The more integrated the social web becomes integrated into the search rankings the more we need to understand how to increase our brand on the social web. Let me get this straight — it is as important to influence social media influencers as it is to be an influencer yourself. Developing social media influence isn’t about how many times you can get @randfish to retweet you as it is how often he asks you questions or chooses on his own to interact with you. It’s more about establishing a relationship with that particular person through social media channels.
I’ve identified four different types of influencers.
- Political Influencers
- Academic Influencers
- Cultural Influencers
- Social Influencers
I know there are many more than this, but I believe these to be the main categories that most any other influencer type would be a combination of the two. Let’s define what we mean by each of these influencers and list some practical ways you can engage with these influencers.
Political Influencers are people involved in the political process. Now, it’s key to note two things, first that political influencers do not have to be elected officials. Some would say that John Stewart is a Political Influencer on some of his personal key issues. And second, that they don’t have to have influence over a general population but others involved in politics.
Academic Influencers are individuals who exist mainly in academic fields, such as research, education and University staff. These peoples’ opinions typically hold a lot of weight in and out of their fields of study.
Cultural Influencers are personalities or celebrities. You may have heard this group called the trend-setters, or fashionistas. These people can create influence rather than just guide it. This is why certain celebrities like Kim Kardashian have Twitter sections in their contracts. These may be the most difficult people to influence, first of all because there are so few of them.
Social Influencers are by far and away the most common influencers. In fact most everyone fits into this category. Unless you are out and out spamming everyone on Twitter, this category includes you, because you have influence it may be large or very small but we all have influence of some kind. We have our own way of talking about the stuff that we are interested in, the products we use, the brands that offend us and the people who encourage us.
Now the question comes how do we start to strategically influence influencers in the social media realm? This doesn’t have to be shady, or ugly this is about using your natural influence in ways that helps your business or brand.
The one overarching principle that guides these tactics is to try to get these influencers to notice you. Give them a reason to notice you; try to stay away from taking political sides that would negatively affect business. But ultimately you can’t get an influence anyone who doesn’t know you exist.
Political Influencers
- Mention them in a press release, “Today we are setting out to accomplish, what Senator So-And-So challenged us to do.”
- Retweet them and comment on their Facebook posts; engage with them in conversations.
- Are you having a business open house? Invite them, they may even show up! Connect with their aides tell them about the message your trying to present and start connecting with them online (they won’t always work for that political figure). Now they are mentioning you, and you’ve taken a relationship to the next level.
Academic Influencers
- Attend, listen to, or follow along with their events live and tweet them! Speaking from experience people love this! Remember they are talking about their life work. They love it when people understand and spread their information.
- Ask them public questions related to their field of study.
- Seek out opportunities to be in front of these influencers, if you get to meet them, say something nice about them publicly through your social network.
Cultural Influencers
- Engage these people in your field of interest. Each industry and business segment has these people in them. Find out who they are and engage with them.
- Ask them to do Twitter interview (twinterviews), and ask them 5 to 10 questions and have them respond over Twitter.
Social Influencers
- Converse with these people a lot! Answer questions, respond to tweets, and invite them to your business events.
- Hold a business Open house and make sure you get as many of these individuals there as possible.
- Target people who are great social influencers in your area for your field of business or study and just get them involved in what you are doing. Often times people who are social media active understand the idea that their social influence can grow based on interactions with others. They will want to be involved with what you do online.
Remember social media isn’t about who follows you it’s about who you influence. Business leaders do not usually have the time to research and study various new things that would be valuable for their businesses; so they have others do it for them and present their findings and make recommendations. Based on those recommendations leaders can make informed decisions. Social media can work the same way; are you going to be there when someone needs your recommendation?
