5 Tips for Networking with Influencers

Connecting with influential professionals in your industry can be extremely beneficial for your career. Not only will you have the opportunity to learn about their expertise, but also you will have the chance to get yourself noticed by an influential professional in your field.

Influencers can help you grow as a professional and do wonders for your professional brand. When you get noticed by influencers, you’ll have the opportunity to build credibility for your brand and create new connections.

If you’ve been wondering how you could get noticed by an influencer, here are five networking tips to follow:

1. Follow and interact with influencers on Twitter.

If you’re active on Twitter, pay close attention to industry influencers who are also active on this social platform. Follow their conversations and pay attention to the type of content they share. This will help you figure out what they talk about online.

After you start following influencers on Twitter, start interacting with their content. Retweet and respond to the content they share. By consistently interacting with influencers and asking them questions, it’s likely they’ll eventually begin to notice your online brand.

2. Follow influencers on LinkedIn and read their content.

Another great way to network with influencers in your industry is to connect with them on LinkedIn. Depending on how influential the professional is, you’ll be able to personally connect with them or follow them on LinkedIn.

After you connect or follow the influencer, start interacting with their content. Especially if they write content for LinkedIn, be sure to comment and share on their articles. You can also interact with the influencer by interacting with their LinkedIn status updates.

3. Create industry-relevant content and share it with influencers.

Believe it or not, you can use social media and blogging to position yourself as an expert in your industry. Create and share industry-relevant content and make sure it gets noticed by influencers.

For example, if you have a professional blog, share the blog posts you create with industry influencers on Twitter or LinkedIn. You could also email content you create that you think an influencer might find valuable. Just keep in mind that influencers won’t see or respond to your content immediately, so it’s important to be patient yet persistent.

4. Be friendly and genuine.

As you continue to network and interact with influencers, it’s important to be genuine and friendly. Remember, influencers who have a large following on social media might not have the time to respond to every Tweet or email. However, if you continue to be thoughtful and friendly with your interaction, you might grab an influencer’s attention with your networking efforts.

5. Subscribe and read influencers’ blogs.

Another great way to interact with influencers is to read and subscribe to their blogs. It’s very likely that industry influencers will have a blog where they talk about important topics in your industry. Follow their content and be sure to comment on blog posts that are meaningful to you. By contributing to their online conversations, this is a great way to get noticed by an in influencer.

Networking with influencers can be a great boost for your career. You don’t have to have thousands of followers on Twitter to get noticed by an influencer. As long as you are genuine and remain persistent, you might get noticed by a very influential professional in your field.

Picture of Heather R. Huhman

Heather R. Huhman

Heather R. Huhman is a career expert and founder & president ​of Come Recommended, a career and workplace education and consulting firm specializing in young professionals. She is also the author of#ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), national entry-level careers columnist forExaminer.com and blogs about career advice at HeatherHuhman.com.

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