How To Use Influencers To Grow Your WordPress Membership Website

Growing a membership business can take a lot of work, especially in the marketing department. Promotion, especially for a newer online business, can be a challenge. But, luckily there are businesses and individuals out there on the internet that can help your business reach even larger audiences.

In this post, we are going to show you how to take advantage of influencer marketing to grow your online business!

What Is An Influencer And What Do They Do?

An influencer is someone who has a large, engaging, following, typically in a specific niche, who can easily influence their followers to make specific purchases due to their authority and relationship with their fans.

Their job is to ensure that their fans are made aware of what you have to offer and convince them that they should do business with you. It's a more modern and sometimes costly approach to word-of-mouth marketing.

How Do You Get Started With Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing does not have to be difficult, as long as you start off with a few basic steps:

1. Determine your goals – Without a clear goal in mind, your influencer marketing campaign is sure to fall flat. Do you want to promote a specific product or service? Do you have a sale running? Are you simply seeking visibility? Ask yourself these questions to help you better determine your goals.
2. Pinpoint your target market – Your target market determines the type of influencers you will use to promote your membership website. What sense does it make to have a membership site for new moms, yet use influencers with a much older audience?
3. Decide how you are going to compensate your influencers – Next, figure out how you are going to pay your influencers – they have to make a living too Depending on who you work with, some influencers are willing to accept free or discounted products or services in exchange for promotion; However, other influencers may ask for monetary compensation. It is up to you to decide what you can handle because this will help to determine what influencers you can work with.

Qualities Of A Stellar Influencer

Influencer-based marketing strategies do not always have to involve celebrity endorsements. Here are four signs to look for in a solid influencer.

• Consistency – A solid, reliable individual who shows consistency is always a great sign. You don't want to use a social media influencer who is never on social media!
• Established trust – Does your influencer's audience trust them and have a good relationship with them? Sometimes lots of followers don't always equate trustworthiness.
• Sponsored vs non-sponsored content – If you notice that the influencer posts nothing but sponsored content and never anything genuine that is just them, run!
• Values – Does the influencer's values fall in line with the same values as you and your company?

How Do You Find Influencers?

Finding the proper people to promote your subscription business online requires some elbow grease, but it doesn't have to be difficult! Here are a few ways to find the right individuals to work with.

• Do your research – This is the first and most important step! Now that you know your target market and what exactly it is that you want to promote, research influencers that fall into that niche. You can research this by referencing your inner circle and seeing if they know or follow anyone in that genre. Another way to research is to go on social media and research hashtags relevant to your membership site's industry and paying attention to engagement and followers, you will be able to easily narrow down the people you should talk to.
• Know how to communicate – Most influencers will have their business email in their bio, especially on Twitter and Instagram. Be sure to respect their business and contact them the way they prefer. If you ignore their wishes and send them a direct message, they may either never see your message(because influencers get a TON of messages all the time) or they may ignore it because that isn't how they prefer to do business.
• Generate a flawless pitch – Once you have picked the influencers you'd like to work with, it is now time to create a pitch that will make them jump at the chance to work with you. Your pitch should be personal, genuine, and straight to the point. You want to draw the person or business in so that they can believe in your business and what you are doing so they will be willing to work with you.
• Constantly communicate – They said yes – wonderful! However, this means that your communication with the influencer should be even more frequent. Ensure that everyone is clear on what is to be promoted, what the goals are, and what everyone needs in order for this marketing campaign to be a success.

What Do I Do After The Campaign Is Over?

They way you handle things after the campaign is over is just as important as how you start. Your actions afterwards can determine if you get to work with these individuals again.

• Thank them – The first thing you want to do is thank the influencer for participating in your campaign. No matter the outcome of that campaign, they still did a service for you. Acknowledge their work and thank them for that.
• Analyze Your Goals – Remember those goals you laid out earlier? Now is the time to revisit them and see if you reached those goals. If you did, excellent, you know what to do again. If not, that's okay too – learn from what you did this time and grow from it for another time, or be brave enough to try something new.
• Track sales and traffic – If you haven't already, be sure to go back and see how much website traffic you received that came from your influencer. Also, look at the number of sales you got. This can be tracked with your analytic software, as well as the use of the unique promo code you gave to your influencer to share with their audience.

If you are an online business, you understand how important influencers can be to your business. However, if you do not lay the groundwork and truly seek out genuine, effective influencers, your marketing strategy will not be successful. We hope that these tips will help you work towards a successful influencer marketing strategy for your business.

Have you ever worked with influencers? Tell us about your experience in the comments!

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Jessica Starks

Jessica is a creative entrepreneur and professional writer who strives to use her talents to both entertain and educate. In her spare time, she loves reading, writing, genealogy, and spending time with her family.

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