Everyone Is An "Influencer"

Building A Brand By Engaging The People Who Matter Most

Kelly Keenan

• Publisher: Ideapress Publishing
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781646870783
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Your brand's story can't be concocted by a marketing team or agency, bubbling into some witches' brew. It must be uncovered by revealing your brand's most inspiring aspects. The simple truth: if you build on a foundation of authenticity, you can find the people that think like you, value what you value, and are ready to join in the celebration of your story.

In Everyone is an Influencer, Kelly Keenan, Founder of Brand Story Experts, unlocks the code to recognizing and utilizing true Influencers to soar your organization to new heights. In an accessible voice laden with wit, Keenan teaches a proven and practiced method to develop your brand's story: one that's been working to create an army of influencers for over a decade.

You'll discover proven secrets of how to create and strengthen lifelong relationships with your team and with customers. Not just short-term gains. Go beyond sales gimmicks and short-sighted tactics. Help your business of any size grow and sustain.

This book is for business leaders looking to super-charge their company. It's for sales and marketing leaders seeking to gain greater results with enthusiasm. Finally, this book is for any team member ready to step up and become a change-maker for their organization.

It's all possible, because as you'll see, Everyone Is An Influencer.

CHAPTER ONE

The Story Sharing Shift

IN 1973, THE public chatter was about Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath’s legs. As a spokesmodel for Hanes, he participated in a now-(in)famous campaign where he wore pantyhose. The campaign made a huge impact because Namath was the biggest name in sports at the time. He was an “Influencer.”

That 50-year-old campaign illustrates that influencers associating with brands is not a new idea. However, the definition of influencer has evolved far beyond the idea of athletes and celebrities endorsing brands. Hiring influencers has grown into an opportunity that impacts and involves every area of business.

Every business in this era needs to acknowledge, understand, and pursue influencers. The need for such individuals has largely come about because workforce mentality has shifted. Business ideas and innovation now happen beyond management meetings in the boardroom. Team members fill every type of position, and supporters outside the brand can dramatically influence the images and outcomes associated with companies.

YES, THERE IS NO “I” IN TEAM, BUT THERE IS AN “I” IN INFLUENCER.

The opportunity to step up and be an influencer, to impact a brand’s story and create change, is open to everyone. This transformational shift has made a brand story strategy mandatory for leaders at all levels. From the CEO to the Marketing Department to a new team member looking to make a difference, this book is for you.

GETTING IT WRONG WILL TANK YOUR BUSINESS

Most businesses are already looking for ways to take advantage of the opportunity to utilize influencers. Some companies are making huge gains, creating demand, and absolutely crushing it with influencer partnerships, and others want in. Influencer marketing seems like a no-brainer. But what can happen if you get it wrong?

Before you rush in, remember that the story has to be right and the influencer relationship has to be believable—more than a feigned celebrity endorsement. Only a real, authentic relationship will build credibility and trust, and influence your brand.

Tiger Woods and Shaq endorsed Oldsmobile and Buick. Did anyone ever believe that they would choose those cars if they weren’t paid millions to endorse them?

Association makes an impact. It can build trust or ruin credibility, and the stakes have been raised significantly in the 21st century. The opportunity for success is surely present, but a negative blow from a disengaged influencer can destroy a business.

Brands take a risk whenever they work with someone. Celebrities with clean images can fall from grace quickly, and any celebrity can have their integrity attacked. If a company has to withdraw support for a public figure after they did or said something considered objectionable or offensive, the brand will suffer.

The number of social media influencers is skyrocketing, but the credibility of this advertising model is diminishing at the same speed. Gone are the days where any celebrity could be hired to say nice things about you and your company while you let the money roll in.

Sure, the opportunities are bigger than ever. But unfortunately, there are also more implementation questions than ever. Get your campaign wrong and the move could tank your business. However, if you get it right, it won’t matter if your brand loses a key influencer. You’ll have the tools to pivot and adapt.

KNOW THE STAKES SO YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR INFLUENCER ASSOCIATIONS WISELY.

NOT JUST CELEBRITIES

Celebrity endorsement won’t guarantee gains for your company. Celebrities can amplify a company’s message and expand their audience, but if the company and the celebrity’s interests are at odds, it could hurt the reputation of both parties.

• •The company could have an influx of customers they can’t help.
• •The celebrity’s endorsement could hurt future deals due to a lack of credibility.
• •Customers could be let down by not getting a good product.

Sharing your story the right way—focusing on the true aspects of your brand—will help you gain the right influencer relationships. It will also help you become a better leader, get more out of your job, and be a part of something far more meaningful. Learning to celebrate your brand story in this manner builds and strengthens internal and external relationships.

LET’S GET REAL ABOUT INFLUENCERS

Putting your trust in someone to gain insight, borrow their perspective, or learn from their evaluation is a long-standing, effective strategy. People have always had the ability to influence and inspire others in this way.

However, in the past decade, this idea has expanded as the concept of influencer marketing has exploded. Social media has equipped people with these global platforms to create widespread presentations of their personality, ideas, and opinions. The emergence of social channels has not only amplified the voice of the individual; it has also provided the opportunity to form a data-defined definition labeling their impact.

As a result, the term influencer has become a quantifiable marketing definition. Professionals now identify tiers of Instagram influencers, from mega-influencer, macro-influencer, mid-tier-influencer, micro-influencer, all the way down to a nano-influencer.

You can also label expert subgroups in categories like Celebrity, Lifestyle Blogger, Traveler, Beauty Blogger, Product Blogger, Fashion Stylist, Vlogger, Photographer, Thought Leader, and more. The term influencer has been outlined, examined, and defined in nearly every way you can imagine.

So, is it settled? Do we finally have a final definition of who an influencer is and what they are all about?

Not even close.

Brand experts are certainly trying. These tiered classifications and subcategories are valuable tools to help identify a person’s ability to create sales and drive interest through their influence. But they are merely a useful starting point.

There are too many variables to measure an influencer’s true ability to partner with a brand. Wishful brands often overestimate the impact of an influencer and are left with disappointed stakeholders, wasted money, and weak sales. In addition, too many brands overlook the power of smaller, more passionate influencers. It’s important to realize that you can’t count anyone out as an influencer. Whether someone is or isn’t an influencer depends on the brand that is asking and the context of the relationship.

INDUSTRY INFLUENCERS ARE HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

Pat Cleary probably won’t make the Nike, Budweiser, or Verizon list of prime influencers, but at the ClientSpace User Conference, nobody was more valuable. He was the influencer who mattered the most. Pat Cleary is the President of NAPEO, a critical organization for anyone in the professional employer organization (PEO) industry. My client, NetWise Technology, was in that game.

NetWise Technology was a smaller company in the PEO industry, but they had a tremendous product called ClientSpace. The NetWise team believed in the quality of their product and the solutions it designed—they just needed help coordinating and celebrating their story. We did just that. The new brand shift was followed by tremendous growth, record sales years, and so much success that they became attractive enough to be acquired.

One of the new NetWise initiatives we helped launch was an annual ClientSpace User Conference. The event showcased their product, team, and culture. It also provided an opportunity for the NetWise team to bring in industry influencers to celebrate their company, product solutions, and culture. Every year, as their company’s sales grew, the conference attendance grew.

However, instead of looking to upgrade their featured speaker each year, NetWise President Randy Wadle remained emphatic that his main goal every year was to secure the participation of NAPEO President Pat Cleary. Randy was certain that he was NetWise’s biggest influencer. Randy stated that “Pat gets what we do and brings value to this event that nobody else can deliver.” In this arena, Pat Cleary was the influencer who mattered most.

IT’S ALL ABOUT REAL AUTHENTICITY, NOT JUST BIG NUMBERS.

Influencer integration is vital to determining their impact. For this reason, it is impossible to definitively classify anyone as an authentic influencer at any level. First it has to be determined if the individual has the desire and ability to become integrated and involved with the brand. An influencer only matters and makes sense for the brand if they possess the ability to be attached to or engaged with the brand’s story in a real and relatable way.

This attachment isn’t based on the size of the audience they reach, or the level of celebrity status they bring with them. Everyone can be an influencer, and the impact they make multiplies when they’re brought together with other like-minded influencers who celebrate the same story:

• •A single salesperson who steps up and consistently celebrates success stories makes a profound impact by continuously reinforcing their company’s reputation for service excellence. Not only are they powerful influencers, but their participation can be a force that saves or strengthens the company.
• •An emotional customer who joins a social media platform to post their first video ever explaining how a nutrition company changed their life can go viral and inspire millions of people. This type of internet hype is unpredictable because the right story, at the right time, can happen at any time.

These are just two of the many variables that make it challenging to measure influencer impact accurately or define it definitively. As hard as people try to explain the term, title, and power of an influencer, single definitions are tough to gauge.

POWERFUL PERSONAL INFLUENCE CAN COME FROM ANYWHERE

A mega-influencer can be a college professor who’s never even been on social media but once took the time to tell you an inspiring story tha...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction: How to Engage the People Who Really Matter (And Ignore Those Who Don’t)
• Chapter 1: The Story Sharing Shift
• Chapter 2: Celebrating > Telling
• Chapter 3: Honesty Is No Longer Optional
• Chapter 4: Culture Development Marketing
• Chapter 5: The Elements of Any Trustworthy Brand
• Chapter 6: Positive, Powerful, Purposeful: The 3-P Principle®
• Chapter 7: Finding the Way to What’s Real and True: A Foundation That Multiplies Your Efforts
• Chapter 8: Your Story Won’t Save a Sinking Ship
• Chapter 9: Creating a Framework for Celebration
• Chapter 10: Starting the Celebration: Going from “Little i” to “Big I”
• Chapter 11: The Frontline Fight
• Chapter 12: All In to Win
• Afterword: Celebrate. Educate. Dominate.
• About the Author
• Acknowledgements
• Index