I’ve changed my mind. New media is not about finding the influencers. It is about attracting the influencers…with content.

Recently Channel Signal has had several companies approach it with the request of “give us your list of influencers and we will take it from there.”

Uh, noooo.

And a lot of blogs have been pontificating on the importance of locating the influencers. Of talking with them. Providing product. Making them your messengers. After quite a bit of thought, and discussions with Channel Signal analyst David Sweeney, I asked myself…

How are you gonna do that? How is a brand gonna approach an influencer and tell him or her that you really just want to use them to make more money? “Please be a low paid messenger so our brand can continue to sell more product?”

That’s like somebody coming up to you in a bar and saying, “You look like you know a lot of people in here. I’ll buy you drinks for the rest of the night if you be my friend and introduce me to your pals so that I can network into a job.”

This social media thing has gotten silly. Stupid even.

Brands will attract the influencers with excellent content placed in the right channels.

And how do you do that?

Write boldly. Be interesting. Provide information, services and game improvement techniques that make people better. And if people think you are helping them climb, run, ski, or hike better…then your brand wins.

When tweeting, think headlines or short shots of intelligence. Blogs can be more expansive with more personality. Both need to convey interesting stuff. Stuff that is…

Smart. Filled with interesting hooks. Sassy. Bold.

Target the aspirational customers with an eye to converting them to being enthusiasts. That’s your largest target market. Those are the people who will grow your brand online, and offline. And that content will attract the influencers because of its wide appeal.

Those who sell you on collecting a list of influencers and then show you how to get them to be cheap messengers are selling the allusion of control.

There is no control. The real influencers will not be your messengers. They will not be your shill for product. They will pass along your content when it is pithy. When it is interesting. Different. Appealing. When they get excited.

And that is what you want.

So, the brands in the outdoor recreational space have work to do.

Oh, and when you write content for your brand, stop selling. It’s annoying.

And buy this book, and read it.

On Writing Well

And when writing for new  media, every time you use an adjective, ask yourself…”Am I starting to sell again?”.