5 Smart Strategies For Becoming An Influencer in Any Niche

Influencer marketing is a great strategy to get some eyes on your content and your products.

But there's a flip side to that phenomenon.

On one side of the equation, we have marketers, entrepreneurs, salesmen, and the like. But there's another side to it, and that's the influencers themselves.

Becoming an influencer yourself is a valid strategy for making money online.

To pull it off, you kind of have to have something.

That “something” varies.

You might be an artist or designer; a writer; a gorgeous young lady with a penchant for makeup; a fitness model to aspire to; or just plain charismatic.

Basically, you need to have something to share with the world.

But if you do, you can start creating a strong personal brand for yourself.

The very portrait of a big-time influencer is Neil Patel. Among digital marketers and online entrepreneurs, he's practically a household name.

So he's the guy whose advice you'll want to follow if you really want to be an influencer.

He's recently put out some awesome tips for doing this.

And it's not just the same stuff you've heard over and over again, like “create great content.” He's got strategy ideas you may not have thought of.

Check out a few of them below.

Network within the industry

In order to be influential, you need to make real connections.

Everyone wants to sit at home on their couch and connect with influencers on social media.

That’s simply not an option. Popular tech influencer iJustine, for example, has 1.2 million Twitter followers.

[image source: Neil Patel]

She’s very active with her followers, but can’t possibly engage individually with all 1.9 million in any meaningful way.

Where you can network with Justine Ezarik is at technology trade show CES.

You can also bump into her at the Webby Awards, the Streamys, and several other events.

Event marketing is a big trend in 2017, with 67% of B2B marketers considering it their most effective strategy.

[image source: Neil Patel]

Why not make it a priority for marketing yourself?

Get off the couch, get out the house, and get to major events related to your niche.

You can start your search at the Trade Show News Network for listings of trade shows around the world in every industry.

Participate in off-site forums

Becoming popular on one social network does have its advantages.

YouTuber PewDiePie, for example, earns $70k per month off the strength of 9,239,050 daily views.

[image source: Neil Patel]

Even PewDiePie has other revenue streams, however, earning $6.5 million from endorsement and app development deals alone.

Not everyone can be PewDiePie, though. That’s why he’s famous for it.

The rest of us have to venture outside social media and participate in forums, comment wells, and other online discussions.

Every discussion you can be a part of online enhances your reputation, influence, and connections.

6. Create a website or blog

You’ll always have more to say than can fit in a tweet or Instagram post.Conversations don’t end on social media.

With a website or blog, you have a place to direct your social followers as you gain them.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of blogging.

One of the best content management systems for creating either a website or blog is WordPress.

[image source: Neil Patel]

Don’t be an influencer without a cause.

Be prepared to lead your followers into your well-designed conversion funnel.

Tweets with links have 86% higher engagements rates.

On LinkedIn, posts with links have 200% more engagement.

A link to your website or blog can actually increase your audience engagement on social media.

And it goes without saying the longer blog content needs to provide even more value than a social post to get clicks.

Stay ahead of current events

Evergreen content stays forever relevant, such as an article about evaporation points of different liquids.There are two types of content, evergreen and topical.

Topical content is hot right now, but will soon be forgotten. Basically, everything happening today.

When writing a blog post, I’d stay as evergreen as possible, but on social media, staying informed about current events is the key to being shared.

The Lafayette Company’s Ellen Carmichael’s biggest tweet of 2017, for example, combined the 2016 presidential election with the 2017 Super Bowl.

[image source: Neil Patel]

Using these timely images created a brand win for Carmichael by appealing to Super Bowl fans who remember the election.

Staying topical is how you go viral on social media.

Tools like Hashtagify let you keep track of social media trends.

A Google News alert helps you monitor the entire Internet for specific keywords and phrases.

Do what you have to do to stay current.

Listen to criticism

Being a creator of any kind or in the public eye for any reason involves handling a lot of criticism.

Even the President of the United States or the richest man in the world can’t avoid criticism.

No amount of money or power can!

Yet so few of us can handle it.

Here’s a Venn diagram of people who need and can handle constructive criticism.

[image source: Neil Patel]

If you become a person who can actually handle constructive criticism, critics will mold you into a more polished influencer.

Being an influencer isn’t about dictating what people do. It’s about creating a movement, and constructive criticism is essential to that.

Nobody wants to be surrounded by yes men.

Which reminds me…

Quantify your efforts with data

Each social media site will show your impressions and audience engagement numbers.

It’s usually on the front page.

[image source: Neil Patel]

This only shows half the picture of your real influence, however.

With a website and Google Analytics, you can see the rest.

We can tell which social channels are getting clickthroughs to our site and how many people are converting from there.

Once you understand how many posts it takes to generate a conversion, you’ll be able to calculate an ROI for your social media efforts.

This isn’t the only benefit of being an influencer.

Like I said at the beginning, you can influence other influencers and drive the conversation.

Just be sure to use your power for good.

Conclusion

Influencer marketing is the latest trend in digital marketing because social media influencers are now able to quantify their audiences.

What started as a hobby for many has become a big business, and influencers like PewDiePie often outearn celebrities, politicians, and other prominent professions.

I’m an influencer today, but I wasn’t always.

Everyone starts at square one with no followers and nobody knowing who they are.

It’s the steps you take to build a following that ultimately determines how influential you are.