Influencer Marketing 101: A Rookie's Guide to Forging Relationships with Key Influencers. Non-Fiction Book Proposal

Title. Influencer Marketing 101

Subtitle. A Rookie's Guide to Forging Relationships with Key Influencers: Learn to Swim with the Sharks!

Summary. Influencer marketing and influencer psychology are a relatively new field of knowledge. While other researchers and authors describe the tools and methods of influencer marketing in corporate paradigms, e.g. spreading brand awareness or achieving specific sales objectives, I am focusing on influencer networking and influencer relations management for individuals.

This "rookie's guide" is for new and obscure talents who want to promote themselves by learning "to swim with the sharks" i.e. by exposing themselves to top influencers in their particular field, building relationships with them, and ultimately obtaining some form of endorsement by one or more major achievers or decision-makers.

While keeping in mind that everyone is an influencer, the new influence networker:

• - will learn how to build and operate their influencer network,

------- and how to avoid mistakes and missteps when doing that,

• - will learn about the core differences between the four levels of influence,

------ and about ways to act within each level;

• - will read about the five types of influencer psyche,

------ and will learn how to approach persons belonging to each particular type,

• - will learn how to determine the actual worth, influence-wise, of their influencer network members by applying some social media ratios I specifically devised for this purpose, as well as my patented E.U.F.O.R.I.A. approach (Energy. Utterance. Footprint. Outreach. Resonance. Impression. Awareness),

------- and, in particular, will be disillusioned about some holy cows like the Klout score, but will nevertheless be reassured about their particular if not universal usefulness,

• - will learn how to create content specifically designed and optimized to attract the attention of influencers,

-------- with case studies of sensitive content like humor and sarcasm,

• - will learn how to start interacting with key influencers,

-------- with case studies of stuff that works and stuff that doesn't,

• - will decide whether he/she is ready to invest in a software suite for influencer relations management,

------- with case studies of Traackr and Onalytica,

• - will learn how to act in order to build mutually fruitful and beneficial relationships with key influencers,

--------- with case studies as well, and

• - will learn much more...

-------- ... from research I have done, from facts I have explained, from case studies based on my own experience and practice, and from homework I will be setting every now and then.

Note: For this project, I made up an alter ego, the Metatag Hag, who introduces particular bits of advice in a rather snarky tone in order to lighten up the text and ensure a more enjoyable reading experience. Other reasons for having the author speak in two voices was my intention to create an illusion of dialogue and to counterbalance the seriousness of the topics.

There will also be a pictogram representing the Metatag Hag and introducing her bits of advice.

Demographics: both sexes, age: 21-60+, education: college and higher.

Psychographics: the proverbial "chiropractor who feels he has a novel in him" i.e. talents who feel they have potentially great ideas in their heads but do not want to be lost in a sea of bloggers, Tweeters, social media dwellers, and other "small fish". To continue the line of metaphors, even if the readers see themselves as baby sharks, swimming with the big ones takes some learning and training.

Note: If the readers want to position themselves as key-influencers-in-the-making from the start, and feel they could attract the attention of, and belong with other key influencers due to their talents, this book will come in useful. It will allow the readers to concentrate on honing their skills and building a network of influencers - quickly, efficiently, and without making common or less common mistakes.

It would take years to study archetypal psychology, behaviorism and transactional analysis, to learn to develop behavior tactics function of influencer archetypes, to test influencer platform management software, or to take a course on mathematics applied in economics in order to figure out what the Tweet-to-followee ratio has to do with influencer worth... and to make, rectify, and learn from a bunch of mistakes of their own in lots of dealings with top influencers. The Metatag Hag and I, having studied all of the above and more, will save the readers a lot of legwork with this collection of swimming lessons for baby sharks.

Competitive Analysis.

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything by Al Switzler et al.
Similarity: some psychological concepts taken as basis.
Differences:
- My focus is on contextual rather than personal influence. I also give advice not on becoming a better influencer, but on building relationships with influencers in specific fields where my potential reader wants to become a top achiever.
- While Influencer discusses the individual's power to change the world, I am discussing the individual's power to make their talent noticed by already affirmed talents.
- Influencer is, in some reviewers' opinion, believed to be either a self-help book or a set of theories accompanied by anecdotal case studies. Influencer Marketing 101 is in essence a DIY book with case studies and mistake analysis from my own experience and practice.
- Their set of tools is based on behaviorism and traditional networking. My own tools are rooted in social media marketing, SEO, and archetypal psychology.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Similarities: certain techniques used for relationship-building
- Carnegie is mostly criticized for underestimating assertiveness. Ex.: "Many people will blatantly abuse niceness. The truth is, that in the real world of today, too much kindness is taken as a sign of weakness and those who try to win friends and influence people in the way Carnegie recommends, all too often end up used and abused." While I do not tell my potential readers to turn into complete doormats, I also do not recommend acting boorishly just for the sake of asserting something that is totally irrelevant to the situation. Level 2 influencers - the main target of my potential readers i.e. public personas who interact with large audiences every day - are normally very polite and considerate. So, many of Carnegie's principles, even though considered outdated by some critics, are still applicable in a framework where it is important to present oneself not only as a talent, but as a well-bred and well-spoken person. Moreover, some of Carnegie's principles are as applicable as ever in the context of business communications, to which my recommendations for building influencer-influencee relationships are related in many ways.
Differences:
- Set of tools; social context (see above).
- With this bit of critique contra Carnegie, I happen to agree. "The techniques in this book basically converted this man into a robot. Nobody really knows what kinds of things he's interested in - although at first you think his interests have a lot in common with yours. The man has no sincerity or credibility. When I see him smiling I don't know if he is genuinely happy or just trying to appear pleasant." However, people today are jumping to the other extreme: wearing their hearts on their sleeves, passing unpleasantness for sincerity and adopting unsavory behavioral techniques like calling someone they barely know "bi*ch" in a misguided effort to appear genuine. I am not trying to teach potential readers to be sycophants and flatterers. I just advocate demonstration of respect and affability in your relationships with people who have achieved more than you did in your particular field.

The Influencer: One Hundred Seven Lessons on Being Effective Without Being a Jerk by Nick Wolff

Similarities: case studies from corporate experience.

Differences: just like Influencer by Switzler et al., this is a book discussing steps towards becoming a better influencer in the personal rather than contextual paradigm. In other words, leadership, not influencer marketing.

Networking Is Not Working: Stop Collecting Business Cards and Start Making Meaningful Connections by Derek Coburn

Similarities: pointers and tips on relationship-building vs. traditional networking.

Differences: context. Coburn discusses business-to-business relationships and networking, not particularly influencer-influencee relationship-building.

Estimated length: ~100,000 words
Estimated delivery date: ~ March 1, 2015 (approx. 50% of material is already drafted and/or written)

Table of Contents with Outlines

Intro (see full text below)

Chapter 1. Build your influencer network
Outline:
Case study: Kissinger's translator (language services; the "five handshakes" theory, and how much or how little may the one handshake between me and the President of Israel mean)
Sample: 

Chapter 2. Operate your influencer network
Outline:
Case study: Monetize your mistakes (fiction writing; negotiation-jitsu; self-publishing strategy: pluses and shortcomings; how I self-published a 500-page novel for 1 British pound)
Sample:

Chapter 3. The four levels of the influence pyramid
Outline:
Case study: The mediator genie (language services; how a long-term relationship with a level 2 influencer landed me a contract with the Ministry of Interns of France)
Sample:

Chapter 4. The five types of influencer psyche
Outline:
Case study: The graveyard shift (semiotics; design; key influencer psychology; behavior patterns; how I was mentored by Umberto Eco's apprentice)
Sample:

Chapter 5. Ratios for a rational selection of your influencers
Outline:
Case study: Harry Potter and the Analysis of Influence Worth (social media marketing; estimating influence inside and outside the social media; the ratios I researched and/or invented; how I dissected the Klout Score holy cow)
Sample:

Chapter 6. E.U.F.O.R.I.A. - Energy. Utterance. Footprint. Outreach. Resonance. Impression. Awareness. - my patented approach to influencing and being influenced
Outline:
Case study: how I did my homework with the E.U.F.O.R.I.A. of several of my Twitter follower/followees: Josh Stern and the need for thick hide. Selena Gomez and #MakeAnInfluencerSmile. Michael Hyatt, Elise Stokes, and Thomas G Ray. The Ice Bucket Challenge and the Randomness of Virality. My own E.U.F.O.R.I.A. (social media marketing) 
Sample:

Chapter 6. All hail her Majesty the Content: Sensitive material
Outline:
Case study: Do not forget to hold up a SARCASM card (fiction writing; handling sensitive material; how I had my own hashtag fail on the eve of the Pitch Wars)
Sample:

Chapter 7. All hail her Majesty the Content: SEO optimization
Outline:
Case study: Curing cancer in Korea (SEO; guidelines for writing and optimizing content; how I was contracted to write SEO articles)
Sample:

Chapter 8. All hail her Majesty the Content: Trending
Outline:
Case study: The Hashtag Fail List (social media marketing; Susan Boil's album announcement, McDonald's true stories, etc. How I use memes and #funnystuffontheInternet to prove a point)
Sample:

Chapter 9. The point where you decide to spend or not to spend more money on your influencers
Outline:
Case study: I compare Traackr and Onalytica influencer relations management platforms. You decide.
Outline:

Chapter 10. Start swimming!
Outline:
Build your influencer's profile based on what you had read and on this questionnaire:

Type of influencer psyche?
Level of influence?
Reachability?
Approachability?
Busyness?
Why your ideas may be of interest to him/her?
What can you do for him/her?
What he/she can do for you?

Then:
Prepare your approach strategy
Prepare your interaction strategy
Prepare your offer

Case study: Anastasia swimming in circles around the Query Shark (relationship-building, right steps and missteps, me making a case study out of "courting" a top influencer, the Gob and Jane series, and Chinese classical poetry)

Outro
Outline: conclusion and pitch for Book 2.

Sample chapter:

Intro.

This body of information and advice is not for marketing or SEO specialists who know it all about how to push a product to the first Google search results page. I have written this book for the regular talented person.

No, that is not a typo. Someone once said, "there will be no ordinary people in the twenty-first century. Earth will be home to seven billion talented, special, extraordinary people." Today, this is not a sci-fi writer's dream. This is happening.

So, are you a brilliant mind who wants to spend time working on their skills, not spending a lot of time chasing followers in an ocean of bloggers, Tweeters, and other "small fish"?

Are you in fact a shark star in the making?

You just don't know how to swim with the big Kahunas?

I am reaching out to the regular creative but not quite marketing-savvy mind in Uncle Sam manner. I want YOU to make it! I want YOU to be the hot news!

Important people talking about you among themselves and telling about you to the world - this is the Mount Olympus of the social media era. And this is your goal.

A Word from the Metatag Hag

After all, we all know the second page of Google results is the perfect place to hide something, like evidence to a crime. Seriously, though, if you are an individual vying for public attention, being on the first search results page is as difficult as climbing Everest, let alone Olympus. If you are trying to hide something nasty, don't hope even the 100th Google search results page will help. This is the paradox of our life.

 So don't do nasty things and be careful with every step. This is my advice to everyone - to influencer marketing students in particular.

 Let's suppose you are strictly a man or woman of letters or a starry-eyed Game of Thrones fan. You know little about marketing, less about Jung's archetypes or Berne's games people play, and zilch about mathematics applied in economics, econometrics or statistics. Your talent is to design mega action figures or draw supercool graphic novels, and you don't just want the world to find out about it. You want your special product to become a household name.

Metatag Hag:

For instance, you have a killer TV show idea, you're working on the script, you're enjoying yourself swimming in your little sea of creativity. After all, any writer will tell you that the writing part is the best and easiest part. But don't forget it was the promo of your work that at some point, made you utter all the expletives you knew.

So the usual advice is: be smart, learn from your past mistakes, and dedicate equal amounts of time to both activities - creating and promoting what you create. Its value notwithstanding, you must bear this in mind: the more time you spend promoting yourself, the less time you have left for honing your skills and becoming the brilliant talent other sharks are bound to notice.

For a creative mind striving to reveal its talents to the world, one way is to build a network of relationships that can ultimately bring accreditation and endorsement by top level influencers or KEY influencers.

Influencer marketing and influencer psychology are subjects of growing importance within the greater field of Marketing Management.

Contrary to the common belief, the hot shots are not the only influencers - your neighbor is an influencer, too. Your little sister with her blog and her 5,000+ Facebook friends - even more so. If you're promoting a musical product, your neighborhood's garage band is the first to befriend - trust me, they know all the sites and are following all the people. Don't forget about Grandma and her book club, too!

 The difference is level and impact; horizontal and vertical influence.

Business owners, literary agents with popular blogs, Hollywood producers - those are top level influencers. As the infographic shows, they can give you more reach, but the degree of influence will be lower. 

As for your own influence on them... to them, "unforgettable" is not what it means to the rest of the world.

So don't be afraid to show to mountain-top sitters in what particular way you are unforgettable.

 Metatag Hag: ...but beware gimmicks!

Bottom line: if you want to sing with Justin Bieber, you have to start by impressing your Mom.

 Now, let's take it you have the first two levels covered. Your family, friends, and friends of friends know about your new product. You have a small but devoted fandom who like you and think you are worthy of acclaim.Yet they cannot give you the endorsement that can land you a network of high-profile contacts and eventually a contract.

 We all know the old adage about making one step at a time.

Metatag Hag: To rephrase an old Danube-Carpathian saying, "if you want sausages for the holidays, you should not start fattening your pig on Christmas Eve".

So, if you want your product to be in stores by Christmas, start working on your influencer network now.

 Actually, you should have started in February, but you're not a megacorp and you don't play by their rules. Nor do you have their resources. Luckily, you have all the tools to start promoting your talent at zero expense. Just use your old toys - blogs, pages, Twitter, Pinterest - things you only used for a little blah-blah-show before.

 Metatag Hag: Influencer networking is a key strategy in your battle plan. Every day, we are both influencing and being influenced by someone or something.

You know any friendship can have great intrinsic value. Just imagine what resources you can tap by building a relationship with a powerful person! This is exactly why you need more time to hone your skills - key influencers tend to befriend brilliant people who, for their turn, have the potential of becoming key influencers some day.

This is why you need this book. It will teach you how to build and manage influencer relationships on all levels. You will learn to handle this or that kind of influencer properly - without spending years on studying things Anastasia and I are serving on a silver platter for you.

We will also share lots of details about our mistakes... so your own would be less frequent or grievous.

So, let's learn to swim with the sharks! We will start with Chapter 1: Build your Influencer Network.

Sincerely yours,
Anastasia Stratu and the Metatag Hag

My profile:

Language services specialist - speak five, read and understand three more languages, 16 years in the language services, a career path from translating personal correspondence after school to running my own language services boutique company for over three years.

Professional interests: translation | terminology | interpreting | proofreading | revision | management | consulting | theory and practice of negotiations| semiotics | lexicology | structural linguistics.

Academic interests: Jungian archetypal psychology | behaviorism | transactional analysis.

Field research: social media management and marketing | SEO/SEM | influencer marketing | influencer psychology.

Since March 2014 - SEO writer for NEO Informatics Co.

Education: pre-university lyceum student of modern languages and world literature with strong emphasis on reviewing and critical analysis. International Business Management major and Translations minor. Additional courses and/or training: economic journalism, economic semiotics.

Other: Fiction author. Oxford comma fan.

My platform for marketing the book (TBD):

Social media;
Own influencer network;
Established relationships and contacts, both local and international;
Public speaking.

Influencer Marketing 101: Trending within Your Influencer Network

Dear reader,

In today's installment, the Metatag Hag and I will be sharing a little insight on the right way to use hashtags and trends in order to attract more influencers to your net... I mean, network.

Metatag Hag: Just like in biology, our own nets are populated by spiders and flies. If you have juicy flies for sale, the web community will only be happy to hear all about them. You need to develop a little agility in surfing the #juicy #fly #trend wave.

Insight 1. Use hashtags in standalone trends but not in dialogue

When you are talking to an influencer - any kind of influencer, which means everybody - keep the text clean of hashtags unless a particular trend is the subject of your discussion. If he/she is a popular person, you are using their popularity as it is, whether voluntarily or not. Everyone who reads their feed will stumble across your name, so keep in mind everything the Hag and I had told you about presentation, and do not overload your personal message with hashtags. You are talking to a person in the first place... not using them to get more outreach for your own cause. This, however, is a matter of taste, so even if you slip a totally justified # into your conversation, no one will blame you, but in my humble opinion, it is not classy.

Insight 2. Use suggestions to add trendiness to your message

If your social media accounts are connected, which is highly recommended, then you will be hashtagging across your platform, which is good. When you share a thought or a bit of news, do this: type a # before any word you want to make a keyword of, then look at the drop-down menu of suggestions and choose the #trend which is most appropriate for your message.

Metatag Hag: Do not forget to check out the trend if you do not know what it's about. For instance, when you come across a trend like, say, #ThrowbackThursday, there is no point to adding it to your Tweet about the new app or gadget you are reviewing. Or to the selfie you've just taken, for that matter. It is a popular trend started by a NYC museum - every Thursday, they would exhibit an oldie-but-goodie, and the nets picked it up. So if you have a meme with something your top influencer did 20 years ago, just share it:

Note: Kelsey Grammer is not my own top influencer, technically - I am just a fan, but then, there is a major possibility that my own target influencers are his fans, too. Or his colleagues. Or friends. Oops, look out, the Hag is preparing to sing, too!

Metatag Hag: *singing* It's a small world, after all...

Insight 3. Research, research, research!

If you are a regular social media dweller, then you are bound to know what's hot and what's not. Still, if you decided you're all grown up now, stop trawling Buzzfeed and Huffington for cats and epic fails concerning bras and tattoos. Start following "grownup" resources like The Guardian, for instance, and look out for trends that have something to do with you or your influencers. If you want to comment on some trend, first do a little research on things that have already been said about or regarding this particular trend.

Normally, you can learn about a trend by clicking the respective hashtag in someone's Tweet or post. Yet if you still cannot figure it out by reading the first couple of messages, just Google it. Chances are, you will not only find a useful trend to join, but will also learn something new. Like, when I found out what 5SosDERPCon was, I a) was convinced again that I was doing the right thing - researching hashtags and recommending my readers to do the same, and b) found another reason to be happy about having reached adulthood.

Insight 4. Use the trends list

It is probably no news to you that it is not only you who is analyzing social media. They do this, too. For instance, Twitter knows who you are and what you like based on what you Tweet, so it is offering you a list of trends to follow and join. Part of them is totally off the mark, but some are very useful to learn new things and to announce your message in a feed read by so many people only because it is hot. And for other reasons - for instance, when I share my business-related ideas, I use the #leadership hashtag a lot, and it normally causes reactions, because it is followed by - yes, you are right - leaders.

Metatag Hag: Yeah. Every morning, when it is not the Queen of Nerds' but my turn to Tweet, I read the list of trends and think about some snark to say about the buzz of the day. After the Pitch Wars bummer, though, my sarcasm-filled comments leave Anastasia's brain only after some censoring. You want to be polite, but you don't have to be sheepish. Too bland = total "blah".

Insight 5. When appropriate, saturate your message with hashtags

Sometimes, messages are so full of words that may be currently trended, it is a shame to miss an opportunity to hashtag the daylights out of it. Here is an example of my own Tweets of this kind:

#Happiness is the #exercise of vital #powers, along lines of #excellence, in a #life affording them #scope. -#Aristotle #leadership #thought

#I #amwriting a #hashtag #joke on #Twitter instead of #actually #doingitright & editing #chapter 5 of #Caelin #Transarcane #Fantasy #already.

Every hashtag increases your chances to be noticed by more top influencers.

Insight 6. If you come across a clever quote and want to share it, tie it to the hashtags that might be useful to you

See example of Aristotle quote above.

Metatag Hag: It does not mean the quotes must be necessarily highbrow. You don't have to be a Queen of Nerds to rule. Just quote your favorite TV show, if you like... I don't know, quote True Blood, if you a) are a fan b) design book covers. Just don't do it for the sake of showing your affection for VampireTV. Do it to be noticed by Richelle Mead.

Insight 7. Use random hashtags for wider net-casting

For example, when the Guardians of the Galaxy premiered, I made a joke about organic green body paint becoming popular. I hashtagged the word #organic. And what happens next? in a couple of minutes a bunch of "greenies" were Retweeting it left, right, and center. I got some organic follower growth with that little bit of humor, too.

Insight 8. See what your top influencers are trending

Read your top influencers' feeds and see what words they are hashtagging. Use the same hashtags to get into the same feed. It may seem a trifle, but for third-party influencers, seeing your name on the same page with a top influencer's name is creating an association between the two names, sometimes subconscious.

For instance, once, as I was in my Queen of Nerds form, I Tweeted a joke about Babylon-5. I said it would be nice to return to the Green sector and share some ailecococ with Ambassador Delenn. NB: Delenn is a main character of B-5 and belongs to the fictional Minbari race. And in Minbari, ailecococ means both a small fish and the pleasure of meeting someone for the first time. That joke caused quite a reaction in the #Nerdpride community, I tell you.

It was retweeted directly into the outreach zone of J. Michael Straczynski, who does belong in my own network of top influencers... Should I come to a point when I need to contact him, this joke will serve as a great ice breaker, because ailecococ was mentioned only once in a huge series, is not a buzzword, let alone a hashtagged trend, and creators love connoisseurs who know their work by heart. Which is another bit of advice, by the way. You may believe it redundant, but I think that the "know your influencer" adage bears innumerable repetitions, so here it goes. Know your influencer.

Insight 9. When appropriate, fill up your message with trends

If the message per se is short, and you have a character limit in the particular media you are using, do not hesitate to add a bunch of hashtags and trends to fill it up. For example, I have just Tweeted the manifesto of the philosophic movement, to which I attribute myself:

#Rand is #Alpha, not #Omega! #post #objectivism #philosophy #challenge #reality #amreading #amwriting #EDUCATETOMORROW #LiteraryTVIdeas

The actual message was the first four words. The rest are trends. Note that they are all, to a greater or lesser degree, related to the message.

Metatag Hag: Meanwhile, I am having fun with the #RuinAMagazine feed, Google stock images, and Paint:

Bottom line: under the right hashtag, do not deny yourself fun. Demonstrating your sense of humor around influencers is rather a good than a bad thing. But if you also have a haggish alter ego with a liking for black humor, be careful with jokes about serious stuff like religion or cancer. Even if you are in fact deriding, say, stupidity but not these topics per se, do not forget that many people like to jump to conclusions.

Insight 10. Be careful with acronyms and abbreviations!

When you are targeting a particular top influencer, make sure not to confuse him with someone else. For instance, the very J. Michael Straczynski is known in the fandom as JMS, but if you try to hashtag this acronym, you will actually land in the feed of #JMS aka Justin Michaels Sports, which is about American football. Not very good company for sci-fi talk, right?

Metatag Hag: For your benefit, and for the sake of experimentation, I just wrote this:

#Ailecococ is #good for both #diet and #social #life. #babylon5 #queenof #nerdvana #wordplay  #omegapsiphi #omega3 #hashtag #experiment

The hashtagging in this message covers many unrelated fields. In an update, I will share news about its impact. For now, it got favorited by an Australian starter-upper. Well, it's 2 AM here in Montreal, which is the cue for Insight 11. Upd: one more golden star from Nutrition Express - who must be following the Omega-3 trend... and followed by two people from my network.

Insight 11. Watch the watch

If you are Tweeting or posting just for fun at 2 AM, that's fine. But when you are active within your social media platform, make sure to share your ideas when your actual and potential influencers are awake and active, too. There is no use or need to post wise words that just came into your head in the dead of the night when all the influencers in your area are asleep. If you have influencers in other corners of the globe... well, kudos for that. Keep Tweeting at any hour. Yet if they are concentrated in a certain area, keep an eye on that time zone's local time. Just make notes and Tweet or post your precious ideas at a more appropriate hour.

Insight 12. Create your own trends

For instance, I created #MakeAnInfluencerSmile. It's when you joke to or about your idols. Sadly, the "about" part is a bit harder because celebrities with joke-worthy lives usually have celebrity psyches, and that's a special field of discussion and study. And Level 2 influencers, the decision-makers, usually have healthy sense of humor but little time to enjoy it. Also, influencer marketing, influencer relations management, and especially influencer psychology are relatively new fields... so this is an example of the fact that not all hashtags become trends. Yet they are also a tool for expressing sentiment, so

Insight 13. Express sentiments with your hashtags

A mere #sarcasmalert or #joke hashtag can cast a totally different light on things you actually mean to say. Sentiment-expressing hashtags are not only the new black in the world of netiquette, but also a way to network. Say, if your potential influencer checks out the #bigbangtheory trend regularly, and you post a Sheldon-worthy joke under it, there is a chance s/he will like it and you will end up following each other, and sharing stuff, and then... who knows? Maybe s/he is the missing handshake between you and the producer to whom you would like to show your script some day.

Insight 14. Avoid the #influencetheinfluencer trend like the plague!

It is merely my advice, of course - if you feel you have something that requires this hashtag, it's a free planet. But I personally dislike this condescending and manipulative phrase. If someone tried to influence me this way, they would get the opposite effect. I would be influenced, but in a negative way... and I'd write them off completely.

Metatag Hag: And I'd dish out some snark about the subj, too.

Insight 15. Ask questions with your hashtags

Many top influencers are also knowledge sharers, and regularly feature on Twitter under the #ask hashtags. For instance, mentors in PitchWars, the initiative I described in previous chapters, answer questions of their mentees and other participants in the #askmentor feed. Literary agents follow the #askagent trend. Just research the #ask trends in your respective industry - and benefit both from precious insight and from the possibility to attract the attention of a potential node in your influencer network.


Insight 16. Beware hashtag fails!

Many of the situations described above can create or become the cause of a fail. In the situation where everyone is an influencer, you cannot count on things blowing over fast... of course, in such situation you can only count on being forgotten rather than considered not smart, but if your influencers are people with good memories, you'll need more reputational damage control than you can imagine... or afford.

Read about high-profile hashtag fails here. You don't want to be featured in this kind of list, do you?

Here's a classic that made the Hag chuckle for an entire minute, which is pretty much a record:

Courtesy of blog.proximate.com

Well, I hope you enjoyed the insight. Next, we will be discussing your homework you have to do to analyze your influencers, some simple ratios you can apply, and the many conclusions you can draw from just a little research.

Thank you!

Sincerely yours,
Anastasia Stratu and Metatag Hag

Force Vortex Influencer Marketing on Wordpress

forcevortexsm.wordpress.com

Who Am I?

Your INFLUENCER MARKETING herald.

Hello, I am Anastasia Stratu. I am also known as Anastasia Duchevski.

Hi, I’m the Metatag Hag. Snarkstar alter ego and social media denizen.

Together – Anastasia, the Hag, and you – we will whoosh through the nets, and we will:

- make powerful impacts;

- create good impressions;

- leave deep footprints;

- reach beyond outreach;

- trigger serious resonance;

- stir general awareness – 

… to make a long message short…

Let’s Network.

(c) Image courtesy of Fast Company.