One of the key challenges that businesses face is how to get exposure for their promotional videos when they don’t have an existing audience. Paying for distribution is definitely one option. But, another very effective approach is to leverage other people’s viewership.
What are influencers?
In any industry there are influencers. These are people who have their established audience and a level of recognition and trust. Having these people recommend your video has a double benefit. First, there are the views which will flow from the recommendation. Secondly, there is the credibility that it lends to your video.
Finding The Right Content
Remember when approaching an influencer that they are doing you a favour. If you are asking them to recommend your video, then you need to be sure it will provide value for their audience. You also need to approach them in a way that isn’t spammy.
Before you even start to think about approaching influencers make sure that your content is not only high quality but that it is relevant to their audience.
Finding The Right Influencers To Approach
You first need to research and select the right influencers in your industry. You don’t necessarily want to approach the top influencers. While the exposure from these influencers can provide a massive boost, these people get approached all of the time.
To determine which influencers to approach you need to look at their reach in comparison to your own. Compare the number of viewers, comments and likes for their videos with your own. If it is slightly better – but not in whole different sphere – then this may be a good influencer to approach.
Make Sure The Influencers Are Relevant
Just because someone is influential doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the right person for you to try and seed your content with. It is best to approach influencers within your own specific niche.
For example, if you are involved in events management then you want to find influencers in the event management space. Approaching relevant influencers makes it much easier to interact in a genuine way and to share relevant content later on.
Developing Trust With The Influencer
One of the first things that you need to do is make sure that you have gained that influencers trust by being an active part of their community. On YouTube you are leaving comments or liking their videos. If they have a blog you are commenting or tweeting their contentYou will start to be viewed as someone who is an active member of their community. You are also helping to increase the exposure of their own work. However, there are some nuances to this approach. You should be genuinely interested in the communities that you are contributing to.
Provide A Review Or Testimonial
One of the best ways to get positive attention is to do the person a favour by providing a review or testimonial. Again this should be genuine, but it can be a very effective approach. You are providing value for the influencer and you are also “stroking their ego”.
Seeding content through influencers does a significant investment in time. But, it is also one of the best ways to build or expand your audience.
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