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I asked friends how they create influence on Facebook...
In the “real world,” a person might have power and
influence through their position on an organizational chart
or through some elected position. But on the Internet, we
FRIENDED
HATE rules. We HATE structure. And we sure don’t need
any org chart.
And yet, people do become influential on the Internet don’t
they? I’ve written quite a bit about the special opportunity
we all have to create influence through our content. But
beyond content, I was interested to know what people
thought it took to gain influence on the social web. So I
asked a few of my friends, “What do you think it takes to
become powerful on Facebook?”
I think you’ll enjoy their answers.
– Mark Schaefer
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JAY BAER, President, Convince & Convert
”Be a Youtility. Facebook forces companies and people to
compete for attention pixel-by-pixel. That’s unprecedented.
You can have all the cute cats and cool photos you want, but
ultimately usefulness and relevancy are the keys to success.”
RANDY GAGE, Author, Risky Is the New Safe
USEFUL “Influence comes from value – creating a Facebook
community that brings value to the people who participate
there.”
IAN CLEARY, CEO, RazorSocial
“Creating influence on Facebook involves identifying your
niche and building a personal and meaningful relationship
with existing influencers, helping them grow their influence
and not expecting anything in return.”
JASON FALLS, CEO, Social Media Explorer
“Be consistently useful. Isn’t that the key to influence
anywhere?”
Go ahead, be useful:
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C. C. CHAPMAN, Author, Amazing Things Will Happen:
“Share visual items that instantly create an emotional response
from the viewer so that they feel compelled to like, comment
or share immediately.”
KERRY GORGONE, Course Director, Internet Marketing at Full
VISUAL
Sail University: “Include a photo with every post or, better yet,
several. One study indicated that posts with multiple photos
increased engagement 1290%!”
BERNADETTE JIWA of Striking Truths: “I think one of the
things that’s overlooked about FB is that you don’t have to
have a huge presence there yourself to drive ‘traffic’ back to
your blog. We create outstanding visual images that people
like to share on Facebook, driving traffic back to our own
website.”
Help others see it:
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LIZ STRAUSS, Founder and Owner, SOBCon,
Successful-Blog.com: “Help other people be visible and valued.
When you find something great and valuable, don’t just “like”
what you see. Tell the people who made it why you like it and pass
it on. Share great work and help the people who created it grow.
Do that often and with pleasure. You’ll attract generous, powerful
GENEROUS
people who value great work.”
BILLY MITCHELL, President, MLT Creative: “If anyone you’d like
to do business with takes a second to like you (and your business)
on Facebook, don’t blow it. Annoy your new friends with hype
DJ WALDOW, Founder and CEO, Waldow Social:
and you’re history.”
“In order to create power and influence, it’s imperative to speak
like a human, to be helpful, and to
MARGIE CLAYMAN, Director, Client Development, Clayman Ad-
share knowledge with others.”
vertising: “Instead of worrying about creating content, prioritize
sharing and commenting on the content others create.”
JENNIFER KANE, Principal, Kane Consulting: “Proactively and
strategically build your network, and then lavish those people
with attention and empathy so that each one feels like the star of
their online life — which seems to naturally compel people to
want to make you the star of yours, in return.”
Share generously:
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SHONALI BURKE, VP, Digital Media and Marketing, MSL:
“If you know who you’re talking to, you’ll know how likely they
are to respond when you ask them for/to do something. So get
to know your audience; if it worked for Edward Bernays, it’ll
work for you.”
GENUINE
STEVE FARNSWORTH, The @Steveology Blog: “Have a distinct,
candid, and thoughtful opinion/point of view, and be transparent
on your reasoning for it. However, if you’re presented with new
information that changes that opinion, openly admit your new
position and why you changed it.”
SHELLY KRAMER, Founder, CEO, V3 Integrated Marketing:
“Just. Be. Human. And to me, being human means being a trusted
SEAN MCGINNIS, Founder, 312 Digital: “Treat Facebook as a
resource, as well as being interesting, funny, compassionate,
channel where you conduct thousands of one-on-one conversa-
interested in others, supportive, informative, helpful, apprecia-
tions. Real influence is built one person at a time.”
tive, etc. You get my drift. And this is where so many people go
wrong. They try do something different online than they do in
GLEN GILMORE, Principal, Gilmore Business Network: “Sow
person. But the brands, large and small,
influence on Facebook the same way you would in “real life”:
who are successfully using
show that you care, that you can be trusted, that you listen and
Facebook to connect with
share – and that you are a leader both in what you say and do.”
their customers are doing
just this. They are
being human.” Genuinely like it? Share it:
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ELIZABETH SOSNOW, Managing Director, Bliss Integrated
Communication: “To gain influence on Facebook, create an
emotional narrative arc that can be broken down into daily mini-
stories. Structure your stories so they satisfy at least one of these
four filters: surprise, humor, excitement and inspiration.”
JESSICA NORTHEY, Digital Host and Strategist,
SURPRISING FingerCandyMedia.com: “No matter what you think, YOU will
not be relevant and/or liked by EVERYBODY so shoot straight
from the hip, get to know and learn about YOUR audience, find
out what is important to THEM and never ever ever be boring.”
MARISA PEACOCK, Chief Strategist, The Strategic Peacock: “In
order to create power and influence on Facebook, it’s essential to JAYME SOULATI, PR and Marketing Strategist: “Facebook
provide fans with an experience that they can’t get from any other requires filters to target the audience with whom you want to
company touchpoint — not from your website, or Twitter, or engage. Much like LinkedIn groups, creating specialized
Pinterest. A successful FB page creates a value-added bonus that communities, or better yet, joining them, provides more power-
gives fans a reason to stay connected and engaged.” ful relationship building with those who have the same/similar
objective. Use those groups to show authority and balance that
BILL STRAWDERMAN, “The Marketing Bard” and Executive with smart questions, too. ”
Director, AT&T Digital Marketing and Social Media:
“Serve at the pleasure of friends, JON BUSCALL, Communications Consultant, Jontus Media:
Inspired by what your care lends. “Surprise your audience with something different. Familiarity can
In the kitchen of minds, breed contempt.”
Your ideas further bind Surprise your followers:
The weak ties – which grow strong
in the end.”
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LEO WIDRICH, Co-Founder, Buffer: “There is one key thing we
have seen from our data analyzing 1 million Facebook updates:
Whenever the frequency of daily postings goes over 5 posts per
day, the reach and engagement drops significantly. The best
results were achieved with two daily updates, one being around
11am for the most important timezone your fans are in and an-
CONSISTENT
other posting being at 5pm.
NATE RIGGS, of Social Business Strategies: “Lots of bigger compa-
nies who are building and managing fan pages stop responding
after 5 pm. This is dumb. To create real influence on Facebook,
NAVEEN KRISHNAMURTHY, CEO, RIVA Solutions, Inc: community managers need to be present when the fans are ready
“The key to creating power and influence on Facebook is to have to talk. Influence is created when you can solve a problem or
a consistent message over a longer period of time that is infec- answer a question when it happens.”
tious to the targeted community.
Thus the audience wants to GREGORY POUY, European blogger and digital strategist: “Focus
move past window on one subject/community that is relevant to your company and
shopping and create and give useful content for these people, respecting their
open the own code, meeting them in real life as often as possible and taking
door and time, not expecting a short term financial ROI.”
come in!”
KATHI KRUSE, Automotive SM Marketing consultant, Kruse
Control: “Know what your customer wants and give it to ‘em.”
Share consistently, too:
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TOM WEBSTER, Vice President, Strategy, Edison Research: “Ask
your Facebook followers what kinds of content they expect/need
to see from your company (or your industry) in the future on
Facebook, reward them for answering, and then do that thing.”
ROBERT ROSE, Strategist in Residence, Content Marketing
THOUGHTFUL
Institute: “In my work with brands on both the B2C and B2B
side, ‘active listening’ is one of the keys to success on Facebook.
Too many brands treat the platform as a publishing platform.
And, it’s not just monitor/response. That, frankly, is just ‘hear-
ing’. Active listening is consciously hearing, understanding and
MITCH JOEL, President, Twist Image, Blogger, Podcaster, Author, responding in a way that communicates to the person that they
Six Pixels of Separation: “Lets keep this short and succinct: are actually being heard.”
instead of getting people to “like” you, why not go out and “like”
people? It’s radical I know, but it’s true. Power and influence GINI DIETRICH, Founder and CEO, Arment Dietrich: “Ask
won’t come from the amount of people who like you. Power and questions! People LOVE to talk about themselves so if you
influence will come from being real with the people you’re truly ask them questions, you’ll find some serious engagement. The
interested in connecting with.” questions can range from ‘what’s your favorite Thanksgiving side
dish’ to fill-in-the blank questions. For instance, on our page, we
MICHAEL A. STELZNER, CEO and Founder, Social Media Exam- recently asked, ‘The most overlooked marketing tactic is…’ and
iner: “If you want to have raving fans on Facebook, simply reply ‘What was the best thing that happened to you this weekend?’
when they post on your Facebook While not everything we ask is business related it definitely keeps
wall. You’d be surprised how far us top-of-mind with our clients, prospects, and candidates.”
human response goes in Sharing is thoughtful:
building brand loyalty.”
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IN TOUCH Presented by
SCHAEFER MARKETING SOLUTIONS
Social media and marketing strategy, management and training
(workshops, speaking and one-to-one consulting).
Email Mark Schaefer
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