The Best Ways to Connect With Social Media Influencers
How you approach someone has a huge impact on the impression you make. After all, it only takes seven seconds to make a first impression on another human being, according to a Harvard study of communication. When we meet people for the first time, we make quick decisions about them. And this is also partially true for when approaching someone online.
When contacting influencers for partnerships, it’s important that you are professional and do it in the right manner. Otherwise, you will find yourself struggling to get any success with establishing influencer partnerships, as you will get few replies, and the replies you do get will in most cases not be positive.
When getting in touch with a social media influencer, you to want to keep your message short and to the point, to avoid wasting their time. Social media influencers get tons of notifications from a bunch of different places, and there are a lot of things for them to keep track of.
The first (and biggest challenge) for marketers is finding suitable and relevant influencers. But the second challenge is reaching out to the influencer, building a relationship, and ultimately establish a relationship.
In this article, I will share my top tips on how to connect with social media influencers. We will zoom in on the different communication channels you can connect with them, but also talk a little bit about what you want to think of when contacting them.
The Most Effective Ways to Connect With Social Media Influencers
1. Email
Email is undoubtedly the best way to contact influencers. Email is considered the more professional way to communicate, and most influencers strive to keep a professional image. Using email also sends signals that you are a serious company.
Furthermore, using email means that you allow them to answer on their own terms. For example, if you try calling them, it may not be the ideal time for them to talk. So in that sense, you are respecting their time and allowing them to respond to you when they have time.
When it comes to writing a message, you really want to fine-tune your message so that it resonates with the influencer. The number one thing you want to stay away from is writing a very generic message. This is the biggest turn-off for anyone, and I’m sure you can recognize this as well.
As soon as we see a generic mail in our inboxes, we tend to just zoom out and delete it. If the sender has not taken the time to write a thoughtful and personal email, why would you take the time to read it? Also, social media influencers receive generic emails from brands all the time, and to some extent, they need to filter away brands and partnership they don’t feel resonate with their personal brand. And if you are sending a generic email, chances are, you will be filtered away.
It doesn’t take a lot to write an email to an influencer which really stands out and gets traction, however, you need to be thoughtful about what you write.
Below, we will share some tips on how you’re going to write your email. And have in mind that this way of writing applies to all ways of reaching out to an influencer. We have also created a more extensive and detailed guide on how to approach social media influencers if you really want to get detailed.
1.Be personal
To begin with, you want to add a little personality to your message. Start by telling a bit about yourself and your brand. Give a little background about your brand and what you do so that the influencer can get a better understanding of whether or not your brand is a good fit. Staying on the same track, you also want to be personal about them. Tell them why you approach them, why you think they would be a good fit, and what you like about them. It is also a good idea to be very specific about something they’ve done earlier. By doing this, you show that you’ve done your research. This sends them signals that you don’t simply mass-email to every influencer you come by, but rather that it is a well-thought out decision.
2.Describe the partnership
The next thing you want to do in your message is to describe the partnership and influencer marketing campaign that you are envisioning. This gives the influencer an idea of what you expect from them, and they can think about whether it sounds interesting. At the same time, you want to show that you are open to hearing their ideas for a campaign and partnership. The reason for this is that the influencer is the person who knows their audience best. They know what works and what doesn’t.
3.Mention compensation
Lastly, it is worth mentioning the compensation in the email. What are your thoughts on compensation for the influencer? How will you pay them and what will you pay them? If you don’t have any idea of how much you should be paying influencers, simply ask them what they want as compensation.
Sometimes, it can be difficult to find the influencers’ email address. They might not have written it anywhere in their profile and not on their website either (if they have one). Most influencers have it visible on their website, but not all do.
When using Veloce Network influencer directory, all registered influencers have an email address so all you need to do is filter the influencers, click their profile and then email them! Easy as that. Plus, it’s free. If you know the company or website of the influencer you’re reaching out to but can’t find their email address, you can use Email hunter. This site lets you type in a website, and then it will present the emails that are associated with that website. It does not work for all websites, but for many of them.
2. Private messages
Another way to reach out to social media influencers is via private messages. With private messages, I mean the chat function that most social media platforms have. On Instgram, it’s Direct Message, on Facebook, it is Messenger, and so on.
Sometimes, the influencer doesn’t have an email or it’s difficult to find it, then Private messages is a good way to get in touch with the influencer.
Begin by identifying which platforms the influencer is most active on. When you have done that, write your message and send it. The problem with private messages is that social media influencers with a lot of followers tend to receive a lot of private messages from their fans and followers. As a result, your message might get lost in the noise, and the influencer may miss it. But at the same time, there’s a greater chance that they will read it if you send it compared to if you don’t.
4. LinkedIn groups
LinkedIn Groups: If you can’t get an email address, but want to make contact with influencers, try LinkedIn. But what if you’re not connected? You just need to join a group they’re in. Group members can message each other without using LinkedIn Premium. This is a great hack that we have found great success in. Look at their profile, find their groups, join those groups! Voilá!
5. Call them!
This is a way of contacting influencers that you want to use with consideration. First off, few social media have their phone numbers listed due to the fact that their fans and followers would call them all the time if they did. However, smaller influencers may have their numbers listed, and if they do, it means that they are open to speaking on the phone. The catch, however, is that you are not contacting them on their terms, as mentioned earlier. They might be super busy and don’t have time to talk when you call. This is why you always want to start your call with “am I disturbing?” or something similar. That way, you also show that you respect them and their time.
There’s a great benefit with calling influencers, and that is that it offers a new layer of relationship-building which just isn’t possible in a message. You will have a much easier time building a relationship with them and establishing trust in your brand if executed correctly, and this will prove to be very valuable.
If they don’t respond..
If they don’t respond to your messages, it may depend on two main reasons.
- They are not interested.
- They haven’t seen your message.
To get them to see your message, let them know you’ve sent them a message in their comment sections. Most influencers are going through their comments so leaving a not there that you’ve messaged them, there’s a big chance they’ll check their messages.
If they have a blog, you can also contact them through the comment sections there. Just leave a comment notifying them that they’ve got a message waiting for them.
