A big challenge faced by a new business is getting your product in front of people. How can you grow your social media following and expose your product to more people if nobody knows you exist?
An easy way to increase your exposure is to collaborate with people who already have lots of engaged followers.
There are so many things you can do to market your products, most of which take time and money and have no guarantee of success. Getting your product into the hands of a social media influencer could mean it’s exposed to an audience of hundreds of thousands overnight.
Identifying Influencers
Online influencers have huge social media followings. Their fans are eager to see what they’re interested in and follow their advice. They usually have a lot of trust in what the influencer has to say.
Influencers might participate in different online and social media formats:
- Blogs and newsletters
- Vlogs (think YouTube)
- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or other social media channels
These offer nearly limitless opportunities for exposure through social sharing. Once the influencer shares your product, it will be shared even further by his or her followers.
Influencers are pretty easy to identify. All you need to do is look at their social media pages or Alexa traffic numbers for some key indicators. Influencers usually have:
- A large social media following
- Lots of comments, likes, and shares
- Big traffic numbers to their websites
Pitching Influencers
- Customize your pitch and use the influencer’s first name in your email.
- Explain why you like their blog, vlog, social media account, etc.
- Introduce yourself and your brand in no more than a few sentences.
- Offer to send your product to the influencer as a free gift.
- Include a call to action to trigger a response from the influencer.
- Keep the message brief; fewer than 10 sentences.
- Add a personalized P.S. at the end.
Follow Up with the Influencer
- Follow them on social media and comment, like, or share their content when appropriate.
- Add relevant comments to their blog to help generate good discussion.
After You’re Accepted
- Sharing a photo from your social media account with the influencer’s followers
- Reviewing your product and sharing information about where to buy it
- Holding a contest to give away one of your products
- Mentioning the product in some positive light
- Send another email or handwritten note thanking her profusely!
- Share the blog post (or video, or social media share) with your own fans as much as you can.

3 Comments. Leave new
Great information!! Very helpful. 🙂 Karen
Influencers have gotten huge, and come from the most unlikely places. I see so many vine ‘celebrities’ promoting products in their own creative and unique styles in 6 second videos. The key is finding a influencer who is genuinely passionate about your product. Great article!
These are good tips. It’s so important to familiarize yourself with what the influencer’s blog and social accounts are all about – don’t pitch a product that makes no sense for them. It wreaks of mass mailing if it’s obvious you know nothing about their mission or content. e.g. don’t pitch bird food to a cat blogger unless you know that they (or their readers) have a bird! Also, most influencers want to be paid to promote your product unless it’s a high value product or something they really want to try so don’t be offended if they say no or ignore you – most good influencers get dozens of pitches every week, or even daily! Find the right fit to be more successful.