31 Days of Freelancing: The Influential Crowd

What I’m listening to: Sunday Morning by Maroon 5

Enjoying a nice Sunday morning? If you’re like me, your Saturday was full of shopping, holiday fun, and maybe some nightlife. We spent the evening listening to a favorite local band — JD Malone and the Experts — at the local coffeehouse.

So who wants to think about work on a Sunday? Most people don’t. I sure don’t. But I promised you 31 days of freelancing, and this is just day 11, you know?

Do this now, later, or find a way to adapt it to make it yours.

December 11: Identify Your Key Influencers

You’ve heard me talk about influencers in this series. So who are these people? They are the people or businesses who already have the attention of the audience you want to reach.

And you want to schmooze up to them. But you don’t want to be an annoying pain in the arse about it.

Today, let’s just concentrate on figuring out who you need to make friends with.

Here are a few ways to find well-connected people/companies:

• Buzzsumo: Seriously just type in a keyword/phrase and see who shows up.
• Klout: Klout is fun because it’s more than just finding an influencer. You can use Klout to schedule your own content, which in turn can make you an influencer… See how you did that?
• Twitter chats: You can find a list of them at Followerwonk. These are great because now you see who’s talking about what and when. And you can join the conversation (always encouraged).
• Twubs: Same website as Followerwonk, but this is so cool. You enter the hash tag, you get the feed. You join the conversation. Congratulations — you’ve just connected with influencers.
• Alltop: What better than a search engine that helps you locate the topics you’re interested in by the people you want to know?
• LinkedIn: Use keywords to search LI groups. Join a few, then join conversations. You’ll be amazed at how many influencers participate in, and run, these groups.
• Hash tags: Which ones do you see connected to the people you’d like to know? Set up a column in your Twitter app to follow those hash tags.

A note about finding key influencers:

The system isn’t perfect. You’ll certainly find the person who’s using the right hash tags, but do a little homework. Is that someone who’s worth connecting to? Does the influencer have a good reputation? I’ve seen a few hit the top of the list whom I’d not really want to mix my name with.

[bctt tweet=”A note on Key Influencers: See who’s being talked about in both a good and bad way.” username=”LoriWidmer”]

Now that you’ve found them, connect. Then start sharing their stuff (don’t go overboard — no one likes a pest). Engage in conversation when the situation presents itself. Use the same hash tags. Don’t ask for your stuff to be shared, but do be present and engaged in the process.

Writers, do you know who your key influencers are?

How do you approach influential people? What’s worked for you?