Learn How Influencers Can Power Your Movement→

Influencer marketing is definitely a modern buzzword, but what does it actually mean for coalitions on the ground, and how can you build an influencer network from scratch?

With the changing nature of social media advertising, influencer relationships are more critical than ever, providing the opportunity to leverage social media channels at scale to directly support advocacy activities.

When people think of influencers they usually think of celebrities or stylish millennials selling beauty products, but an influencer is by definition anyone who can influence the public, or decision-makers, in how they think or act. They don’t have to have a million followers if they represent an important constituency of a key member of Parliament.

Some influencer groups that could be tapped for your advocacy campaign include:

  • Journalists
  • Celebrities
  • Legal Experts
  • Academics + Researchers
  • Parenting Commentators
  • Health and Lifestyle Advocates
  • Medical Professionals
  • Business Leaders

When researching potential influencers first do an audit of your organizational network offline and online, seeing if there are any promising potential advocates who are already engaging with your organization or your issue. Social listening tools can also be key to to identifying good targets.

We recommend that groups conduct digital mapping around who on social media will be able to impact your key decision-makers. We’ll discuss digital mapping more during the webinar.

Our framework for classifying influencers looks at advocates terms of their impact and their commitment to a campaign. A celebrity may have a huge impact on a surface level but only be connected to a campaign in a limited way, whereas a dedicated advocate + low-level influencer may only have 5,000 Twitter followers but can continue to engage with a campaign on a sustained level.

A strong influencer network will have relationships at both ends of the spectrum. High-level relationships are great, but individuals with a lower reach can be just as important especially if they represent a key audience.

Some high-profile influencers can only be engaged through paid partnerships, however. That’s why we’ve developed a capacity building program just for teaching organizations how to identify, manage, and execute paid engagements with influencers.

We’ve also developed a program that provides centralized resources for organizing and managing global networks of smaller grassroots influencers.