This is an excerpt from our latest eBook, 4 Steps to Finding Engaged Influencers for Your Mobile Brand. To download the full eBook that features more steps, statistics, and resources, click here.
When it comes to growing a brand on mobile, the best chance for a high ROI can be seen through your organic reach metrics. By engaging advocates, influencers, ambassadors, and brand fans, and getting them to help spread the word, brands have seen unparalleled growth on mobile. This paper will help you identify each strategy – specifically on mobile – and share some tips for how you can identify, find, and ultimately, track/reward your influencers.
Types of Brand Influencers
Industry Influencers: are individuals with social reach and status, along with being well regarded by their peers. They are not necessarily familiar with your brand, and different standards determine these individuals’ influence. Whether it’s web-only or celebrity status, influencers can range from semi-celebrities to individuals with a wide social media or blog following and their reach can cross multiple platforms. They increasingly require a paid arrangement to do business.
Brand Advocates: are the super users and brand fans. They are most likely users of your mobile app, but in some cases they can be brand fans without actually having used your product. They are brand loyalists who engage with the brand because they truly love it and will usually take action if asked. They may or may not have a sphere of influence themselves.
Fans: are similar to brand advocates, but they are less likely to take action if asked. If properly engaged and nurtured, fans can turn into brand advocates. “People essentially grow this memory about your brand, about what you do, and they build up kind of… a positive bank account with you, ” said Moz founder Rand Fishkin. And that’s exactly what a fan has: an affinity for your brand, even if it’s subconscious.
Brand Ambassadors: are momentary influencers that brands can utilize for quick wins in organic traffic to their mobile website or app. Each Brand Ambassador has the potential to form into a longer-term relationship. Look for tools like Influitive, a platform that helps marketers engage and build a community for existing influencers, fans or ambassadors and rewards them for their efforts. The active communities that platforms like Influitive build are invaluable, and they’ve successfully built influencer campaigns for brands such as HP, Box, and Marketo.
Affiliates and Bloggers: are individuals that promote the brand online. They usually write about a specific topic related to your brand and can be incentivized or rewarded directly by the sales they produce or the number of new app installs they get that can be measured through trackable marketing links.
Brand Influencers: are the indviduals driving new users and new business for your app. They are usually successful at making the case for your brand and they are driving the most new users for your app and product.
To learn the remaining 3 steps for finding and identifying engaged influencers, download the full eBook here.