The Power of Social Media Influence – Amplify Your Outreach

 In the world of content marketing, every marketeer wants the same thing: to get someone with social media influence to read and share their content. Why? The power of one social media influencer sharing your post could be enough to increase traffic to your website exponentially. It’s not always as obvious as the man in the red cape with a big “S” across his chest to identify who has the most power on social media. The hidden gems are the ones dressed like everyone else on the street. I’m talking about the Clark Kent’s of social media. The guy who does not get a ton of attention on a daily basis because he is blending in with the masses. The real super-heroes you should be seeking to discover are these individuals, whom without the rest of the world ever knowing, can create a category 5 hurricane of viral outreach with your content.

Photo by Joi via Flickr

I stumbled upon one of these undercover social media influencers one day on Cyber Dust. I received a blast from someone named ajundftd. A blast in Cyber Dust terms is a message sent to all your followers. It said,”Give me 90 days and I will get you to 30K followers on Twitter”. Upon reading it I was definitely curious. First of all, who is this guy whose user name sounds like someone just sneezed? Secondly, why does he think he can get someone a huge following in 90 days? I quickly found Anthony Garibay on Twitter (AJUNDFTD). The first thing I noticed, is that I had more followers than him. I responded, “Then why don’t you have 30k followers?” His response was simple, “I don’t care for the followers myself, and I don’t need them to have a powerful voice”. He proceeded to show me what he meant by sending out a Tweet that said, “test”. 250+ ReTweets later I started to listen to what he had to say.
Anthony had peeked my interest and I had to find out more. Over the next couple of months, I picked his brain through a series of several emails and messages on Cyber Dust. This article is representative of the valuable information I learned after taking a glimpse into his mind.

The Power of Social Media Influence 

What Makes Someone Influential on Social Media?

When you think of someone having influence on social media, our natural deliberation would lead us to the super famous individuals of society. Think Mark Cuban or Oprah, both of these individuals are celebrity figures through multiple national media outlets. However, reaching these mega celebrities is not an easy task. There are also the unsung social media superstars of the internet, the less popular individuals who could pass you on the street without you ever realizing it. The power of these sorts of social media influencers is an untapped resource in the sea of billions of social accounts.
Have you ever heard of the term Six Degrees of Separation? The theory is that anyone is six or less steps away from anyone in the world. Well these Clark Kent social media moguls are a mere hop skip and a jump away from the celebrity figures we all seek to share our content. So back to the original question, “What makes someone influential on social media?” It’s not in their number of followers, but in the strength of their voice through six or fewer degrees of separation, aka their network.

On What Platforms is a Social Media Influencer Most Powerful?

One would think FaceBook as sheer numbers would have to win here, right? Anthony believes and has proven through some of his clients, that Twitter and InstaGram are two of the most powerful social media platforms today. Why? It comes down to engagement, not numbers. Experimenting with different Social Media platforms over the years while building clients social followings, Anthony realized that 1,000 followers who are active and share your content are far more powerful than 10,000 followers who sit quietly in the shadows. The newest tool in Anthony’s belt is Cyber Dust. Although it’s in the infant stages, he says,  “It’s the most engaging community around today”. Cyber Dust may not yet be named as one of the most powerful networks available to marketeers but it’s unique enough to be stirring up attention with influencers and businesses who want to be the first to strike oil. See How to Grow Your Business With Cyber Dust.

Can an Average Joe Like You or I Become an Influencer?

danbilzerian – I clearly came to party

Alas, there is hope for us Average Joe’s. Anyone can build a huge following of active users and become a social media all-star. Anthony says it takes persistent, professional efforts to build your influence. I touched on this strategy in Social Media Hacks… Think Again. The fact is that it won’t happen overnight. Anthony said, “I’ve seen businesses and people grow to a couple thousand followers using the wrong methods, then with a little strategy and persistent efforts they have grown to near a million”. A great example is Dan Bilzerian, an Ex-Navy SEAL and once just a regular Joe. Dan started on InstaGram sharing his passion for poker, partying, guns and women. He never tried to be anything more than himself. Through the years he has gained more than 7 million followers and counting. Bilzerian has since been named, “The most interesting man on Instagram”. There is no doubt that he is an interesting guy when he pulls off stunts like carrying around an alligator or films his deposit of $450K cash from the sale of his Lamborghini to Pauly D.

How to Get in Contact with Influencers?

I am sure you already know that this one is hard to accomplish. It’s much more difficult than getting past the receptionist at the front desk. A true social influencer will receive thousands of messages a day, most of which are trolls with an ulterior motive. If you are trying to stand out in a crowd of thousands or millions, you might as well go play the lottery. Anthony says, “It’s about connections”. Remember the rule of six degrees of separation mentioned earlier? As a regular Joe, I would recommend you look at who an influencer is interacting with on a regular basis. Reach out to them or see who they are interacting with, you may know someone who they are friends with. After some time and building your connections from the bottom up, you will be able to reach the big names in the game.

Amplify

Many of us do not have the patience or time required to build a huge following of loyal social media followers. This is where Anthony’s company Amplify comes into play. Here is what he said about the company:

“Companies want to feel safe when they hire a firm to handle their social media accounts. Amplify’s established staff of social media guru’s thrive on a less talking and more results attitude. Utilizing our passion for social media growth and established connections, we are able to come in and take full control of your social media presence. Through the use of these platforms we can not only amplify your outreach on social media, but also turn these followers into long-term customers for your business. Our process is turn-key, we will identify your target audience, build a massive audience, track metrics, amplify results to ensure your business gets more than a fair return on investment.”

So in summary, when you are trying to get your content to go viral on social media, don’t just keep the huge names in sight. Remember the undiscovered Average Joe’s might be your key to success. It’s not necessarily about the number of followers someone has, it’s about the power of their outreach and who follows them that might be listening. If  you don’t want to wait it out, you could always cut through all the red tape and contact Anthony at AmplifySocial.net.