作者：Jerry Chew

影响者是指那些活跃在Facebook，Twitter，YouTuber或博客等平台上的个体。真正的影响者将会对他们的关注者产生一定的影响力，如果选择合理，这些影响者们将能够有效推动你的品牌形象与曝光度。

influencer(from gamasutra)

与过去相比，比起传统意义上的一些名人，如今的公司更多地会去选择那些具有影响力的人。而这些影响者之所以具有影响力便是因为他们的粉丝将能从他们那里获得内容。这并不只是在创造更有热情的粉丝基础，而是一群人真正对影响者所传达的内容感兴趣。

以下便是帮助你更好地利用影响者的7大建议：

1.利用与你的品牌有关系或对你的品牌感兴趣的影响者

在选择影响者时，关联性非常关键。找到一个与你的品牌具有关系的影响者将对你们更有帮助，因为他们将能够创造出更有说服力的宣传内容。因为粉丝们往往都不愿意看到一些毫不相关的产品植入，这也会对你们的品牌造成负面影响。

让我们列举一个关于和有益于你的品牌的游戏影响者合作的有效例子。创造品牌的全新忠实追随者的最佳方法便是让影响者表现出自己是真心喜欢你们的品牌。

2.确保你的影响者真正具有影响力

在选择某些人去推广你的品牌/产品之前，你可以先了解对方的一些资料。在社交媒体上拥有许多粉丝和赞的影响者并不代表他们就能对你的品牌推广产生真正的影响力。因为只要肯花钱，任何人都可以通过发布有趣但却非原创的内容而获取知名度，或者可以通过购买像Facebook页面点赞等方式而变得有名气。所以开发者必须确保有效分析影响者是否真的对他的关注者具有影响力。

3.了解你的影响者的用户群体

也就是第2点的延续，即你必须研究你的影响者的用户群体类型，并明确他们是否是你想要传达产品的目标用户。即你可能会选择一个主要以编写影评而广为人知的影响者。或许该影响者对游戏充满热情，但是他们却不能有效将其传达给自己的关注者。

4.寻找具有创造性的影响者

必须寻找只是将你的产品照片发布出去的影响者，你应该去寻找那些能够创造高质量内容的人。虽然提及你们的品牌是好事，但通常情况下如果广告内容过于像广告会更容易被忽视。所以你最好去寻找那些对你们的领域感兴趣并乐于以创造性方式帮你们做广告的人。

5.选择可信的影响者

在这个数字时代里，并不是所有人都对网上交易和网络信息感到放心。你必须确保你的影响者的内容是可靠的，精确的且值得信任的。这才能确保你的品牌和产品更可靠且更有说服力。而做到这点的一种简单方式便是去浏览影响者的评论以及他们在Facebook上的排名，或者直接在谷歌上搜索他们的名字。看看你的潜在影响者是否伴随着一些不良争议？如果有的话，你最好不要和他们进行合作了，否则这将不利于你们的品牌形象。

6.与影响者建立持久的关系

与影响者建立超越业务范围的联系非常重要。你必须记得影响者也是消费者。良好的体验能够让他们变成你的品牌的有益倡导者，甚至是在你们的合作结束后他们仍会愿意帮你们免宣传。这也能让他们更乐意与你们进行再次合作或者在之后免费帮你们宣传内容。影响者本身也一直在寻找赞助商或合作机遇。所以与合适的影响者进行有效合作将能带给你们双方长期的双赢利益。

7.维持你自己的影响力

最后当你与影响者进行有效的合作并成功获得全新追随者时，你也不能忘记自己的品牌本身也是一个影响者。显然任何品牌都需要在社交媒体上维持自己的社交追随者。你不能只是让他们帮你传播品牌信息，同时你也要听取他们的需求，抱怨与评论。与任何关系一样，双边的交流总是非常重要，在社交媒体中亦是如此。所以你应该通过确保自己的品牌具有真正影响力而做到这点。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Maximize Your Game’s Popularity By Engaging An Influencer

by Jerry Chew

Influencers are individuals who are active on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or blogs. True influencers have a certain impact on their followers and, when chosen carefully, can boost your brand’s image and visibility in the market.

Contrary to the past, companies nowadays now employ the help of influencers more often than they do with conventional celebrities. A key rationale why such influencers may have greater impact is because their fan base was gained through the influencers’ contents. This does not just create a more passionate fan base, but a group of people who are truly interested with contents the influencer comes up with.

Taking your campaign to the next level, here are 7 tips to make the most your influencer for your campaign:

1. Engage with Influencers Who as an Affinity or Potential Interest to your Brand
Relevance is key when selecting an influencer. Finding an influencer who has a genuine affinity for your brand will be of great value as they will be able to create content that is believable and convincing to their fans. One thing that fans dislike are inappropriate product placement which sometimes is an obvious giveaway and might give your brand a negative image.

Here are top great examples of how working with gaming influencers can benefit your brand. The most effective manner to create new loyal followers of your brand is to have your influencers present themselves as people who really loves your brand.

2. Make Sure your Influencers Actually have Influence
Before paying someone to promote your brand/product, ask for their statistics. An influencer with large group of followers and likes on social media does not guarantee they have real influence. With a large sum of money, anyone can easily gain fame by syndicating interesting but unoriginal content and gain popularity by purchasing ads such as Facebook page or post likes. One key thing we should do is to analyse if your influencer has real influence on their audience.

3. Know your Influencer’s Audience
Taking the previous point to the next level, it is vital to study if your influencer’s audience and find out if they are your preferred target audience. You might not want hire an influencer who primarily reviews films to be your brand ambassador. Though your potential influencer might be very passionate with gaming, they might not be able to convey a message which is relevant to their audience.

4. Seek Out Creative Influencers
Instead of finding someone who will just post a picture of your product on their account, find someone who can create quality content. A brand mention is great, but more often than not sponsored posts that look too advertorial tend to get ignored. Target those who are really interested in your field and will be happy to provide creative ways to collaborate.

5. Choose Only Credible Influencers
In this digital age, not everyone feels secure with online transactions and online information in general. It’s important to make sure that your influencer’s content is reliable, accurate and trustworthy. This will make your brand and your product more appears more credible in the eyes of your target audience. An easy way to find out is to see comments and rankings on their Facebook page or just Google their names. See any dodgy happenings or controversies surrounding your potential influencer? If yes, it might not be good to work with them as they might jeopardise your brand image.

6. Establish A Lasting Professional Relationship With Influencers
It’s important to create a connection with the influencer that surpasses the business side of your collaboration. Remember that influencers are customers as well. A great experience can make them great advocates of your brand and sometimes even after your campaign has ended. This will make them more likely work with you again or even mention you in the future free of charge. Influencers themselves may come up with campaigns and are always on the lookout for sponsorship or partnership opportunities. Working well with your influencer can bring much benefit long down the road.

7. Maintain Your Own Influence Well

Finally, when you’ve managed to work with an influencer and successfully gained new followers, never forget that your brand is an influencer itself too. It is obvious that any brand that aims to succeed today most probably requires them to maintain their social following through social media. These can be essential assets to not just shout about your brand messages but actively listen to their needs, complains and comments. Like any relationship, a two-way communication is important and this is possible through social media channels. Maintain it well, as make sure that your brand is a great influencer.（source：gamasutra）