This document summarizes a presentation on micro-influencer marketing. It discusses finding and engaging with micro-influencers on various social media platforms and blogs. It emphasizes reaching beyond top influencers to the long tail of micro-influencers. The presentation provides tips on setting goals, monitoring conversations, discovering influencers, engaging them through pitches, and analyzing campaign results.

1. Micro-Influencer Marketing is
1% Inspiration, 99% Perspiration
XCPD-732 Social, Mobile and Search Marketing
Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies
Professor Shashi Bellamkonda
Saturday, April 6, 2019, 10:30AM
Hashtag: #gtmim
Twitter: @chrisabraham
Instagram: instagram.com/chrisabraham
Facebook: facebook.com/chrisabraham
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chrisabraham
Slideshare: www.slideshare.net/chrisabraham

2. Your Speaker: Chris Abraham
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 Principal Consultant
 Avid Blogger/Contributor:

3. My Personal Digital PR Philosophy
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 Find people where they live (and meet them
there even if it’s a forum or messageboard)
 Explore the long tail micro-influencers (there
are millions of people blogging, sharing, and
posting online – and PR tends to pile on the
same 100 “influentials”)
 “We want you to take 50 million of us as seriously as
you take one reporter from The Wall Street Journal”
 (#83 of the 95 Theses from The Cluetrain Manifesto)
 Spoil everyone (like you would Guy Kawasaki)
 Be grateful (nobody is required to helpyou)

4. Why You Should Reach Past the A-List
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 Influencer marketing tends to focus on only
identifying and engaging top-25 influential
bloggers
 Out of those 25, maybe 3 will cover your
story over the course of a campaign
 We collect every influencer who has ever
had a thematic interest in our customers
 We collect them all – all of them – into a
"universe" – a list
 We reach out to each and every one of
them – no fewer than 2,000 but often 5,000
– via email
 But then that’s where the work starts

5. Why You Should Reach Past the A-List
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 The initial blast is akin to speed-dating
 Most good pitches don’t require a personal
relationship
 Success depends on five things:
 Freshness & quality of the list collected
 Generosity of the “gift” being offered in the
pitch
 The ability of the email to reach the inbox
 The charm & responsiveness of the
responders
 Following up twice after the initial email
outreach

6. On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog
@chrisabraham #gtmim

7. Campaign Questions
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 Goal: what is it you need to do?
 Monitor: what are you looking to find?
 Discover: where are people talking?
 Learn: who are these talking people?
 Collect: what groups do you need?
 Engage: how best to connect?
 Outreach: how best to pitch?
 Analyze: how did you do?

8. Campaign Questions
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 Compensation: are you willing to pay influencers for their time?
 Budget: what are you willing to spend? Campaign? Per-month?
 Discretion: will you allow me to choose or do you need sign off?

9. Goals: What Do You Want to Accomplish?
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 Build brand awareness?
 Increase community engagement?
 Prospect new brand ambassadors?
 Drive sales, traffic, membership?
 Drive conversation volume?
 Improve organic search?
 Get a feel for your neighborhood?
 Launch a new product, service, investment?

10. Monitor: Listen/Look Before You Leap
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 Google Search is the best tool to get afeel
 When it comes down to it, Google does an amazing job
of giving you a 30,000-foot view of the blogosphere
 Spend some time understanding the space
 It’s not always obvious how people engage with you,
your brand, your space, or your industry. Allow your
community to lead your exploration; do not be willful:
people don’t always use your language
 Include message boards, forums, etc., in your recon
 Try out all the tools: it’s a buyer’s market
 SDL SM2, Radian6, Sysomos, Sprout Social,Lithium

11. Internet Rule #34: If It Exists There Is Porn of It
@chrisabraham #gtmim

12. Discover: Finding People Where They Live
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 Social media is much bigger than Facebook
 There are a multitude of social networks, self-run message
boards, threads deep in reddit, and ad-hoc discussions
everywhere online (Dailymile.com, etc.)
 If it exists, there is blog of it (Rule 34 variant)
 There are more than a billion active blogsworldwide
 Always start with Google
 Influencer discovery
 Traackr – traackr.com
 GroupHigh – grouphigh.com
 Little Bird – getlittlebird.com
 InkyBee – inkybee.com

13. Discover: Finding People Where They Live
@chrisabraham #gtmim

14. Learn: Do They Want to Be Engaged? AndHow?
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 Blogs (including online journalists, curators,
aggregators, group blogs, and bloggers)
 Can you find their name and email address?
 If contacting them is hard, maybe they don’t want tobe
 Look for a “how to engage/pitch” message
 Follow their directions to a T (or don’t engage them at all)
 Can you find their name and email address?
 If you can’t find it, maybe they don’t want to be pitched
 Social Networks (including FB, Twitter,etc.)
 Engage before befriending before pitching
 All Platforms (including forums, reddit, etc.)
 Many influencers want to be compensated for access

15. Collect: Demo-, Geo-, Psycho-Graphic Lists
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 The A-list/Tier-1 (the crème de la crème ofinfluence)
 Generally professional bloggers and journalists, including the blogs and profiles
of mainstream media platforms, celebrities, high Klout scores, high-traffic blogs,
authors, actors, scientists, pundits, newsmakers, and people with mad followers
 Will blog for free, but only if they’re compelled to (exclusive content, big news,
financial releases, new investment,etc.)
 Never, ever, include A-list bloggers in a bulk email pitch – hand-written only
 Prepare your kid-gloves and your checkbook – find ways to woo them
personally (over lavish meals, inviting them to HQ, or meeting them down at one of
the many conferences they attend)
 Become a persistent “bestie” – either as someone who is a communicator
pitching them good, consistent, and valuable content or, even better, a personal
friend who doesn’t just collect them as a method of access or a sign of prestige

16. Collect: Demo-, Geo-, Psycho-Graphic Lists
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 B-D-List/Tier-2 (the mid-section of the long tail often asks formoney)
 While not all B-D-list bloggers lead with an advertising rate sheet, many do
 Most PR campaigns aren’t budgeted for advertising spend so I don’t pay for posts
 Ideally, earned-media is the goal of PR campaigns, so it’s up to you
 Many of the B-D-list bloggers can get you what you need for less than a strong ad buy
 While disclosures are essential everywhere, they’re doubly so for “advertorial” content
 I tend to put any blogger who asks for money into a DNC* list
 Midrange bloggers are easier to access, harder to garner earn media mentions
from, but a worthy investment of time and attention toward a long-term relationship
 People help out their friends, so becoming close may curry favor for earned media pitches
 I generally include B-D-list bloggers in general long-tail bulk email outreach
*Do not contact list

17. sCollect: Demo-, Geo-, Psycho-Graphic List
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 E-Z-List/Tier-3 (the long-tail, including ~1 Billion online micro-influencers)
 While a billion active blogs are well out-of-scope, please remember:
 No matter how obscure your product or service, there’s probably a blog about it
 The original Rule #34 is: “If it exists, there is porn of it;” same for the blogosphere
 Collect email addresses, influencer name, and maybe location only forE-Z-list
 While I might be willing to chase down the contact info of A-D-list bloggers via forms or
hunting them down via LinkedIn or Facebook Messenger, Dailymile mail, orTwitter DMs, I
only engage long-tail micro-influencers if they share their email address gladly
 If bloggers don’t make it easy to contact them, they may not want to be contacted; and, if
you contactsomeone who doesn’t want to be, there will be serious blowback
 Send everyone in your list a bulk email pitch but be ready to engage in person
 Don’t worry, most people aren’t fanboys – a cold-pitch is fine if your “gift” isgenerous

18. Collect: Demo-, Geo-, Psycho-Graphic Lists
@chrisabraham #gtmim

19. Engage: Pitch It Slow and Right Over the Plate
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 Tell, don’t sell
 Lead with the news, not the used car
 Pitching is speed dating
 You don’t need to overwrite
 Allow people to be intrigued
 Less is more
 Attention span is limited
 Pre-masticate message into easy-to-understand
pabulum
 Don’t include attachments or inlinecontent
 Don’t BS, brow n nose, lie, or flatter
 "Please don’t say you read and love my blog,
then pitch me on something that I never cover
here" -- Mack Collier

20. Outreach: The Catch Is the More Important Part
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 The informational microsite
 Internally, I call it an SMNR
 Social Media News Release
 The kitchen sink theory
 Don’t limit the SMNR to just thepitch
 Influencers are often libertariancontrarians
 Give a lot to look through – give themoptions
 Steal me, steal me!
 Optimize content to becopied-and-pasted
 Pre-embed embed codes
 Pre-link and optimize for SEO,etc.

21. Outreach: The Magic Happens in the Inbox
@chrisabraham #gtmim

22. Outreach: Yet Another Mail Merge
@chrisabraham #gtmim

23. Analyze: It All Comes Down to the Bottom Line
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 Track using site analytics tools
 GoogleAnalytics tracking code in the SMNR
 Server-side analytics tools: AWstats,Webalizer
 Track both SMNR & targetsite
 Track using media mention tools
 I presently use SDL SM2 (AlterianSM2)
 Primary, secondary, tertiary, etc., mentions
 Lots of free and fee-basedtools
 Google Analytics is becoming moreSM-savvy
 Track using specialized landing pages
 Using affiliate tricks-of-the-trade
 Track using unique identifier URLs
 Many clients can offer affiliate-type links
 URLs unique to the campaign
 URLs unique to each influencer
 URLs unique to the product

24. Analyze: The Proof Is in the Pudding
@chrisabraham #gtmim
133 earned media blog posts, 1,350 Tweets, 40 other

25. Analyze: The Proof Is in the Pudding
@chrisabraham #gtmim

26. Analyze: The Proof Is in the Pudding
@chrisabraham #gtmim

27. Analyze: The Proof Is in the Pudding
@chrisabraham #gtmim

28. Analyze: The Proof Is in the Pudding
@chrisabraham #gtmim

29. Current Client: Skinny & Co. Coconut Oil
@chrisabraham #gtmim
 Gerris Corp worked on an earned media
campaign for Skinny & Co. coconut oil.
 Client is the perfect client for earned media:
 Product is timely and sexy
 Client is generous with all influencers
 No influencer floor
 Beautiful packaging and top-qualityproduct
 Month 1 - 185 product requests, 323 responses, 158
posts
 Month 2 - 122 product requests, 203 responses, 121
posts
 Month 3 - 128 product requests, 183 responses, 156
posts

30. Current Client: Skinny & Co. Coconut Oil
 As a thank you to all the
bloggers and
influencers, we always
try to give them all some
link love via Gerris and
my personal blog.
 We encourage Skinny &
Co. to thank, engage,
comment, Like, share,
reshare and retweet any
and all earned media
content they discover
and we share.
 While I am far from
perfect, I try to do
anything I can outside of
the product to show
personal appreciation.
@chrisabraham #gtmim

31. Any Questions?
@chrisabraham #gtmim

32. Final Words
@chrisabraham #gtmim
“Hugs not horns”
– ChrisAbraham
“Be kind, for everyone you
meet is fighting a hard battle”
– Philo of Alexandria
(or Plato or Ian MacLaren or John Watson)

33. Contact Me Any Time
@chrisabraham #gtmim
This presentation is already up on SlideShare:
www.slideshare.net/chrisabraham
Email: chris@gerr.is
Mobile: +1 202-352-5051
Twitter: @chrisabraham
Instragram: instagram.com/chrisabraham
Facebook: facebook.com/chrisabraham
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chrisabraham
Blog: chrisabraham.com/blog
Blog: gerriscorp.com/blog
Blog: rnnr.us