Hey Influencer: Try Influencing Your Boss!

Presented by Rebekah KingConsumer Communications Manager, Kelley Blue Book

Rebekah KingConsumer Communications ManagerKelley Blue Book

@rebekah_king

• Devises and implements online and offline social media strategies that increase awareness among consumers, particularly Gen Y and Millennial groups.

• Ensures that all interactive promotional efforts are aligned with overall corporate goals and strategies.

• Develops and implements programs that increase brand awareness in the consumer marketplace, while increasing traffic to the company’s website and social channels.

Setting expectations

For both internal and external influencer outreach, we hold three steps to ‘awesomeness’1. Identify the influencers2. Learn their language3. Get to work

I’ll share the theory and the practice I have applied at Kelley Blue Book.

Because we are a private company, exact values may be blurred.While we do discuss competitive segments, I will not be commenting on our competitors.

@rebekah_king

Three Steps to Influencer Awesomeness

1. Identify the influencers

2. Learn their language

3. Get to work

@rebekah_king

Whoever you are...

• new media, public relations, communications, marketing, blogger outreach, influencer outreach, social media, consumer marketing, community management, marketing technology, social strategy, digital strategy, public outreach, digital marketing specialist, community creator/manager & specialist, online communities, interactive production, integrated marketing

@rebekah_king

...you report to someone• Manager• Director• Chief Executive or Vice President• CEO or President• Owners or Board of Directors

CEO

PR Marketing

Social Media

Product

Product Development

KBB.com

SEO Research

Analytics Sales Legal

@rebekah_king

Influencer outreach begins within your org

• Your boss

• Their boss

• The ‘dude’

– He or she who thinks they should be your boss

• The ‘hater’

– He or she whose budget was redirected to you

– He or she who (insert political reason to hate you here)

Metrics level outthe playing field

@rebekah_king

1. Identify the influencers

2. Learn their language

3. Get to work

@rebekah_king

Three Steps to Influencer Awesomeness

Learn the language of the influencer

It’s all about them

• Their metrics

• Their goals

• Their motivations

• Their strategy CEO

PR Marketing

Social Media

Product

Product Development

KBB.com

SEO Research

Analytics Sales Legal

Only youcan bring

clarity

@rebekah_king

The Language of Kelley Blue Book

We speak ‘dashboard’...

...and make decisions based on ‘projections’...

...but, I work with ‘people’@rebekah_king

Three Steps to Influencer Awesomeness

1. Identify the influencers

2. Learn their language

3. Get to work

*Remember: when you work smarter first, ‘hard’ is do-able

@rebekah_king

C-o-r-r-e-l-a-t-e

@rebekah_king

The Language of Kelley Blue Book

@rebekah_king

Get To Work

• Develop Context

• Put a Plan in Place

• Communicate

• (begin again)

@rebekah_king

The Language of Kelley Blue Book

C-o-n-t-e-x-t

@rebekah_king

Why outreach? Overview Data

Blogs

@rebekah_king

Why outreach? Overview Data

Social Media

@rebekah_king

Why outreach? Trended Data

@rebekah_king

Get To Work

• Develop Context

• Put a Plan in Place

• Communicate

• (begin again)

@rebekah_king

Put a Plan in Place: Program Snapshot

• Why– Value to the Business

• Drive traffic to KBB.com (direct revenue impact)• Increase page rank via backlinks (indirect revenue impact)

– Value to Marketing• Increase share of voice in the marketplace• Decrease competitors share of voice in the marketplace

• Who– The people with the greatest impact on our ‘why’ objectives

• When– Ongoing, with Director reports monthly and org reports quarterly

• Where– Online (blogs, email, social media)

• How– Multimedia outreach and more TBD

What A program to systematically allocate staff time to developing relationships with key influencers in non-traditional media (making friends)

@rebekah_king

Get To Work

• Develop Context

• Put a Plan in Place

• Communicate

• (begin again)

@rebekah_king

Speak the language: Executives

@rebekah_king

Speak the language: Teams

@rebekah_king

Ways to CommunicateShare everything, somehow

• Executive Briefings

• Sharepoint

• Internal presentations

• Lunch & Learns

• Analysis

• Post-ops

@rebekah_king

Rebekah KingConsumer Communications ManagerKelley Blue Bookrking@kbb.com@rebekah_king

@kelleybluebookYouTube.com/KBB

/KBB

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