15 Tips for becoming an online influencer
Not a lot of brands can achieve the power of influencing their audience. A basic element to reach the power of influence is by developing content marketing, in a non-pushy, non-promotional way. Instead of pushing their message they can provoke online influencers to get their message in a more acceptable way.Online influences, however, do not just work to promote. Furthermore, influencers can take different forms, including celebrities, experts, agitators and connectors.
Although, there’s a number of different strategies for each of influencer.
1. Create tons of interesting content in your industry.
As we have mentioned in previous articles, in order to be seen as an influencer or an expert in your field, you must read and dig deeply, so you can find new niche topics. Restating in the same old topics, won’t give you the “reward of expert of the year”.
2. Know your audience, and what they want.
Your audience has always shown you what their needs are. Scour your social media comments and mentions and find topics your audience actually want to cover them.
3. Don’t focus 100% on your company and products.
There are many business owners who believe that by writing about their company and its products they are building marketing content. Although, they cannot acknowledge the fact that this is just a small part of marketing content. A good advice is to provide useful industry related content 80-90% of the time and promotional content no more than 20%.
4. Build up your audience.
In order to become an expert, you need to have clarify your audience. A high follower count is great, but the quality of your influence is even more important. Do your followers read your content? Are they active (likes, share, clicks)?
5. Express your opinions.
In order for the influencer to influence, they must have an opinion about a topic. Express your opinion and create discussions and reactions.
6. Listen to relevant conversations on social media.
Being an influencer means staying on top. Know and follow what is being mentioned on social media conversations.
7. Engage in online networking.
Influencers need to do more than just build their own little online empire. They need to continually reach outside their current sphere of influence to build new connections. This will mean reading and commenting on other people’s blog posts being interested in participating generously in other people’s Facebook and LinkedIn communities.
8. Stay on top of breaking news in your industry.
As an expert in influencing, your audience will expect you to know exactly what is happening in your company all the time. Most importantly is to subscribe to or follow industrial forums and sites so you’re the first to know what’s going on.
9. Be the first to report breaking news in your industry.
Knowing what’s happening in your industry is great, but you also need to know how to communicate with your audience. Becoming a trusted source of timely industry will go a long way to helping you achieve influencer status.
10. Read every day.
It is very important you grow and evolve. One of the best ways to broaden your knowledge and perspective is through reading. Read books, blogs, magazines, social media conversations every day. You will gain more industrial- related skills.
11. Optimize your content for high-profile keywords.
Ranking for industry-related keywords is not only important for driving traffic but for building your influence. If you rank highly for coveted industry terms, it will boost your reputation as a leader in your field.
12. Focus on adding value before monetizing.
If you’re just getting started with building your online influence, focus on providing tons of excellent content before you start monetizing. You can’t put a price tag on your influence, and pushing a product or promotion too soon can jeopardize all your hard work.
13. Have a plan for promoting your content.
Keep in mind that is not enough create content. Have a plan in place for distributing that content both though owned (email, blog) and earned (social media shares, PR) channels.
14. Promote other people’s content.
Promoting your work is great. But you don’t have a monopoly on industry news and knowledge. Share excellent content that would be useful to your audience- even if it’s not your content.
15. Set up keyword alerts.
As mentioned above, influencers should be the first to know what’s happening in the industry. Set us operations (such as Google Alerts) for a variety of important keywords in your niche or industry so you’re always on top of new developments.
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