To be influential, one must hold the power to determine, guide and/or impact the decisions and perceptions of others. When applied to marketing, the goal is advocacy. “Influencer marketing is getting others to share your story, generate interest and make your case.” ~ Ardath Albee

Influencer marketing is a marketing strategy focused on capitalizing on the power of people (influencers or brand ambassadors) to advocate for your brand.

“Never mistake the power of influence.” ~ Jim Rohn

By utilizing influencer marketing, your benefits are solid. You gain access to a pre-established, receptive audience which already has a built-in level of trust with the brand ambassador. This helps build credibility. You also get additional help creating content. This content meets your target’s needs. Know your content and message are getting out in the right way, to the right people at the right time.

Is influencer marketing right for you? That depends on what you’re trying to influence (see what we did there, friends?). Know your business and marketing goals, audience, strategies, tactics and measurement. These help determine if influencer marketing is worth the considerable amount of time it can take.

Mapping out an influencer marketing strategy up front can help you minimize the time it will cost you and maximize your results.

Four Keys to a Successful Influencer Marketing Plan

1. Know Your Audience. Make sure you are spreading your message to the (targeted) audience you need to see it, and in the places they are most likely to see it.
2. Know Your Goals. Make sure you have set, measurable objectives. Otherwise, it will be impossible to measure your success.
3. Know Your Ambassadors. The most powerful tool influencers bring to the table is the foundation of trust their audience has in them. This allows the influencer to authentically advocate your brand to your target. It is critical we don’t confuse influence with popularity. TIME does not grant their annual 25 Most Influential People on the Internet influential status based upon the number of followers they have on social media. Instead, they “evaluated contenders by looking at their global impact on social media and their overall ability to drive news.”
4. Know Your Space. Influencer marketing is not limited to social media platforms. The places where the people in your audience are hanging online (if they aren’t on your site) are key to know as those places are influencers. Depending on your audience, you may have better results through specific bloggers’ websites over Instagram (or vice versa).

YOU are your brand’s biggest ambassador. However, when done successfully, having others advocate for you is powerful. Influencer marketing can help you in cultivating the growth you want for your brand.

Everyone has his or her own morning routine – mine happens to include hitting the snooze button at least once, a big cup of coffee and a quick scroll though Twitter.

Twitter is how I keep up with friends, keep up with the news, but most importantly- how I keep up with marketing. By following my favorite branding and strategy experts, I am able to learn their insights from decades of experience that I don’t have.

Over the past few months, I have curated a list of marketers that I follow to cover all the marketing bases, and here are just a few of my favorites.

Seth Godin (@ThisIsSethsBlog) – Author of the book, Purple Cow and others, where he discusses how to transform your business and yourself by being remarkable, posts daily about permission marketing and tips on how to be the “purple cow” in a field full of competition. His twitter is purely reposts of his blog, which ranges in topics from how to turn your creativity into a profession, to how to power a digital future for your brand.

Jay Baer (@jaybaer) – If you want a daily update on all different aspects of digital marketing, follow Jay, as he is the most re-tweeted person in the world among digital marketers. His posts include influence marketing workbooks, six step playbooks for handling social media complaints, and everything in between.

Ann Handley (@MarketingProfs) – If content marketing is your thing, then definitely follow Ann, as she is “waging a war on mediocrity in content marketing.”

Bonin Bough (@boughb) – He is currently chief of media and eCommerce at Mondelēz International (formerly Kraft Foods), and specializes in digital strategy that crosses paid, earned, owned and shared media. Posts a great deal of social media tips, and if you know Front Porch Marketing, you know we LOVE all things social media.

Marie Forleo (@marieforleo) – Guru of how to achieve the perfect work/life balance. Posts about how to build a business you love, increase customer trust through social media, and increase productivity in every day life.

Robert Caruso (@fondalo) – Another expert content and digital marketer, who tweets about innovative ways to improve your social media, tips on how to increase brand awareness for startups, and how to get results in B2B marketing.

Kim Garst (@kimgarst) – As one of Forbes top ten social media influencers, she is the queen of social selling strategy. Her tweets range from Facebook advertisement jumpstart guides, tips on how to keep the cost of SEO down, and “cheat sheets” for selling on social media.
Bryan Solis (@briansolis)- Expert on digital marketing who provides step by step help for brands looking to transform their digital approach to create a brand experience.

Neil Patel (@neilpatel) – If you want to read a little bit of everything about digital marketing, Neil is your guy. As a Forbes columnist with years of experience in marketing, he combines motivational business tips with the knowledge necessary to succeed as a modern marketer.

While these are just a few of the hundreds of successful and influential marketers to follow on Twitter, by reading a few of their posts daily I am able to keep up with the ever-changing world of marketing. In addition to following experts in the field, a lot of successful marketers follow venture capitalists, as they see and predict new innovation that affects most industries and markets. Effective and influential marketers have to keep up in order to connect with their target market, so why not utilize social media to do so?

Rachel Mains is an intern at Front Porch Marketing. Follow her on Twitter.