If you’re on social media, it’s for a reason. You want to connect with your customers, you want to build relationships with industry professionals and create brand awareness. But if you really want to stand out from the crowd and become a top influencer online there are a few key steps you can take to get there.
1. Measure and build your influence.
If you really want to know how you are doing on social media, sign up for Klout. It will rank you based on the amount you respond to others, the consistency of the content you share and it will show you the social networks you need to improve on. You must be extremely diligent in every respect. This means responding to all posts and comments, asking questions vs. stating sentences no one can respond to, and by all means, please limit your self-promotion.
2. Participate in Tweet Chats weekly.
If you want to be known among the people in your field that matter, you need to get in front of them and have conversations. Participating in Tweet Chats is a quick and fast way to build relationships. There are Tweet Chats for nearly every topic. You can find a list of them here. (If you want someone to host a Tweet Chat for you, contact me. )
3. To be an influencer, you must connect with influencers.
And the greatest question of all—how? Promote their work consistently. They will thank you and the doorway to a conversation has opened. You might not get a response from huge influencers like Tim Ferriss, but if you connect with the wave of up-and-coming influencers in your industry—chances are you’ll create a valuable relationship. Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with them while they are on the rise.
4. Add value consistently through the content you share.
If you want to be considered an influencer, you have to know your stuff. And this means acting as a content curator. You need to share the top blogs, articles and videos of people in your field every single day. The higher valued content you share, the higher value people will place on you and your expertise.
5. You need a voice and a place to share your knowledge.
You’ve guessed right. You need a blog. For a few reasons, you need your own content to share that gets people back to your site and you need to enhance your credibility.It’s one thing to share everyone else’s content, but when you create the content, you’ve just elevated to the next level. (Click to Tweet!)
Need help help becoming a social media influencer? Email me at katieleimkuehler@gmail.com.
