Industry influencers are people who have a voice that affects how etailers think and act. They’re in positions of authority that have been given to them through years and years of hard work and trust-building.
Influencers permeate every industry, whether you’re a plumbing company or a multi-million dollar B2B technology powerhouse. There are people out there whose opinions matter, and you can use their opinions to your advantage.
In this post, we discuss how you can best identify and engage with online influencers in your industry.
1) Know Who You’re Looking For
According to Smart Insights, there are 10 different types of influencers ranging from The Authority, whose opinion is as good as gold, to The Expert, who pretty much wrote every book there is on the subject.
The type of influencer you target depends on what you want to get out of the relationship.
2) Figure Out How To Find Them
There are tons of tools available to help you search every corner of the web from Twitter bios to blog posts to LinkedIn communities.
Here are a few of my favorites:
- Followerwonk – Search through Twitter bios to help you find relevant keywords.
- Klout – Just type in a search, and it’ll spit out a list of influencers. The trick is finding the right term.
- Alltop – Basically a blog search engine. Look at keywords or hot topics.
3) Engage The Right Way
There are right ways to engage with influencers and there are wrong ways. Here are a few dos and don’ts to keep in mind.
Do comment on their blog posts and status updates to join the discussion.
Don’t get salesy or try to promote your own blog or website.
Do share their content with your own community.
Don’t retweet, repost, and otherwise “re” them to death.
Do maintain a relationship once one has been established.
Don’t let the relationship go once you have gotten what you want from them.
Connecting with influencers is a great way to build authority, and now you know the basics of doing just that.
How do you approach connecting with industry influencers?