5 Ways to Identify Influencers

Try entering all the hashtags that apply to your industry or your target industry. Try a list of the keywords which you think are most appropriate and search through the Top tweets. Influencers within an industry typically post several times a day so with a little perseverance you should be able to start identifying key players. Twitter then provides you with suggestions as to similar individuals and you can scan through the list of people that they follow. When you’ve identified some influencers you can visit their website and LinkedIn profiles to garner some more information on them. Once you are following them try to retweet some of their content and tweet at them to begin developing a relationship.

LinkedIn Group are a great way to find influencers. Some groups are open, while others require you to be approved. Once you are a member of a group you can view previous discussions, posts and comments. Influencers within an industry also tend to post updates on LinkedIn. When viewing an influencer’s profile LinkedIn conveniently provides a People Also Viewed section which frequently lists people of a similar calibre in the industry.

Search for blogs that pertain to your target industry. Those with the higher ranking will most likely be higher in the pecking order of influence. While on a blog you will often find guest bloggers or instances where the host blogger has guested on other blogs. By navigating this web of cross-blogging you will often identify other key bloggers within a field. Many bloggers also have a recommended list of other blogs that deal with their topic of interest. These can be a gold mine, as someone familiar with the industry has already done a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

It may not seem like the first place you would go looking but often book sellers can be a deep well to tap. Search for the authoritative tomes on a subject and you will frequently locate the heavyweights in an industry. Industry specialists, professors and the authors of university textbooks will generally have 20+ years of experience at the uppermost levels of their chosen field.

We’re not suggesting you pack your bags and start jet-setting around the world to exotic conference locations, unless you really want to that is. If you identify the major conferences within an industry you can check their list of speakers for the previous years, chances are you are going to find some of the biggest names in that industry, who have experience with a captive audience.

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