8 Traits of Highly Effective Influencers


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Influencers Find Quality over Quantity

How many people are required to follow, link or otherwise cite someone in order for that person to be considered an influencer? Look, there are many groups trying to define influence. Google ranks search results according to their definition of authority. Technorati replaced key metrics a few years ago in place of a metric they call “Authority”, an algorithmically generated numerical ranking that is supposed to provide context around influence.

“Influencers often focus on smaller, more tightly wound audiences because relationships to them are more important than having a bully pulpit to reach thousands”

Egos in the social media space have pissing matches over how many followers they have on Twitter or Friendfeed, and even go out of the way to artificially inflate their own importance with higher numbers. Unfortunately, this often happens without recalling the words of wisdom, “It’s not the size that matters but the motion of the ocean”.

In another sense, influencers often focus on smaller, more tightly wound audiences because relationships to them are more important than having a bully pulpit to reach thousands. Influencers are aware that they will be heard, monitored and mentored by countless people, businesses and organizations but they are very focused on developing key strategic relationships with people that actually matter to what they are about.

Bloggers who are influencers might not have the biggest subscriber base, but they have all the right people paying very close attention. They do not have to reinforce their value on Twitter and they do not take offense when people challenge them.

Influencers have a large degree of confidence because they don’t need to prove themselves. They have a natural instinct, as mentioned earlier, that transcends pettiness. They are the ones that rise above the fray, eliminating non-productive noise and distilling the signal in such a way that even their worst critics cannot help but concede value. Notably, this does not always equate to agreement by critics, but it commands a respect level that arises out of intentional consideration.