In the world of small business owners… we would all love to be influencers. We would love to be perceived as the expert in the matter of which we are selling and we should be. A question that keeps surfacing among the “small biz chatter” is directed toward the subject of influence.
Well… I think we are here to finally answer that. Thanks to Lisa Hoffmann and Mashable. Lisa was reading a post from Micah Baldwin (Lijit Networks) called HOW TO: Measure Online Influence and I decided to check it out and read it for myself.
I wanted to sum up some points Micah made and push them towards the small business owner.
Social media marketing is very much a brand development tool for the small business owner. The majority of the time it is used for lead generation or visibility in a specific industry or region. Now, in order to realize the potential of social media and get excited.. instead of smoke and mirrors boredom… let’s look at Micah’s definition of Influence:
Influence = (Personal Brand * Knowledge * Trust)
So.. in order to maximize your reach online.. you need to be able to focus on the three top tiers of influence listed above. I am going to add another into the mix in order to speak to the small business owners in the group:
Influence = (Personal Brand * Offline Interaction * Knowledge * Trust)
The main purpose of talking about influence and personal brand recognition is to add the concept of offline social networking (something a small business owner lives day to day). In order to maximize your influence online you need to be be able to take it offline and create a 2-Touch-Point model of influence.
You should read Micah’s post about the concepts of influence, personal brand, knowledge, and trust because it is great! We need to remember that the Personal Brand building of a small business owner has to include the offline and online networking in order to be strong.
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[...] The Definition of Influence in Marketing and Social Media [...]
Creating an Influence is really difficult especially when there are not enough aspects in the mix that is why I do believe that the equation given for Influence which is "Influence = Personal Brand * Offline Interaction * Knowledge * Trust" is really brilliant. It is well defined and well explained through words alone.
Of course in creating an Influence, one must know about what a specific thing is all about (Personal Brand), one must also know about any interactions made outside the world of internet through means of interacting with different people outside and giving opinions about it (Offline Interaction), one must also know that the product or service should have advantages to customers in terms of the company should be able to respond to any problems encountered by the customer (Knowledge) and one must know how to gain people as honest as possible and make sure to be credible enough for customers to trust you (Trust).
[...] out what others have to say and make your own conclusions. Another good one to read: “The Definition of Influence in Marketing and Social Media” by Kyle [...]