When I was doing some research on influencer marketing a few months ago, I came across a lot of nice infographics but the one that stood out was actually a gifographic. 

I hadn't heard the name before but it's pretty cool. 

It's just an infographic as we know them but with gifs and it makes it much more fun. 

So today, we'll look at one such gifographic (perhaps you can think about creating some for your business too) that covers some interesting influencer marketing strategies. 

It's called influencer marketing strategies but to me, they are more tactics that you can use once you have your overall influencer marketing strategy that defines why you're doing this, what your goals are, what the impact to your brand would be and how much you'd want to spend on all activities. 

Then you can choose some of the below ideas to make sure you hit the above goals based on what you want to do and what you have at your disposal. 

Now, let's take a look at those tactics.

Do you feel like everything around you is about COVID-19?

I turn on the news, it's non-stop COVID-19. 

I check my Facebook feed, it's all COVID-19. 

My LinkedIn, same story. My Twitter, likewise. Google, also. 

COVID-19, COVID-19, COVID-19...

But what's worse is that COVID-19 has overtaken my inbox - I've received dozens or more emails from companies, including a bunch of irrelevant and dry press releases on how they're tackling the crisis. 

It's a huge crisis, I won't deny it. But the more it's being talked about, the more people are getting tired of it - I've discussed this with quite a few colleagues and friends and they all agree. 

Especially, when businesses are not properly planning their messages and who they reach with them.

If you work in marketing and PR, you know there’s been a sea change. The old “push” tactics the industry once relied on no longer work well in the digital age.

As a PR professional, journalists and media folks are your consumers and today’s consumers increasingly reject top-down, interruptive messages trying to sell a story.

What they accept and crave is relevant content that draws them in, engages them, and helps them write the stories they know their readers want.

They want tactics that are inbound.

The problem, however, is most PR firms are still outbound organisations trying to survive in an inbound world.

What’s Not Working in PR?

A few weeks ago, I shared how I started my career in PR and where it got me. (If you haven't read it, check it out and come back.)

In my early days, I used to do a lot of traditional media relations as in pitching journalists and national media. Shortly after that, came the influencers - the bloggers and the YouTubers. Instagram wasn't big at that time. 

I wouldn't say that the influencers changed the game on how to do proper media relations. Regardless whether you're pitching journalists or bloggers, YouTubers and Instagrammers, the principles are the same if you want to do it right.

But the very key principle is to treat them like human beings who have their own goals, needs, ways they like to communicate and make decisions. 

You need to be a bit like an anthropologist if you want to succeed when working with influencers. 

But let me tell you about a typical scenario that I used to encounter almost every week when I started working in PR and had to deal with influencers.

Every forward-thinking PR or marketing professional will tell you that top-down, “push” messages no longer work.

We live in a world that’s gone inbound. A world where to be successful with your communication you need to rely on methods that pull people into your brand rather than interrupt them with irrelevant content.

This is exactly what Inbound PR is all about – it’s a whole new philosophy on how to do PR in the modern, digital world.

Its methodology focuses on two key areas – content and measurement.

Remarkable content created and shared on the right mediums is the most successful way to reach your audience, or as we normally say in inbound – your personas.

Measurement then is essential to 1) gauge the success of your campaigns and 2) improve as you go.

All of this sounds very logical and kind of simple but its actual execution is what most companies and professionals have major difficulties with.

Through my work as a PR professional and an agency business consultant, I’ve found that most businesses struggle to transform towards Inbound PR because of fear.