One of the effective ways to expand your network, grow up your audience and trust is to connect and collaborate with social media influencers in your industries.
In this article you’ll discover an infographic and interview with Daniel Lofaso of Digital Elevator about: How to Connect with Social Media Influencers for share your content
Would you choose the influencers individuals or companies?
When creating your list of social media influencers you generally want to select people, not companies. While connecting with companies that can potentially reshare your links through social media can be great for exposure, I find that the likelihood of them responding to you is far less than actual individuals. On that note, some individuals are so popular that they are almost like companies in that they are unlikely to respond to you.
I’d recommend going after individuals who are popular, but are not so high in the stratosphere that you spend time trying to connect with someone who is unlikely to respond.
How often would you share/comment their content to be visible, but not annoying?
I think this will depend from person-to-person. Sometimes you can just reach out to a person, provide them a good piece of content, and ask them to share it and they will.
Most of the time, however, you have to build a relationship. Obviously you can retweet someone 15 times a day and let them know about it. It would likely just seem superficial though and a little bit creepy.
One thing that is simply not emphasized enough is that building relationships in social media – and especially with social media influencers – can take months. When you want a boost in traffic from shares and you start reaching out to build relationships, it can be frustrating.
The key is to provide value and try to stay visible as much as possible without going over the top. Use your own discretion. Outreach can be a numbers game.
Which social platforms are more effective for following and sharing content?
Again, this depends on the social media influencer and your industry. In SEO, for example, more people are likely to be on Twitter and LinkedIn. I think in more visual mediums, Pinterest, Facebook and now Instagram are popular places to get content shared.
During your initial research stage using the steps in my guide, you’ll have a good idea of where the bulk of the thought leaders in your industry are hanging out and having conversations. That is where I would start. Some social media networks convert leads better than others too and that is also something to keep in mind.
After what time would you try to connect to the leaders?
Good question. For the most part social media thought leaders are always checking their social accounts for messages. As opposed to email, where there is a lot of research given into the best times to send emails, social media messaging can be a bit looser. However, Neil Patel, an influencer who I have actually gotten to share a piece of my content, posted an interesting infographic on the best times to post on social media.
Keep in mind this data may not actually translate to the best times to connect with influencers, but can provide a good baseline to test your efforts.
Do you have any recommendations what to write them?
Let’s say you want to have a blog post on their website/share your content/give interview
I got into some of the details of outreach in the Social Media Thought Leaders guide that the infographic was based off of.
Although you might think the only way to reach out to social media influencers is through social media, I actually make some recommendations for a good old fashioned phone call and email.
Depending on your medium, the message will vary. On Twitter, for example, you only have 140 characters. In email, you can write a huge letter but they likely don’t want to read it.
Ideally, you’ll want to make the message personal and unique, show how you will be adding value to their followers if they share your content, and avoid directly asking for a share.
Inforgaphic: How to use social media thought leaders to drive traffic to your blog
Marina Barayeva is an international speaker and coach who helps women entrepreneurs become recognized experts and confidently sell their services. She is also a TEDx speaker, has presented to audiences in Asia and North America, and has been featured in such media as ArtPeople, CCTV, China Radio International, and others.