Social media has provided a means for people to make a name for themselves globally in their niche if they are prepared to put in the hard yards and publish, promote and leverage their passion. This can be done by using the the different media that are available to them on social media such as online video on YouTube or images on Flickr and create content that displays their passion for the world to see.
This article is a compilation of 4 blog posts that I recently wrote that took the one best idea from thought leaders on what they think is important to increase your influence online in the world wide web of social media networks.
Hubspot sponsored the Influencer Project where the social media influencers and experts were given 60 seconds to state their number one tip.
Here are some of their thoughts on what they see as being important in being influential in a digital world.
There is one secret here that if you don’t have it you will not be successful.
1. Create valuable content that helps people solve their problems
You can do this on many diffedrent social media channels whether that is YouTube, a blog post or an eBook
David Meerman Scott of Webinknow.com
2. Be really transparent about everything that you’re doing,
Then sharing a lot of that information, being really open. And that will help you build your digital influence – Mike Volpe of Hubspot
3. Be consistent
Consistency demonstrates commitment. So, for the people that you’re trying to serve, if you are consistent, they’re going to keep coming back – Michael Port of MichaelPort.com
4. Follow better people
so then you will read and view great content then enabling you to produce great output (content) – Robert Scoble of Scobleizer.com
5. Create relationships with outstanding strategic partners
Carol Roth at CarolRoth.com.
6. Make connections with people online, and then go and meet them in person in the real world offline
Scott Porad of ScottPorad.com
7. Create content that stands for something, which is remarkable, divisive or inspirational
Joe Pulizzi founder of Junta42 and The Content Marketing Institute
8. Lead your customers with the latest trends in your industry
Laurel Touby – founder of MediaBistro.com.
9. Develop and nurture multiple circles and multiple spheres of influence
Don’t rely on just one type of social media networks but get involved in several and you will create synergy
Chris Guillebeau from the blog The Art of Non Conformity
10. Start talking to people-
Laura Roeder from LauraRoeder.com
11. Develop your storytelling skills
To improve your digital influence have a story that is worth telling don’t try and sell a product or idea – Michael Margolis, fromGetStoried.com
12. Co‐create some products with people who have your audience already but are not selling them the kind of things you’re selling
Make real quick teleseminars with them, or do special reports that are just for their audience, and kind of co‐make them with those people, and basically get yourself co‐billed with as many other people as possible. Because what happens is their audiences, goodwill, and credibility shifts over to you, and you get to be associated with some of the larger names in the business
Dave Navarro from TheLaunchCoach.com
13. Give your content wings and give it roots
Roots means to ground it solidly in who you are (your passion and being) and have a point of view. Give it wings means to let it be shared easily across social media platfroms all over the web buttons easy to share frictionless and free – Ann Handley of MarketingProfs and co‐author of Content Rules
14. Get offline and meet people in real life
When you meet someone, introduce that individual to someone else that you know, they will standout significantly in their eyes – Joselin Mane at BostonTweetup.com
15. Get very, very good at filtering and aggregating content
Be able to sort through all that content and be able to deliver it to people at the right time, the right size, the right amount. Second thing is, be veryinformed about what matters to those folks, what they’re saying in the social technologyand the social space – John Jantsch of DuctTapeMarketing.com
16. Be topical and early in the news cycle
This can be on any conversation of general interest and detect and articulate patterns, make connections, and make context explicit and just hustle – Marshall Kirkpatrick from ReadWriteWeb.com
17. Use online video
This probably the fastest way to get your message out there, to increase visibility, and to get clients and customers online. Come up with some great content—it can be two to three minutes, it does not have to be a lot. Create content around your area of expertise and then distribute,distribute with gusto – Shamana Kabani author of The Zen of Social Media Marketing
18. Be remarkable
So defy convention where appropriate, people take notice – Johnny B. Truant of JohnnyBTruant.com
19. Let your passion shine
It’s about people—real human beings, just like you and me, it is not about the technology. It’s about passion, conversations, not product conversations – Robbin Phillips of word of mouth marketing atBrainsOnFire.com
20. Learn how to talk more about other people
So if you’re looking to influence a certain thought leader, or even just a group of people, talking about them, talking to them, instead of about yourself – Yaro Starak from Entrepreneurs‐Journey.com
21. Hang out where your audience hangs out and get to understand them
Find out what their needs are and the task what they’re trying to accomplish. Ask people questions so you can help them solve their problems – Vanessa Fox of Nine by Blue and author of “Marketing in the Age of Google”.
Action: Build things that really help them. This could be an online video tutorial that show people how to perform a particular task or an eBook that provides guidance and suggesstions for answers for real day to day problems. These could be promoted on Twitter and embedded in Facebook as am update as well as being on your blog or website.
22. Find one specific niche and master that niche
Become the owner of that niche on the online social media space, so that everyone around you knew that you knew everything about that one specific topic – Lewis Howes at LewisHowes.com (his niche is LinkedIn)
Action: Start doing webinars to promote and educate others how to master the niche you have mastered yourself
23. Integrate social media with other tactics online and offline.
Research has shown a powerful synergy between social media and search, email and other tactics like we’ve never seen before. We found that social media integration creates a situation where the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts – Sergio Balegno Research Director at Marketing Sherpa.
Action: Look at creative ways you can integrate social media with traditional and other digital media. This could be by integrating email with social media to drive traffic to your blog or Facebook page.. read more at “10 Ways To Integrate your Email and Social Media“
24. Change from thinking about changing other people’s mind to changing your mind
Instead of thinking about competing, think about admiring and learning from everybody that you see. Hank Wasiak at AssetBasedThinking.com
Action: Engage with a top blogger or thought leader on their blog or Twitter and then possibly aim to collaborate with them on a Project
25. Get active in other people’s communities
Mitch Joel President of Twist Image and the author and blogger and podcaster over at Six Pixels of Separation.
Action: Get into peoples comments on blogs. Then mix it up with them on Twitter
26. Build Multi Digital Dimensionality by Listening and Engaging on Multiple Networks
What I mean by that is by showing as many different sides of yourself or your business as you can. Why? Well, because the more sides of yourself that you show, there’s more opportunities for connections, and there’s more ways in. Everyone sees , hears, views and receives information in many different ways. Both Tamsen McMahon – of BrassTackThinking.com and Justin Levy at New Marketing Labs suggested this tip but have their own take on how this can be done
Action: Publish the same content on multiple networks, Video, Text, Slideshare, Images, Podcasts but consider the networks where you can be most effective and gain the most leverage for your target audience in your niche.
27. Get into other people’s heads and help them with their challenges
Network with other influencers and make sure that everybody is aware of the value that you provide. What you’re looking for is a long-term relationship. Chris Garrett from ChrisG.com.
Action: Connect with people online and then meet with them offline to build a long term relationship that is real and authentic. Don’t be afraid to ask for an interview whether that be via a face to face or an online interview. You can even record the video and then it can be promoted on both of your social networks (see “Social Media and The CEO- An Interview With Greg Savage the CEO of Aquent“)
28. Make your professional narrative personal
When you’re talking about influencing people, especially as an entrepreneur, it’s about your passion, it’s about who you are and what you bring to the table. Connecting the who with the what. Cathy Brooks the founder of Other Than That.
Action: Don’t be afraid to tell people on your blog your story and what brought you to this place it can be the narrative of your journey or even let yourself be interviewed then place that on your blog or post it on your Facebook page.
29. Have an opinion, be remarkable, be passionate and have a permanent place (Your Blog)
What is it about your industry or about the world in general that you feel passionate enough about to shake things up? If you’re willing to shake up your world, the world is willing to payattention.
Todd Defren – principle at SHIFT Communications, and a blogger at PRSquared.
Action: Write an opinion piece, or a blog post or invent something
30. Be a media and publishing company
Brian Clark Of Copyblogger
This media company should do 3 things
- Learn to be a story teller …narrative – it what makes us human
- Understand the pyschology of people as it powers your narrative
- Content has to be quality- production quality matters if you are going to get the attention you want
Action: Go to some of the blogs that specialize in teaching you skills in writing stories
31. Share ideas liberally and be accountable
Scott Belsky of Behance and author of “Making Ideas Happen”
Action: Place your ideas, videos and image on Facebook, Twitter, Slideshare and Flickr and ask your friends and community to keep you honest through feedback ..to hold you to account
32. Focus on a specific micro niche
Dan Schawbel founder of Millennial Branding and bestselling author of Me 2.0.
The number one thing you can do for your personal branding using social media right now, is to choose a much smaller niche to focus on, so you can stand out in your market, and become
known for that. So instead of becoming the personal finance expert, you can be the personal finance expert for Gen Y, or for college graduates. A micro niche globally can be worth millions!!
Action: Think of a micro niche within your area of passion and start writing and producing content for that niche
33. Build a community of readers
Gretchen Rubin author of The Happiness Project the book and the blog atHappiness-Project.com.
The way to do that is to engage readers in a conversation.
Action: Introduce topics in your that are thought provoking and interesting and on which people have a lot to say
34. Hang Out With Other Successful People (Entrepreneurs)
Alexandra Levit found at AlexandraLevit.com.
Be systematic in your approach to getting to know the individuals who have already been on the entrepreneurial path that you are currently on.
Action: Target between five and ten individuals who you admire, whose work you’ve followed, and gradually start getting to know them—commenting on their tweets, commenting on their blog posts, asking them if they could spare fifteen to twenty minutes to do an informational interview with you to tell you more about their path
35. Create A Tribe of Rabid Advocates
Steve Woodruff at SteveWoodruff.com.
His main secret for building influence online is to find and help individuals get launched on platforms like Twitter or in blogging. By coming alongside them and becoming an advocate they will be your fan for life. One of the of the keys for digital influence is not having the biggest number of connections; it’s really having the most rabid advocates
Action: Identify gifted up and comers that are just getting into social media, but clearly have the right stuff, have good experience, have drive and have a message. Take their material and expose it to a broader audience and connecting them to key people, you end up creating for yourself an advocate for life.
36. Become a Thought Leader Through Media
David Siteman Garland founder of The Rise to the Top
Action: Start a media arm for your company by creating a special show, Podcast or an Online Magazine
37. Be Patient and Persistent
Amber Naslund the Director of Community at Radian6 also at his blogBrassTackThinking.com.
Online influence is a slow burn, and it’s not something that you can really manufacture. It’s something that’s really organically grown by having quality one-on-one conversations with people over time. And that can happen in a number of mediums.
Action: Get up every day and blog and Twitter with a purpose and use your other networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn to connect, engage and network. Persist and don’t give up
38. Discover and Develop Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
Julien Smith co-author of best-selling book, Trust Agents, and blogger at InOverYourHead.net.
Probably the key to building your influence online is to take advantage of your existing benefits which you already have, that other people don’t.
Action: Take some time today or in the next few days to find some quiet time to sit down and write down the different things that you are passionate about and make you different
39. Distill what it is that you feel you bring to the table in terms of value and expertise
Brian Solis Author of the new book, “Engage: How to Build, Cultivate and Measure Success on the New Web”
Then identify the influential individuals that already in place, at varying levels, from the A list to the C list, and figure out how it is that you can connect with them, and how you can connect your insights to them directly.
Action: Build a repository for that insight eg a blog or website and “be” a thought leader and gather a community around your thought leadership
40. Build lots of Followers and Subscribers and Promote You Content by Retweeting and Emailing
Guy Kawasaki states that there are those who say that having a large following on Twitter is important and those that don’t admit to that are lying. You might have the best content in the world but if no one knows it exists that is of no use to anyone. Promote, Promote, Promote to your lists and followers and fans !!
If you want to learn more I would urge you to to visit these leaders blogs and websites you will be inspired by their valuable content.
Tip: Do you need help with social media? Hire experts or freelancers on Fiverr.