Got Influence on Social Media?

Social influence has become a pivotal factor in determining a brand or business’s success on the net. But it’s not enough to be just connected with the right people online. It takes individual attention and conversation to nurture these important relationships in order to build a successful social media presence.
Once you build a strong social media presence, search engines like Google take notice and will also factor this into their algorithm, which directly affects your website’s ranking. Another benefit of interacting with social influencers is the awareness this creates for your brand, which promotes word of mouth marketing. These advocates can be very beneficial to companies who are especially up and coming in their presence online. Influence measurement services like Klout and Kred are taking into account a brand’s activity as well, which is reflected in their social score.
Whatever your end goal is –  it’s important to know exactly how to connect with and interact with influencers in your niche on social media. There are a few simple rules to follow that will help you build trust that will be long-lasting, and create more opportunities for your company.

1) Find out who is active in your target market

The first place to start when finding the right influencers for your brand on social media is to research people and companies who have a strong following and interact with their community. This is important to know, as there may be those who prefer to educate through posted content, and do not necessarily engage with their fans and followers. Take a look at their company website and find out whether they have a strong page rank, as this will be a reflection of their social influence.

2) Start communicating with influencers

The next step should be interacting and communicating with people in a way that does not come on too strong. This can be done in several ways, such as sharing their content with attributes and mentions on networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, as well as complimenting them for what they are posting whether this be from their website, a new event, product, ect. With a little research into their articles and who they are, your brand is better able to connect with influencers as you show interest in what they have to offer. This becomes a reciprocal payoff over time as they will begin to mention your name or company as well.

3) Social scoring matters

Not only should your brand be actively building your social influence, but it is good practice to pay attention to how your influencers are measuring up. Klout is the top tool for displaying a person or brand’s level of influence online, and especially on social media. Firefox offers a Twitter extension, which displays a user’s score. Hootsuite and Klout mobile will also show you these numbers as well. Here are a couple of examples of how this might look for you:

4) Engage in Twitter Chats and Google Plus Hangouts

A quick and simple way to get started on connecting with the right social influencers is to participate in their online discussions. These are usually defined with a specific hashtag for the particular social events, and can be used in your posts and replies. This shows that your brand is interested and serious about creating meaningful relationships, as opposed to becoming just another follower or listener. After getting the general idea for these events, consider hosting your own to further build your connections on social media.

5) Stay in the game on social media

Large gaps in activity on your social networks will not only create a chasm or disconnect for your brand, but will place your social interactions back to square one where you need to start the building process all over again. If you know that you will need to be away or not available make a special announcement to your fans and followers, with an expected date of your return.
Once your brand or business has built a trusted relationship online it is easy to grow your audience with the right people who will help spread the word as you promote them as well. Be sure to be actively engaging on the major social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, and Instagram, and be quick to respond to your fans and followers there.
Social media marketing is a process, but it doesn’t need to be difficult to make the right connections once your brand is consistent with daily postings and interactions online.