Can You Be A Social Media Influencer?

Becoming a social media influencer sounds like something cool.  Imagine that people care about what you say or think or do.  Online, you can become a bit of a celebrity.  But how do you do that?

In the digital world there are 1.25 billion Facebook users and 500 million Twitter users.  But many just have a few hundred followers, primarily family-friend-work connections.  However, some people have hundreds of thousands and millions of faithful followers.  They have more people paying attention to them than most media outlets.

Think about it.  If you get something shown on CNN, depending on the day of the week and the hour, there could be 120,000 people watching.  Or you can get something into the New York Post and its circulation of around 650,000.  But if you get on a blog or become the subject of a tweet from someone with millions of follower, which do you think has the potential to yield more book sales?

Ok, so now you are excited about influencing the influencers and becoming one yourself.  Here’s how to get on their radar:

1.      Find out who the influencers are.  Compile a list of those who have big click and connection numbers as bloggers, tweeters, and Facebookers.  Locate them and follow them or connect with them.

2.      Engage them.  Comment on posts.  Give a shout out to them in your blog or social media.  Retweet their content.  Directly contact them to say you enjoyed their latest posting.

3.      Build yourself up as an authority or expert so that the influencers come to see you as a relevant player in their space – but as a friendly complement to them, not a competitor.  Also do tings beyond social media to be seen as important and relevant.

4.      Be seen, based on your content, as an opinionated but savvy expert who offers original ideas.  No one needs a copycat or a clone.  We all want to know interesting people.

Lastly, act as if you are an influencer.  Think, act, and speak as if you already have a huge following.  Be the person you strive to become and maybe, just maybe, others will start to see you that way.

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014