Reach everyone online who can help your brand succeed. People are talking online. They're talking about products, services, experiences, and travel; they're sharing their hobbies, hopes, dreams, passions, aspirations, memories, and fascinations, online. Micro-influencer marketing is a process by which we identify all the influencers in your space and engage them on behalf of your brand—upwards of six- to eight-thousand! In some way or another, we have been doing this since 2003. It is the meat and potatoes at Gerris. Micro-influencer marketing is one of the services that sets us apart from other Digital PR firms. Most firms focus only on outreach to A-listers. While this is effective for getting a lot of eyeballs on the initial post, the story is quickly buried due to the high frequency of posts. Micro-Influencer Outreach is a process by which we identify the influencers in your space and activate them on behalf of your brand. Dan Kruegr and Chris Abraham, of Gerris Corp, have been doing this since 2003. It’s our meat and potatoes. As the number of social networking platforms increases, we have found that connecting with influencers is the most powerful way of accessing their entire network, including their social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and even Reddit and SnapChat. And the best way to get heart-felt, passionate, and authentic reviews without paying for them is to simply introduce the passionate to the object of their passion and then give them the unique opportunity and the pathway to go nuts in support of it. Once an influencer receives the baton from us, they tend to actively and aggressively promote their posts across their fans, followers and social networks themselves, meaning that once you have them at their HQ -- their home -- you also have them on all their sundry platforms as well. Long-tail influencer outreach is one of the services that sets us apart from other Digital PR firms. Most firms focus only on outreach to A-listers. While this is effective for getting a lot of eyeballs on the initial post, the story is quickly buried due to the high frequency of posts. We focus on reaching the long-tail. We contact thousands of influencers in your target demographic, and individually interact with everyone who expresses interest. This results in hundreds of positive ratings, reviews, posts, and social media shares about your brand, and algorithms take notice organically boosting your rankings and your SEO rankings on Google. “Many hands make light work.” — John Heywood

1. Micro-Influencer Marketing is
1% Inspiration, 99% Perspiration
XCPD-732 Social, Mobile and Search Marketing
Georgetown University School of Continuing
Professor Shashi Bellamkonda
October 14, 2017, 10:30AM
Studies
Hashtag: #gtmim
Twitter: @chrisabraham
Google+: google.com/+ChrisAbraham
Facebook: facebook.com/chrisabraham
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chrisabraham
Slideshare: http://bit.ly/mimXCPD-732

2. Your Speaker: Chris Abraham
 Principal Consultant
 Avid Blogger/Contributor:
@chrisabraham #gtmim

3. My Personal Digital PR Philosophy
 Find people where they live (and meet them
there even if it’s a forum or message board)
 Explore the long tail micro-influencers (there
are millions of people blogging, sharing, and
posting online – and PR tends to pile on the
same 100 “influentials”)
 “We want you to take 50 million of us as seriously as
you take one reporter from The Wall Street Journal”
 (#83 of the 95 Theses from The Cluetrain Manifesto)
 Spoil everyone (like you would Guy Kawasaki)
 Be grateful (nobody is required to help you)
@chrisabraham #gtmim

4. Why

You Should Reach Past the
Influencer marketing tends to focus on only
identifying and engaging top-25 influential
bloggers
A-List
 Out of those 25, maybe 3 will cover your
story over the course of a campaign
 We collect every influencer who has ever
had a thematic interest in our customers
 We collect them all – all of them – into a
"universe" – a list
 We reach out to each and every one of
them – no fewer than 2,000 but often 5,000
– via email
 But then that’s where the work starts
@chrisabraham #gtmim

5. Why

You Should Reach Past the
The initial blast is akin to speed-dating
A-List
 Most good pitches don’t require a personal
relationship
 Success depends on five things:
 Freshness & quality of the list collected
 Generosity of the “gift” being offered in the
pitch
 The ability of the email to reach the inbox
 The charm & responsiveness of the
responders
 Following up twice after the initial email
outreach
@chrisabraham #gtmim

6. On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog
@chrisabraham #gtmim

7. Campaign Questions
 Goal: what is it you need to do?
 Monitor: what are you looking to find?
 Discover: where are people talking?
 Learn: who are these talking people?
 Collect: what groups do you need?
 Engage: how best to connect?
 Outreach: how best to pitch?
 Analyze: how did you do?
@chrisabraham #gtmim

8. Goals: What Do You Want to Accomplish?
 Build brand awareness?
 Increase community engagement?
 Prospect new brand ambassadors?
 Drive sales, traffic, membership?
 Drive conversation volume?
 Improve organic search?
 Get a feel for your neighborhood?
 Launch a new product, service, investment?
@chrisabraham #gtmim

9. Monitor: Listen/Look Before You Leap
 Google Search is the best tool to get a feel
 When it comes down to it, Google does an amazing job
of giving you a 30,000-foot view of the blogosphere
 Spend some time understanding the space
 It’s not always obvious how people engage with you,
your brand, your space, or your industry. Allow your
community to lead your exploration; do not be willful:
people don’t always use your language
 Include message boards, forums, etc., in your recon
 Try out all the tools: it’s a buyer’s market
 SDL SM2, Radian6, Sysomos, Sprout Social, Lithium
@chrisabraham #gtmim

10. Internet Rule #34: If It Exists There Is Porn of It
@chrisabraham #gtmim

11. Discover: Finding People Where They Live
 Social media is much bigger than Facebook
 There are a multitude of social networks, self-run message
boards, threads deep in reddit, and ad-hoc discussions
everywhere online (Dailymile.com, etc.)
 If it exists, there is blog of it (Rule 34 variant)
 There are more than a billion active blogs worldwide
 Always start with Google
 Influencer discovery
 Traackr – traackr.com
 GroupHigh – grouphigh.com
 Little Bird – getlittlebird.com
 InkyBee – inkybee.com
@chrisabraham #gtmim

12. Discover: Finding People Where They Live
@chrisabraham #gtmim

13. Learn: Do They Want to Be Engaged? And How?
 Blogs (including online journalists, curators,
aggregators, group blogs, and bloggers)
 Can you find their name and email address?
 If contacting them is hard, maybe they don’t want to be
 Look for a “how to engage/pitch” message
 Follow their directions to a T (or don’t engage them at all)
 Forums (including bookmark & link aggregators)
 Engage forum owners directly, don’t jump in there!
 Social Networks (including FB, Twitter, etc.)
 Engage before befriending before pitching
@chrisabraham #gtmim

14. Collect: Demo-, Geo-, Psycho-Graphic Lists
 The A-list/Tier-1 (the crème de la crème of influence)
 Generally professional bloggers and journalists, including the blogs and profiles
of mainstream media platforms, celebrities, high Klout scores, high-traffic blogs,
authors, actors, scientists, pundits, newsmakers, and people with mad followers
 Will blog for free, but only if they’re compelled to (exclusive content, big news,
financial releases, new investment, etc.)
 Never, ever, include A-list bloggers in a bulk email pitch – hand-written only
 Prepare your kid-gloves and your checkbook – find ways to woo them
personally (over lavish meals, inviting them to HQ, or meeting them down at one of
the many conferences they attend)
 Become a persistent “bestie” – either as someone who is a communicator
pitching them good, consistent, and valuable content or, even better, a personal
friend who doesn’t just collect them as a method of access or a sign of prestige
@chrisabraham #gtmim

15. Collect: Demo-, Geo-, Psycho-Graphic Lists
 B-D-List/Tier-2 (the mid-section of the long tail often asks for money)
 While not all B-D-list bloggers lead with an advertising rate sheet, many do
 Most PR campaigns aren’t budgeted for advertising spend so I don’t pay for posts
 Ideally, earned-media is the goal of PR campaigns, so it’s up to you
 Many of the B-D-list bloggers can get you what you need for less than a strong ad buy
 While disclosures are essential everywhere, they’re doubly so for “advertorial” content
 I tend to put any blogger who asks for money into a DNC* list
 Midrange bloggers are easier to access, harder to garner earn media mentions
from, but a worthy investment of time and attention toward a long-term relationship
 People help out their friends, so becoming close may curry favor for earned media pitches
 I generally include B-D-list bloggers in general long-tail bulk email outreach
*Do not contact list
@chrisabraham #gtmim

16. sCollect: Demo-, Geo-, Psycho-Graphic List
 E-Z-List/Tier-3 (the long-tail, including ~1 Billion online micro-influencers)
 While a billion active blogs are well out-of-scope, please remember:
 No matter how obscure your product or service, there’s probably a blog about it
 The original Rule #34 is: “If it exists, there is porn of it;” same for the blogosphere
 Collect email addresses, influencer name, and maybe location only for E-Z-list
 While I might be willing to chase down the contact info of A-D-list bloggers via forms or
hunting them down via LinkedIn or Facebook Messenger, Dailymile mail, or Twitter DMs, I
only engage long-tail micro-influencers if they share their email address gladly
 If bloggers don’t make it easy to contact them, they may not want to be contacted; and, if
you contact someone who doesn’t want to be, there will be serious blowback
 Send everyone in your list a bulk email pitch but be ready to engage in person
 Don’t worry, most people aren’t fanboys – a cold-pitch is fine if your “gift” is generous
@chrisabraham #gtmim

17. Collect: Demo-, Geo-, Psycho-Graphic Lists
@chrisabraham #gtmim

18. Engage: Pitch It Slow and Right Over the Plate
 Tell, don’t sell
 Lead with the news, not the used car
 Pitching is speed dating
 You don’t need to overwrite
 Allow people to be intrigued
 Less is more
 Attention span is limited
 Pre-masticate message into easy-to-understand
pabulum
 Don’t include attachments or inline content
 Don’t BS, brow n nose, lie, or flatter
 "Please don’t say you read and love my blog,
then pitch me on something that I never cover
here" -- Mack Collier
@chrisabraham #gtmim

19. Outreach: The Catch Is the More Important Part
 The informational microsite
 Internally, I call it an SMNR
 Social Media News Release
 The kitchen sink theory
 Don’t limit the SMNR to just the pitch
 Influencers are often libertarian contrarians
 Give a lot to look through – give them options
 Steal me, steal me!
 Optimize content to be copied-and-pasted
 Pre-embed embed codes
 Pre-link and optimize for SEO, etc.
@chrisabraham #gtmim

20. Outreach: The Magic Happens in the Inbox
@chrisabraham #gtmim

21. Outreach: Yet Another Mail Merge
@chrisabraham #gtmim

22. Analyze: It All Comes Down to the Bottom Line
 Track using site analytics tools
 Google Analytics tracking code in the SMNR
 Server-side analytics tools: AWstats, Webalizer
 Track both SMNR & target site
 Track using media mention tools
 I presently use SDL SM2 (Alterian SM2)
 Primary, secondary, tertiary, etc., mentions
 Lots of free and fee-based tools
 Google Analytics is becoming more SM-savvy
 Track using specialized landing pages
 Using affiliate tricks-of-the-trade
@chrisabraham #gtmim

23. Analyze: The Proof Is in the Pudding
133 earned media blog posts, 1,350 Tweets, 40 other
@chrisabraham #gtmim

24. Analyze: The Proof Is in the Pudding
@chrisabraham #gtmim

25. Analyze: The Proof Is in the Pudding
@chrisabraham #gtmim

26. Analyze: The Proof Is in the Pudding
@chrisabraham #gtmim

27. Analyze: The Proof Is in the Pudding
@chrisabraham #gtmim

28. Current Client: Skinny & Co. Coconut Oil
 Currently, Gerris Corp is working on an earned
media campaign for Skinny & Co. coconut oil.
SMNR: skinnyconews.com
 Client is the perfect client for earned media:
 Product is timely and sexy
 Client is generous with all influencers
 No influencer floor
 Beautiful packaging and top-quality product
 Month 1 - 185 product requests, 323 responses, 158
posts
 Month 2 - 122 product requests, 203 responses, 121
posts
 Month 3 - 128 product requests, 183 responses, 156
posts
@chrisabraham #gtmim

29. Current Client: Skinny & Co. Coconut Oil
 As a thank you to all the
bloggers and
influencers, we always
try to give them all some
link love via Gerris and
my personal blog.
 We encourage Skinny &
Co. to thank, engage,
comment, Like, share,
reshare and retweet any
and all earned media
content they discover
and we share.
 While I am far from
perfect, I try to do
anything I can outside of
the product to show
personal appreciation.
@chrisabraham #gtmim

30. Any Questions?
@chrisabraham #gtmim

31. Final Words
“Hugs not horns”
– Chris Abraham
“Be
meet
kind, for everyone you
is fighting a hard battle”
–
(or Plato or
Philo of Alexandria
Ian MacLaren or John Watson)
@chrisabraham #gtmim

32. Contact Me Any Time
This presentation is already up on SlideShare:
http://bit.ly/mimXCPD-732
Email: chris@gerr.is
Mobile: +1 202-352-5051
Twitter: @chrisabraham
Google+: google.com/+ChrisAbraham
Facebook: facebook.com/chrisabraham
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chrisabraham
Blog: chrisabraham.com/blog
@chrisabraham #gtmim