More and more, influencer marketing is becoming an incredible strategy for marketers looking to improve the success of their content marketing. To help you pass the influencer marketing test, TopRank Marketing has tapped into the minds of marketing executives from top brands including LinkedIn, HubSpot, Citrix, NewsCred, Century 21, SAP, BlackBerry, Zendesk and Xerox. This is only a sliver of what you'll learn by downloading the full eBook at: http://tprk.us/rule-the-school

2. Content marketing + influencers
59% of marketers are
planning to increase their
influencer marketing budgets
over the next 12 months.
- Tomoson
of worldwide consumers will take
action based on the reviews and
recommendations of trusted sources.
- Nielsen
84%
20-50%
Is the number of
purchasing
decisions impacted
by word-of-mouth.
- McKinsey Company
If you really want to ace
content marketing, then it’s
time to begin incorporating
influencers into your strategy.
Get ready to hit to books and
learn from top marketers how
your brand can use influencer
marketing to RULE THE
MARKETING SCHOOL.

3. According to Nielsen, content produced by
experts is the ONLY type of content that has
been proven to exhibit a strong lift in all areas of
the purchase cycle.
Influencers are worth their weight in gold as they
have already engaged and gained credibility with
your target audience. And most often, they are
looking to partner with brands to further build
their personal brand via association. Influencer
co-created content doesn’t require a large staff
nor budget and it is truly a win/win/win for your
digital marketing strategy as it impacts paid,
earned, and owned media.
“Influencers are worth their weight
in gold as they have already
credibility with your target audience.”
INFLUENCER cheat sheet
Celia Brown
@celiabrown
Senior Director of Content
Marketing
SAP
Most Likely To: Bring
different teams together
and inspire creativity across
the organization.

4. INFLUENCER cheat sheet
To successfully approach influencer co-creation,
you must have a plan in place before you do
anything, and know what your goals are. Ask
yourself and your team: what does success look
like after your plan is fully in effect?
Start out by identifying your influencers, weed out
the ones who are untouchable, then put together
a list of tactics to get on their radar. Once you start
to put the plan in place you are going to have to
measure the results and prove the value of your
strategy beyond just “engaging with influencers”
as that’s not going to be sustainable.
“Successful content co-creation
requires that you have a plan in
place before you do anything else.”
Jason Miller
@JasonMillerCA
Group Manager, Global
Content Marketing
LinkedIn
Most Likely To: Spend time
jamming with his band and
listening to AC/DC while
simultaneously updating his
LinkedIn Profile.

5. Brands can grow their influence amongst
customers by co-creating content with industry
experts who are already influential.
Use buyer-centric topics and keywords to guide
influencer interview questions, titles, link text and
social promotions. Brand and influencer expertise
should combine to create “the best answer” to
solve a customer problem.
When brands engage participating influencers to
answer themed questions buyers have during the
sales process, the resulting content is more
relevant, credible and actionable.
“Co-create content with industry
experts that are already influential
to grow brand influence.”
INFLUENCER cheat sheet
Lee Odden
@leeodden
CEO
TopRank Online Marketing
Most Likely To: Get sand in his
beard while relaxing on the beach
and sharing photos on Instagram.

6. Co-created content is very effective as an
engagement tactic to reach a wider audience.
Whether you are creating a crowd-sourced social
media campaign or soliciting expert opinions
from industry professionals, co-creation provides
an inherent dispersal of the creative process and
provides more opportunity to generate
enthusiasm for the content as a whole.
A message is uniquely understood by each
individual, so by offering the audience multiple
flavors within the context of one campaign you
are more likely to appeal to more people’s tastes
and optimize for share-ability.
“By offering multiple flavors within one
content campaign you are more likely to appeal
to more people’s tastes and sharability.”
INFLUENCER cheat sheet
Matt Gentile
@MattGentile
Director of Social Media
Century 21
Most Likely To: Lead the charge
for bringing people together and
finding a sprawling craftsman for
everyone to congregate.

7. When you research a topic on Google, what
comes back can be overwhelming… how do you
make sense of it all, who do you trust?
Buyers are people and they turn to other people
who they follow and trust for help in making
sense of everything that’s out there. Partnering
with the right influencers can be very beneficial
to increase awareness of your brand and lead to
purchase consideration.
“Buyers are people and they turn to
other people who they follow and
trust for help.”
INFLUENCER cheat sheet
Jeannine Rossignol
@j9rossignol
Vice President of Marketing
Xerox
Most Likely To: Find ways to
innovate marketing strategy while
managing the busy schedules of
her four sons.

8. HOW TO ACE THE CONTENT MARKETING TEST WITH INFLUENCERS
This is only a sample of what you’ll find in the complete guide to
influencer marketing from TopRank Marketing and GroupHigh.
In the complete guide you’ll find 5 essential lessons on co-
creating winning content marketing with influencers as well as
practical advice from 10 of today’s top content marketers. You’ll
also get actionable homework to improve your skills immediately.
Are you ready to increase the quality and reach of your content?
Then download your free copy of “Rule the School: 5 Essential
Lessons on Co-Creating Content with Influencers” today!
DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY NOW