4 Ways to Get Influencers to Spread Your Brand's MessageThink of it as a way to connect with your audience's audience.

I have a love-hate relationship with so-called "influencer marketing."

Not because I don't think it's a legit practice--it is--but because too often it's done badly. But before I get into that--what exactly is it?

Influencer marketing is the process of connecting with "influencers"--people who have large followings in certain niches and can affect opinion--to increase the visibility of your own products or services. The idea is to identify and build relationships with those VIPs, who might be consultants, analysts, advisors, venture capitalists, subject-matter experts, bloggers, reporters or others with large networks onsocial media. They might be your own employees or customers.