Defining Influence Online

There are lots of misconceptions about what constitutes influence online. Some analytical tools even try to measure your ability to be charming or persuasive online. However, true influence online means getting people to take action. If you can get people to do something online, you are a legitimate influencer.

How can you become influential? Cultivate an audience that can’t wait to talk with you about the latest thing that you’ve posted. People love to share their impressions and experiences about what’s important to them. Be that resource, that trustworthy person they love, and they will share your content like wildfire.

remember.eps Don’t aim for big numbers — aim for engagement. Engaged audiences are much more powerful than people who can barely remember your brand or why they wanted information from you in the first place.

I get a little dubious anytime somebody starts talking about a foolproof way to measure influence online. A few sophisticated services do a surprisingly good job of tracking retweets, comments, and more, and then shaping them into an influence score that you can use to compare yourself to someone else. The trick with using these tools is to keep in mind that scores fluctuate pretty rapidly, so you need to look at them over a large interval of time to get an average score. Going on vacation can be disastrous for one of these influence scores, ...

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