{"id":880,"date":"2016-01-13T16:18:42","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T00:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/?p=880"},"modified":"2020-11-25T10:50:27","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T18:50:27","slug":"how-to-build-successful-influencer-relationships-an-interview-with-sam-hurley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.canirank.com\/blog\/how-to-build-successful-influencer-relationships-an-interview-with-sam-hurley\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Build Successful Influencer Relationships: An Interview With Sam Hurley"},"content":{"rendered":"

First in our new series profiling\u00a0successful SEO consultants and agencies who use CanIRank, our Community Relations Associate Melissa Gosse interviews\u00a0master relationship builder Sam Hurley to learn the\u00a0tools & methods he uses to streamline his influencer outreach. Turns out it’s not all about sappy emails and Twitter stalking…<\/h3>\n

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\"Melissa

Melissa Gosse<\/p><\/div>\n

Melissa Gosse (MG)<\/strong>:\u00a0Successful content marketing in 2016 requires a delicate balance between creativity, technical skills, and relationship building<\/a>. Today we’re going to focus on the latter skill by picking the brain of one of the best\u00a0connecters I’ve ever had the pleasure of \u2014 well, connecting<\/em> with. Being able to build genuine and mutually-beneficial relationships from behind a computer screen is\u00a0something of an art form, and doing so in the SEO and content marketing space where so many of us are constantly inundated with spammy, low-quality outreach from desperate link builders makes it that much harder.<\/p>\n

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\"SEO

Sam Hurley<\/p><\/div>\n

Our guest Sam Hurley (SH)<\/strong> has navigated this environment with aplomb, building a huge following on social media<\/a> and in the real world, which he’s managed to leverage into placements and features on sites such as the BBC, Search Engine Watch<\/a>, Social Media Examiner, NBC News \u2014 and now, CanIRank! When not out growing his network, Sam Hurley is a U.K based content marketer & growth hacker, Founder of OPTIM-EYEZ<\/a> and head of search marketing at Midas Media<\/a>. Sam is an active tweeter<\/a>, sharing tips and tricks for SEO and influencer outreach with his 90k+ followers.<\/p>\n

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\"Influencer

Building real connections with people is as much a part of SEO as keyword relevancy, meta tags, and duplicate content.<\/p><\/div>\n

MG: How important is relationship building in SEO?<\/h3>\n

SH: Relationships are everything<\/a> in modern marketing. I can\u2019t stress this enough! Pretty much all of the features I\u2019ve bagged on top websites have been the result of strong relations.<\/p>\n

And we all know what a \u2018feature\u2019 usually means, right? Links! Still said to be the core deciding factor in search engine rankings, links should be viewed as a prize for all the hard work you\u2019ve put into creating a spider\u2019s web of connections.<\/p>\n

If your web is solid, links will begin to fall into your grasp. This will become easier with time as your presence compounds.<\/p>\n

Never neglect influencer relationships because you\u2019re busy chasing Google\u2019s algorithm. One highly authoritative, relevant link within a guest blog of value to its readers is worth so much more than 10 crappy links shoehorned into a 400 word post on a website which clearly sells links.<\/p>\n

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Industry leaders, customers and partners are the lifeblood of your search engine optimization. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

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MG: Do you have any tips for connecting with influencers?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

SH: Influencer marketing is so powerful these days BUT many small businesses fail to grasp the concept with etiquette. Nobody likes to be spammed<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"business<\/a>

Influencer outreach occurs across many mediums<\/p><\/div>\n

Blasting 50 self-promotional tweets to a complete stranger isn\u2019t going to work. Instead, spend a great deal of time researching a group of influential people in your industry so you have the ammunition to engage with them.\u00a0This process should be spread over a few weeks, giving you adequate time to interact with your influencers, share their material and take a genuine interest in what they do. Have you any feedback on their latest articles? Have they helped you in some way? Let them know. Keep tastefully chiselling away and eventually you will begin to become recognized as a familiar face within their social feed.<\/p>\n

Once this stage of the relationship has been reached, assess it. Have they replied to you at all? Were they receptive to your comments? If so, it may now be a good time to ask for their feedback on one of your articles or projects.<\/p>\n

This is commonly known as the outreach process<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Keep your message succinct; don\u2019t overwhelm or annoy them because this will turn everyone away.<\/p>\n

Perhaps they could add some input to your piece. Feature their advice with a link to their Twitter profile and a nice big headshot to ego-bait them. How could anyone ignore it?!<\/p>\n

If they do ignore it, learn why and make it simply unmissable:<\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n
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  1. Is your website up to scratch? Does it look the part?<\/li>\n
  2. Is your article \u2018on the pulse\u2019? Does it present a problem and a unique solution?<\/li>\n
  3. Did you rush any stages of outreach?<\/li>\n
  4. Is there anything within the article that could put the influencer off i.e. competitor mentions?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Never attempt to \u2018take\u2019 first. Always give something and then ask for a favour. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>If I had a penny for each time someone made this mistake on Twitter I\u2019d be a very rich man!<\/span><\/p>\n

    #FACEPALM<\/p>\n

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    MG: What is the best use of automation for tracking relationships that you’ve found?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    SH: I like to keep things as simple as possible in such a complex world of marketing. There are many elaborate (and expensive) tools out there to track influencer campaigns. I personally stick to a combination of private and public Twitter lists, Sidekick email tracking, and of course\u00a0CanIRank.<\/p>\n

    Twitter lists<\/a><\/strong> are great to keep an eye on all your chosen influencers in one place. Keep them private or publicly display your lists
    \n<\/a>so to notify those included. This can be leveraged as another ego tool. Just name your lists wisely! \u2018Influencers to Target\u2019 probably won\u2019t go down too well…<\/p>\n

    Sidekick tool<\/strong> integrates with the Microsoft Outlook email client. You are alerted whenever someone opens an email or clicks on any link contained within. Similarly, any emails which haven\u2019t been opened will be shown. Love this app.<\/p>\n

    \"CanIRank

    Finding link building opportunities with CanIRank’s Promote my Content tool<\/p><\/div>\n

    CanIRank Link Building tool<\/a><\/strong>: Unlike something like Google Alerts<\/a> or\u00a0Mention<\/a>, the CanIRank tool filters through only hhigh-qualitypages (where a link has the most value) vs. pulling up everything\/anything that is semi-related. The problem with many tools is they pick up too much spam junk. 99% of it is so low quality that you\u2019d actually be hurting your website if you tried to promote there!<\/p>\n

    Link building alternatives like Google Alerts or Mention also lack the differentiation that this tool provides. For example, helping you see at a glance which are influencers you might be able to benefit from (like someone who maintains a resource page, writes reviews or puts together a weekly roundup) vs. those who offer no mutual benefit (like the CEO of your competitor).<\/p>\n

    With the keyword \u201cSEO software\u201d, here\u2019s today\u2019s Mention alerts<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

    \"using<\/a>

    Not sure why Mention considers these guys to be “influencers”, but they’re mostly promoting spammy affiliate links — not my scene.<\/p><\/div>\n

    Here\u2019s today\u2019s Google Alerts<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

    \"Google<\/a>

    So much junk to wade through! I don’t really want to be on these spam sites.<\/p><\/div>\n

    And here are CanIRank\u2019s Link Opportunities<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

    \"Link<\/a>

    Relevant, authoritative, and categorized by page type so I can see what it will take to get a link there. Now this is something I can work with!<\/p><\/div>\n

    With the CanIRank examples, there\u2019s less spam because every result is filtered and scored to retrieve higher quality pages, scoring how relevant the page is to your specific topic.<\/p>\n

    As a bonus, the tool also provides \u2018page type\u2019 so you can use a different strategy for each opportunity, plus an Actionable score so you can focus on the ones where you have the best chance of earning a link. Clever!<\/p>\n

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    MG: What’s the best pitch\/request email that you’ve received?<\/h3>\n

    \"Digital<\/a>SH: It was actually just a couple of weeks ago. Beginning of the month = reporting day at Midas Media<\/a>. I received an email along the\u00a0lines of… \u201cTired of doing those monthly reports?\u201d …which went on to sell an automated, analytical reporting tool. Bearing in mind this was a completely cold email, I went on to tell the team and now I\u2019m using a free demo with intent to purchase.<\/p>\n

    Although not an editorial request, the reason I mention this email is because it ticked the 3 most important boxes of outreach:<\/p>\n