Nine Top Tactics to Influence a Social Media Influencer.

Guest Blog by Bryan Adams, CEO of Ph Creative, an inbound marketing agency based Liverpool, UK.

Twitter:@Bryan_phc

Blog: http://www.ph-creative.com/blog.aspx

If you’re trying to get ahead in the world of social media, it sure helps if you’ve got some influential friends to give your content a gentle boost every now and then. It’s a great indicator as to whether your content is any good too – you’ll not get far in the social-sphere if you’re spouting rubbish! But what do you do if you’ve not got any influential friends to help you? Well, you set out to get some of course!

Here are my nine top tactics for boosting your chances of making some influential new friends in the social space.

ONE: Make sure your social channels are set up properly with a professional standard of social profile design. If your influencer checks you out briefly, you need to be confident of making the right impression.

TWO: Use IFTTT to set up an automated reweet or an instant alert for when your influencers release a new blog. If you can be one of the first to comment on the new post you’ll get noticed quickly. If you’re one of the first to respond on Twitter and reweet the link, you’ll become an asset to them (depending on your following) and as a result, more likely for them to follow you.

THREE: When you’re writing your own content, use your influencers as a source of credible content and include links to their blog etc. If they identify your blog as a sudden source of traffic you’ll be well and truly on their radar. You can also genuinely email or tweet them to bring the content to their attention and increase the likelihood of getting a rewet and/or comment form them.

FOUR: When commenting on other blogs, make an intelligent point and use your influencer as a point of reference (including a link). For the same reason as above, the additional traffic will be appreciated.

FIVE: Conduct good research specifically designed to be of interest to the influencer and offer to share the new findings with them first before releasing it anywhere else.

SIX: Directly pitch an idea or two for a guest blog. Make sure you’re already on the radar of your influencer to some degree before doing this – regardless of how good the idea, if you’re a complete stranger your chances of a guest blog spot are slim to none.

SEVEN: Analyze your influencer’s tweets to see which hashtags they use and start to use them too. Essentially, you’re joining a conversation, so make sure it’s highly relevant and be confident you will add value to the conversation. It might also be a good idea to directly engage with others using the same hashtag(s).

EIGHT: Stand out from the crowd once you’re within the same conversations using humour or, dare I say, the odd controversial point of view. If you do this, ensure you can back up any statements or arguments with facts.

NINE: Use Klout to see who your influencer is being influenced by, follow them and make an effort to engage with them. If your target influencer sees their circle of influence retweeting your content, they’ll be more likely to engage themselves.

So, there you have it. My nine top tactics. What do you think? Now it’s your turn and I’m sure there are lots more ideas out there to be added to the list. I’d love to hear them so please leave a comment and let’s get a good discussion going.