The Art of Influence Using Social Media
Table of Contents
What if I told you there was a way to influence anyone to make any decision you wanted?
You’d think I was crazy right?
That’s ok, I thought so too at first.
But then I realized something critical about marketing – online or otherwise – at it’s core, it’s really about making the right offer to the right people.
Does it have to be any more complicated than that?
Sure, we can talk all day about guest blogging, advanced blogging strategies, and branding, but at the end of the day, if you’re not influencing the right people, who’s going to buy your stuff?
The first part – finding the people to influence – is usually the most difficult for people.
But it’s actually easier then you might think.
With enough time, research, and application of the principals talked about in Nick Tart’s “How To Get Bloggers to Reply To Your Comments” article, you can build your own online following and watch it grow.
Below, are three videos I’ve found the most useful for finding the “right” people on the three major social networks; Google+, Facebook, and Twitter.
How to Build Quality G+ Circles
In this video, Neil Ferree shares his strategy of building high quality Google+ Circles.
For all you scanners, the strategy looks like this…
- Type in a keyword into Google+ search
- Circle The top 6 “Plussers” as chosen by Google
- Review the “Most Recent” stream to see the latest posts on the subject
- Review the “Best Of” stream to find the content Google deems “best”
- Add users as you see fit.
- Share Circle.
The idea here is that by building a circle of quality people, and sharing it, you will also get ranked for that term, and people will follow you as well.
Gaining quality followers leads to an increase in your site’s traffic when you post something of interest.
Not only do you get the benefit of added traffic to your site, but this technique also gives you a quality list of people to network with, potentially leading to guest posting or even better, Joint venture opportunities.
How To Create A Twitter List
While the video here shows an outdated Twitter interface, the tactics are the same.
The principals behind creating custom Twitter lists are the same as building quality Google+ circles.
When you’re able to follow only the right people, you can get a strong idea of what they like, dislike, and personal interests so you can find the best way to appeal to them with your content.
Read what they’re reading, share what they’re sharing, and create your own content in a style you know will resonate with them (based on what they’re already reading and sharing)
Facebook Search To Gather Customer Intelligence
This video shows you how to use Facebook to analyze linguistic style, and relative popularity around a given keyword phrase, using Facebook.
By learning how people on Facebook are talking about a given keyword, you can get a rough idea on how to present your own content.
Short and sweet version, mimic what you see gets a lot of feedback, and don’t emulate the people who don’t.
Remember, people on Facebook are usually there to socialize with their friends and family (and play farmville)
Presenting your information in a way you already know is “engaging” is your best bet at leveraging social networks.
Final Thoughts
This all takes time.
Getting these lists set up takes time, researching interests takes time, and developing your ability to stand out takes time.
But it’s time well spent, and is the number 1 secret to influence. Not only on the internet, but in the world.
“Why should I spend my time reading your stuff, if you haven’t spent the time figuring out what I want to read?”
Whether you realize it or not, that’s the question everyone asks themselves when they happen upon new content.
But when it’s made abundantly clear through your content that you’ve taken the time to understand what they like, they’ll love you all the more for it.
[Fbsimplelike]
About Tommy
Tommy Walker is an Online Marketing Strategist and host of "Inside the Mind" a fresh and entertaining video show about Internet Marketing.
14 comments so far… Leave a reply
Edoardo Moreni
I watched the three videos and they seem to me just a simple "how to use facebook, twitter, google plus". I strongly think that social media is really important, but the problem I have is that I refuse to use tweet adder and to tweet something like: " Follow me and I will follow back". I believe that the key to get followers is to offer them great content, not a "follow" on twitter.
Tommy
In a lot of ways you're right, but you would be surprised by the amount of people who don't know how to fully utilize Facebook search, and I was pretty impressed by the circle trick with Google+ I personally don't use any automation tools, so I hear what you're saying about twitter, and I agree that the best way is to offer exceptional content.
Vikram
Agree With u Tommy Without Social media influence We Can't Grow Our Business Or blogs..
Nick Messenger
Tommy, I really enjoyed your article thank you! We only seem to hear about social media nowadays for promoting our sites/blogs/articles. Does this mean that social media is the ONLY way to go? Are the other methods now dead & gone? Look forward to reading your thoughts. Nick
Tommy
No of course not. I'm a strong believer in using paid media in combination with social and earned media to promote a website. However, I believe that doing the influence research here is important to know how to speak to your ideal people and make sure that your money is well spent when you go the paid route.
Danny
I think it's time to move in to Google+ ! Which social platform is your biggest traffic source?
Tommy
It really depends on the day. Somedays it's Google+, some days it's Facebook, some days twitter and Youtube. I try to keep a pretty even spread just in case.
Craig Desmarais
Great post! Catering your content to what your audience is useless if you don't know what your audience likes! If you are genuine about giving your audience something that is valuable to them, not just to attract them to your website, you will see less friction than trying to coax them into visiting your site.
Tommy
I couldn't agree with you more Craig :-)
Rajnish
Social Media is very important but its also very time consuming and that's why I am not very good in Social Media Optimization. Can you give me some tips that can help me and also don't take much time ?
Tommy
The best thing I can say is to create systems for managing your relationships. The methods that are being talked about here are the beginning of such a system. However, I have to say because "Social Media" is about people and relationships, it's worth putting the time in. Trying to take shortcuts on the time you spend on "social media" is like trying to get a woman to marry you after the first date. With any business, customer research is essential. "Social" allows you to interact and make offers after you've done the research.
Sune @ ExtraIncomeBlogger.com
I believe in the power of social media and your tips will definitely be able to help me improve my strategy! :)
Tommy
Awesome! I'm glad you enjoyed the article :-)
Sonny Khan
Firstly, id like to say, absolutely great post. Social media is becoming incredibly important, especially in allowing your content to go viral. I have a quick question, I am launching a music blog with exclusive and niche hip hop music. It would seem therefore that there isnt a lot of search volume for the phrases in my headlines,(to gain natural traffic) however I know that once people visit the site, they will see the value in it and will "like" it on facebook ect, however the issues it is getting them on my site in the first place, Any suggestions would be very very much appreciated Looking forward to your reply, Thanks.
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