah Susanka, FAIA
•Andie Day
•DesignTies
•Mpression Design Blog
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9.  Started blogging 2006
 48,000 daily visitors
 1 million monthly page views
 Covered in Hachette Home, Wedding
Flowers, Adore, Mollie Makes, Family
Circle, Lonny, Canadian House &
Home, Red, InStyle, Easy Living, Your
Home, Real Living, Good
Housekeeping, Homestyle, Brigitte
and La Petit magazines
 And that was just in 2011
 Her book, Decorate, was the #1
interior design book on Amazon for
seven months
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10.  Estimated monthly traffic: 73,000
 Google Indexed pages: 6,560
 Alexis ranking: Top .12%
 Links from 13,195 sites
 40,000 unique monthly visitors
 Avg. post retweeted 129 times
 New York Times citations: 6,510
 Newsletter subscribers: 150,000
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11. Word of Mouth Awareness
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12. Early Warning
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13. Market Wisdom
Advice
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14.  Make it personal
 Treat influencers as you would media
 But remember they aren’t traditional media
 Make your contacts meaningful and positive
 Offer something of value
 Follow through
 Expect to be challenged
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15. • Don’t wait till you’re on fire to engage
• Read, comment, understand
• Reach out with something of value
• Play to ego, interests
• Engage before you pitch
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16. Wrong
Dear <blogger name>:
I'm a big fan of your site, <blog title>, and think you provide a
tremendous value to the construction trade. I would like you
to know about a new site we have just launched...
Right
Dear Susie:
GreenBuildingElements.com is a must-read for us here at
Energy Efficient Solutions. We particularly like your focus on
designing homes with sustainability in mind. I have personally
recommended your Green Building 101 Series to several of my
colleagues as examples of how the process of building green
homes can be fundamentally rethought. As you wrote
recently, "It all starts with the foundation. So let’s start from
the beginning."
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17. Invite them into the club
Offer links or small promotions
Exclusive access
Special events
MODEST discounts, giveaways, trials
Affiliate programs
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18. In B2C market, influencer relations successes
include:
 Molson Beer
 Toro Lawnmowers
 Zarafina Tea
 PBS
 Parents magazine
Goal Turn customers into fans
Tactic Recruit 10 prominent bloggers for access,
trials
Metrics Blog posts, videos, tweets, traffic
Results One video received 320,000 views
6,200 downloads of Facebook app
Many blog entries
Program renewed for second year
Quote “12 months of relationship building, “Since 2002, this annual event has evolved
meetups and feedback gathering has into the cornerstone of SAP's influencer
changed the way we think, act and plan
our communications and events.” programs, now serving as a key event to
-Ken Kaplan, Intel validate SAP's transformational market
strategy.”
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20. sources: http://www.snpros.com/twitter/chrisbrogan ; http://www.snpros.com/twitter/pgillin ; http://www.snpros.com/twitter/abelniak ; http://www.snpros.com/twitter/justinbieber
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23. source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/867_5309
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24. #mpb2b @abelniak and @pgillin 24

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26.  Run the name through Google (sometimes with a company name or one other word that helps
describe them).
 I look at the first page of results. What’s at the top? If it’s a link to a social site, then they are prolific
online. Blog? Ditto.
 I look at them on LinkedIn
 (for NA; Xing or Viadeo for eastern Europe)
 Do they have a lot of connections? Any recommendations?
 I search for them on Twitter.
 Are they there?
 How long?
 What do they tweet about?
 Who follows them, and vice versa?
 If they have a site or a blog, I gauge the traffic to that web property….
 Alexa: http://www.alexa.com/
 Quantcast: http://www.quantcast.com
 URLFan: http://urlfan.com/
 Compete: http://compete.com/
 Popuri.us: http://www.popuri.us/
 If they are on Twitter, I use a few tools to gauge impact, reach, and influence…
 Klout: http://www.klout.com
 Twitalzyer : http://twitalyzer.com/
 Twitter Grader: http://twitter.grader.com/
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27.  Search their name:
 top spot appearances
 ‘owned’ by them
 What are they
talking about?
 Public speaking?
 Content creators?
 Frequency?
source: http://lmgtfy.com/
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28. source: http://lmgtfy.com/
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29.  Followers, following, the ratio
 Age of the account
 Topics
 Size up an account quickly…
 picture
 bio
 recent past tweets
 follower/following counts
 ratio: broadcaster, lurker, or sharer
 how long they’ve been on Twitter
source: http://www.subjectivelyspeaking.net/2010/08/20/why-your-twitter-follower-count-matters-why-your-twitter-follower-count-doesnt-matter/
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30. sources:https://followerwonk.com/analyze/abelniak?op=fl ; http://tweet.grader.com/abelniak
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31.  Twitter Grader
 you’ve already seen a bit
 Twittercounter
 not much for influence, but good data
 Tweetstats
 find out when your influencers are online and
tweeting
 Followerwonk
 more later on Followerwonk
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32.  Number of connections
 Recommendations
 Groups they are in
 Earned ‘expert’ status
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33. sources :http://www.linkedin.com/in/cchapman ; http://www.linkedin.com/in/abelniak
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34.  HootSuite
 Twitter Resource Analyzer
 As seen on OblongPixel
sources: http://www.HootSuite.com (insight tool) ; http://oblongpixel.com/pixelblog/?p=156
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35. sources: http://www.HootSuite.com (insight tool) ; http://oblongpixel.com/pixelblog/?p=156
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36. sources: http://www.Traackr.com
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37. source: http://socmetrics.com/docs/usecases?which=1
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38. source: http://login.radian6.com (behind access wall)
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39. source: http://www.Followerwonk.com
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40. source: http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/online-public-relations/influencer-identification-tools/
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41. sources: http://www.flickr.com/photos/graye/30561751/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/28346908@N08/2640991550/
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42.  Influence
 Is online and offline
 Comprised of different variables
 Influencers
 Aren’t always who you think they are
 Hang out in lots of places
 Are people, too
 Absent context, numbers are just squiggly lines
 The temperature isn’t the weather
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43.  Alan Belniak  Paul Gillin
 @abelniak  @pgillin
 http://www.abelniak.com  http://gillin.com/blog/
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