Page 286 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

» Whether it is feasible to develop a relationship with them on the social
platforms in which they are participating
» How much influence they actually have

In larger organizations, other departments within your company may already
have relationships with the expert influencers that they have nurtured over a long
period of time. That’s a good thing. Find out whether existing relationships are in
place before knocking on the doors of the expert influencers. They certainly don’t
want to be harassed by multiple people from one company.

Reaching the Expert Influencers

Different strategies exist for reaching and activating the expert influencers.
How you reach them varies based on who they are, what you want them to accom-
plish, and where you think you have the best chance of establishing a relationship
with them.

You may want to consider the following tactics:

» Introduce yourself to them at conferences.
Most people at business conferences respond to a face-to-face introduction.
Make use of that but beware of seeming too intrusive.
» Reply to their tweets.
Responses to a tweet are expected. Just don’t assume too much, too soon.

» Comment on their blog posts.
A thoughtful reply to a post may get you more positive attention than you
expect.

» Friend them on LinkedIn.
You may not get a response if you have a personal profile page, but you may
at least get on their radar screen.

The good news is that influencers like to influence, and as long as you have a
promising value proposition, they will at the very least listen to you.

Keep in mind that nurturing expert influencers is an investment in the long term,
and you may not always get the response you want from them immediately. Also
remember that influencers draw their strength and importance from being unbi-
ased, independent, and credible. Don’t ask them to compromise that position.

270 PART 4 Getting Your Message to Connectors