Photo by stefanomaggi 
Inspired by the need to scale content marketing performance, a growing number of marketers are creating better quality content that gets:
- shared more often,
- reaches more prospects and
- grows their influencer network – all at the same time
At the Content Marketing World conference, “TopRank Online Marketing” worked with the “Content Marketing Institute” to create an influencer content program and create resources for all marketers interested in content marketing.
Takeaways:
- How influencer content creates solutions for multiple audiences
- How to identify, qualify and recruit the right influencers
- How co-created, modular content is planned, collected, assembled and repurposed
- How to inspire co-creators to help amplify your content
- How to use the Attract, Engage, Convert model for influencer content performance optimization
- Best and worst practices when working with influencers on an ongoing basis.
The program involved 40+ marketing industry influencers from major brands including: Altimeter Group, Caterpillar, Indium Corporation, charity: water, Bittorrent, Bed, Bath & Beyond, SAP, John Deere, Lattice Engines, Kapost, Progressive Insurance, Boeing, MarketingProfs, ExactTarget, Copyblogger, Red Hat, Facebook, EMC Corporation, Cisco Systems, Tumblr, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Dell, Content Marketing Institute, NewsCred, Kraft Foods and more.
Influencers were drawn from the roster of nearly 200 speakers for the event. Based on identified criteria and data collected through a mix of tools, influencers were identified, qualified, recruited and engaged to provide advice according to one of 4 themes (Content Marketing Strategy, Audience Development, Visual Content, Content ROI) that coincided with the programming of the event.
Insights provided by the influencers were compiled according to theme into 4 Visual eBooks. Each eBook was complemented by a long form interview with select influencers.
Each Visual eBook was also supported with an infographic (4 in all) featuring Tweetable quotes from each influencer.
- Content Marketing Strategy eBook
- Audience Development eBook
- Visual Content Marketing Strategy eBook
- Content Marketing ROI eBook
All assets were supported with social shares on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+
Primary objectives for the program were conference awareness and influencer exposure measured by page views, and leads for the underwriting sponsor. Leading up to the conference, the eBooks earned thousands of social shares, over 145,000 views on SlideShare and 20,000 page views on TopRankBlog. By the time the conference was held, there were 2,000+ PDF downloads, 800 leads and 200+ event referrals.
- Photo by stefanomaggi