60 Ways to Increase Your Influence Online
Yesterday I participated in “the shortest marketing conference ever”…The Influencer Project. I was one of 60 people who discussed how to use social media to build relationships, develop influence and grow reputation. You can register to receive a transcript and audio recording of the entire event.
The gist of my remarks were that the best way I’ve found to build influence online is to develop relationships offline. In other words, solidify the relationships you’ve built online by making a “in real life” connection with those people. Social media is excellent for building a broad network of friends and contacts. But, in my view, real, genuine deep connections happen in real life.
Now, let me stop all the haters here: I’m not saying real relationships can’t be built online. There are endless anecdotal stories of this happening, so I’m not going to assert that it’s impossible. (Along these lines, Mark Pilgrim wrote recently on the notion of 25-year friends.)
I’m simply trying to make this point: if you want to increase your influence online, then the way to do it is offline. Strong offline relationships will lead to even stronger ones online.