TapInfluencer: A Resource for Channel Influencer Marketing

Nothing is more effective in the sales and buying process than word-of-mouth. And when it comes to finding information before making a purchasing decision, everyone has their "go-to" people for information and advice. In channel marketing, the power of influence can be just as effective.

Influencer marketing is not just for consumer products anymore. It’s proving to be a valuable tool for B2B as well, helping get brand awareness out to partners, joint customers and other influencers.

So how can companies find the influencers who will get them more exposure for their audience? One up-and-coming resource for B2B influencer marketing is TapInfluence. The company's director of Brand Strategy, Corey Litwin, offered up some information on the value of influencers and how TapInfluence (formerly BlogFrog) can help.

TapInfluence is a matchmaker, of sorts. The company helps vendors and channel teams find influencers in their industry from its marketplace 100,000 key offerings. Once an influencer is identified that looks like a good fit, the vendor and the influencer discuss their mutual goals, where the audience needs information and how to best push out that information.

Content curation plays a large role in helping nurture this relationship, and TapInfluence works heavily to help companies make an impression using social media. Among other things, it teaches companies how to produce the most important content over time, allowing them to become more independent in their efforts.

When engaging in influencer marketing, companies must focus on a few key components:

Does it sound authentic? If your influencer rattles off the same value proposition on your website or doesn’t engage the audience with his or her own pain points, the influencer's message isn’t going to resonate. Has the influencer really seen and understood your product or solution?  Make sure the influencer understands the product and is authentic, or don’t bother.

Is the influencer's audience your audience? Influencers need to have written about or spoken about a similar solution or program in the past. If your influencer has only ever talked about teleconferencing and the next day is discussing your enterprise cloud security solution, he or she isn’t going to have much ethos with your audience.

How much reach will this gain for you? If your influencer has 100 audience members, are you genuinely doing any good by engaging them? If the audience is absolutely the right 100 people, then go for it. It all depends what your goals are before you engage.

TapInfluence has a calculated solution to ensure all the above bases (and more) are covered. Make sure you do as well before engaging an influencer, and make sure you have the right influencer to meet your goals.

Contributing blogger Heather K. Margolis, the Channel Maven, has led channel programs for major IT companies.