Who Do You Influence

The level of influence one has to somebody close is in direct and inverse proportion to the closeness of that relationship.

What you talking about Graham? (In honor of the recently passed away Arnold from Different Strokes)

I realized this week that if I recommend something to my wife or daughter then the suggestion is generally yet gently ignored, but if one of my wife’s friends at work or my daughter’s fellow students recommends it then we very quickly have it or for example go to watch it in the case of a film or it is believed if it is a tall story. So the question came to mind who do you influence and why?

Me and Those I Do Influence

Now I have read Cialdini’s seminal work “Influence” and I understand the ways in which we are manipulated by the media to making decisions. However do I want to use the same techniques on my readers?

These days it is important in the social media realm to have influence over others but in a nice way of course. We are not talking tricks in social media so your legions of followers retweet your every word. We are not talking having as many followers as possible in order to leverage your words to others. let’s face it the massive following are probably not really following you, they are in large part spammers who are looking to do the same to you or sell you something. You can use the influential tactics revealed in Cialdini’s book of course to spread your influence but if you are too blatant about it then don’t expect much long term success.

The creation of a loyal following that will leverage your words, audio and video takes time and involves the creation of content that is relevant to those following and useful for them. It should be interesting, stimulating and you should be available for discussion and questions in the online space. How do you make your stuff relevant though.

I would say that the first thing to do is to make yourself into an authority in the area that you are speaking, easier said than done. You can do this through publishing articles, books, guides, videos, audio and any number of other things yet when you start it may sound as if you are talking to yourself in the middle of the Gobi desert (See the camel above and empathise with its feelings!). You need a commitment and that commitment may take time, a lot of time. If you know everything about your niche then you can interact with people and bring them value in what you say. Eventually they will start putting out your content as it is liked by them and therefore there is more chance of their friends liking it, as long as they have a different relationship with those close to them then I do with my family.

In order to do this we have discussed before on these pages the value of keeping your tank full using RSS feeds and Google reader to make sure you know what is going on in your niche. If you are not sure what is happening then it is more difficult to have a valid and useful viewpoint. We have also talked here about picking your fights online. If your content is not interesting and doesn’t prompt a response from the people reading or listening to you then how can you hope to have an influence. Make it edgy yet don’t become a troll or send out linkbait just to try and attract controversy. In my niche, Spain, big niche I know, I am rather optimistic about the future long term which totally goes against the grain and attracts naysayers who start up conversations/arguments with me online. Because I am on top of my subject and know what is going on I am happy to engage with those who are not trolls (The trolls don’t get fed these days which is very different to the past). I can justify my opinions with real world experience. People may not agree with me but at least they generally respect the opinions I put out and if they don’t then what the hey!

The one thing that most people don’t understand though is that your social media presence and influence waxes and wains. You may have days where what you say doesn’t get the same leverage because it doesn’t resonate with those who read it. Some of your stuff may be good, some bad and some downright terrible. Nevertheless by putting it out you are increasing the chances of others engaging with you. You may not get Retweeted, Liked or Dugg every time you put something out there. Don’t worry about it. Over time the people following you and those attracted into your sphere of influence will respond. You need to make it easier for them to do so by publishing the Facebook like button, by pointing to your RSS feed and by directly asking people to send it to their friends if they know people who will be interested and by answering their queries and comments on your blog. Just don’t get too pushy as it will then look desperate.

And remember one thing, at least you probably have more influence over your family than I do over mine.

Related Posts To Read

1) When was the last time you were bored?

2) Picking your fights and niking your writing.

3) Keeping your tank full

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• It’s Never As Simple as Fans and Followers (socialmediatoday.com)
• Summary of Robert Cialdini’s must-read book “Influence” (caterpillarcowboy.com)

Originally posted 2010-06-02 00:35:41. Republished by Blog Post Promoter