Reaching Out to Influencers Isn’t as Scary as it Sounds
As some of you may know, my Personal Branding masterclass emphasizes the importance of researching and connecting with influencers (you know, the people who influence your desired audience). Recently, I was asked about reaching out to influencers. A lovely student of mine (and all-around badass in her own right), Murisa Harba, asked if I could offer some guidance on how to go about this step.
Thanks to Murisa’s great question, I decided to write a quick step-by-step on making the move toward influencer collaboration, and BONUS, I reached out to another fabulous branding client, Laura Engel, who put this strategy to work!
Laura agreed to answer some questions about her experience reaching out to influencer and author of Inheritance, Dani Shapiro. Doing so landed her a spot on Shapiro’s podcast, Family Secrets! It’s a great real-life example of how connection, passion, and good manners can really open so many doors! You can read Laura’s interview below.
Reaching Out To Influencers Requires Understanding WHY You’re Reaching Out
Some of you may remember that a while back (April 2020 to be exact) I wrote a series of blog posts titled, Influencers 101. You can find those HERE, HERE, and HERE.
But those of you that would like a simple, easy-to-follow step-by-step can read on below! Psst. I highly recommend you only start with this step if you’ve already identified your key influencers. If not, check out the links above first.
There’s a Right Way of Reaching Out to Influencers
First, I want to talk about the difference between paid collaboration and unpaid collaboration. I think when it comes to authors, speakers and entrepreneurs, it’s most likely that you’ll be collaborating with influencers on the micro-level. The reason? You’re not trying to sell a product necessarily. You’re trying to build your brand and influence. You can use paid collaboration, but first, consider your budget and your ROI (return on investment). Unless it’s going to increase your book sales by a high enough margin, it may not be worth it to you. I cover this further in THIS post on influencer collaboration.
Step One: Engage, Engage, Engage
Once you know your key influencers, establish your presence and engage regularly with those influencers you’re hoping to collaborate with first. This means:
- Follow them on all platforms
- Like, and comment on their posts
- Follow those that they follow. And those that follow them
- Share their posts
- Read their books and write reviews (like Laura did) on Amazon, GoodReads, or your own blog
These things let them know you’re a fan! And truly, you should be a fan of the author or influencer, if you’re bothering with all of this, right?
After you’ve established a bit of a repertoire with your key influencer/s, you can begin attempting a direct reach out. Also, note if they’re responsive to you or other followers and how friendly and engaged they are with those followers.
Step 2: Initiating Contact
First, make sure you have a plan. Have something to offer this influencer (if you’re hoping for collaboration) and/or use the right approach.
If you’re too shy or unsure, ask a question in their comments section (check if they note open DMs on their profile) if they’d be open to a DM, if they collaborate, etc. before cold-call messaging them.
And a Wrong Way!
Solicitous private messages and spamming your key influencer’s comments section with your own promos and/or brags will more likely get you blocked than spark a future collaboration. Remember, influencers get a lot of messages, a lot of proposals, and a lot of solicitations.
- Don’t spam
- No jumping right in without following and engaging first
- Never have nothing to offer them or be uninformed about what they do and who they are
- Don’t message them again if they didn’t reply the first time (there are some exceptions)
I’d like to note that Lilli, our copywriter at Monkey C Media and The Premise podcast, tells me this method has worked 3 out of the 5 times she’s reached out to authors and influencers we’ve wanted to invite onto The Premise.
Now, here’s that interview with Laura and Lilli! I guarantee this will be valuable information and totally inspire you to start reaching out to influencers.
How did you find your influencer?
I was writing my memoir, which is the story of finding a son through ancestry.com DNA. My writing coach, Tracy J. Jones, mentioned to me that the author Dani Shapiro had just published a memoir, Inheritance, and I might want to read it. I read it and enjoyed it so much. My branding coach, Jeniffer Thompson, taught me how to identify influencers during our work together and Dani made my list. Jeniffer encouraged me to follow Dani and to reach out and tell her how much I loved her book (a thank you email). I decided to reach out directly to Dani Shapiro on her website. I simply told her I loved her book and included the 5-star review I had given her book on Amazon. I mentioned that I too had an amazing story that involved ancestry.com DNA.
What was your goal?
I wanted to make a connection. She obviously influenced my audience, so I was hoping to connect and who knows, maybe even get an endorsement. Plus, I often write reviews on books, and simply wanted to express my appreciation for the book Dani had written.
How long were you following or engaging with their content before you reached out to them?
After I read her book, I started following her on social and checking out her engagement.
What was the response you received from them/how long did the response take?
The very next morning, there was an email from Dani Shapiro asking me if I could tell her about my DNA experience. I wrote back and briefly told her about my memoir and my DNA miracle. She immediately asked me to be a guest on her podcast, Family Secrets and asked if she could connect me to her producer?
Two months later I was her guest on the podcast.
Was it all worth it?
Absolutely! Within 24 hours I had received hundreds of emails from her listeners through my website. I answered each email. Ninety percent of them were from middle age adoptees. I had thought my readers would be birth mothers and perhaps birth fathers, but Jeniffer had suggested that my readers might be younger adoptees and boy was she right. I was blown away by the adoptees’ emails and answered each one. That was two years ago and I still get emails because of that podcast. I also realized I had found an audience for my memoir.
*You can listen to Laura’s episode HERE!
Did you get an endorsement from Dani?
Dani was very gracious. She got back to me and let me know that she was in my corner, but would not have time to read it because she was under deadline. I did reach out to six other people (who I also contacted in advance) and all six people said yes and delivered. Had I not worked with Jeniffer, I would not have known to develop those relationships in advance.
What advice do you have for others trying to reach out to influencers but aren’t sure where to start?
Just do it. Be brave and reach out. You will be pleasantly surprised at how many authors and influencers are kind and generously want to support other authors. Many times they are looking for individuals to interview or interesting stories for their own podcast, blogs, etc.
Can you give a short example of the language you used in your ask?
I am a firm believer in treating others as I would want to be treated.
When reaching out to other authors and influencers I always begin my ‘ask’ by stating who I am and how much I enjoy following them on social channels and/or reading their books. I make a point of letting them know I am a fan of their work.
Then I explain why I am calling or emailing. (the ask)
I finish the email or call with a final compliment and let them know how grateful I am for their time.
As you can see, the podcast seems like it was sheer luck, but if I had not written to Dani Shapiro and reviewed her book, the podcast would never have happened.
Lesson learned. Always Ask.
Laura L. Engel is the author of You’ll Forget This Ever Happened, available for Pre-Sale on Amazon.
See?! Not So Intimidating Now, Is It?
Many thanks to Laura for her time, sharing the methods she used, and for hopefully inspiring you to start reaching out to influencers!
Do you have any experience reaching out to influencers you’d like to share? Some tips that can help others make the leap? Tell us in the comments section! Would you like a specific topic covered in this blog? Ask me here!
