5 Ways to Become a Top Influencer in Social Media

Are you interested in becoming a top influencer in social media? This goal can be a lofty one, like creating content that becomes an overnight viral sensation as well as placing a lot of time and effort into your own personal branding. For some, it seems to happen without effort, while others appear to have worked hard to reach the top tier of social media influencers and stand out in the overwhelming crowd of their online peers. So where does one begin? Here are five ways you can work towards your goal of becoming a top influencer in social media today:

Stay Focused

If you are spreading your social media influence everywhere you can, you might be successful and eventually reach the top of the ladder in the social media sphere. To achieve your goal of becoming a top influencer in social media more quickly and easily, however, you should make sure that all your activities are geared towards productive and results-oriented actions. Contacts you make should be influential, and your online presence should be prolific and widespread in an actionable way.

Knowledge is Power

While you can do plenty of research to learn more about social media, online marketing, and other forms of online communication, the best way to educate yourself most efficiently on trends and practices are on the job training as well as by enrolling in an online communications degree program. Knowledge is power, and the more knowledge you have, the more powerful you’ll be in your ability to influence your peers.

Be Active and Proactive

You can’t influence anyone in social media if you aren’t an active presence on the social media networks, blogs, and other sites or platforms that are being used and visited most frequently. Your online presence should be a commanding one, with regular updates and other activities that let people know you’re active in social media and you aren’t going anywhere any time soon.

To be proactive in becoming a social media influencer, you should pursue those avenues that will best help you achieve that goal. This means reaching out to contacts that can provide you with valuable insights, making connections with people who are already influential, and pursuing your followers and cultivating a fan base or network of readers rather than sitting back and waiting for them to come to you.

Identify the Most Applicable Platforms

Content that works well on one social media platform may fail miserably on another, so it is important to identify the platforms that are most applicable to the content you are creating and sharing. While you do want your reach to be as widespread as possible, you don’t want your content to appear inappropriate for the platform’s audience, nor do you want it to look like a half-hearted effort to gain attention. Determine what you are sharing or creating most and what audience it primarily appeals to, and then choose your platforms and networks based on what you’re sharing and who would want to see it.

Stand Out in the Crowd

Above all else, your content should be creative, original, informative, and valuable if you want to be a top social media influencer. Mediocre content abounds on the Internet like a plague, and one of the easiest ways to increase your popularity and following on social media platforms is by providing unique content that meets needs, answers questions, provokes thought, or provides value in some other way. When you are providing content that stands out because of its originality, people will take notice and positive actions will follow, like shares, likes, links, plus-ones, and other referrals. And don’t forget, content comes in many different forms (text, pictures, videos, etc.) so be sure to post a variety to keep your followers interested.

By putting these five tips together, as well as others that can help you create a more dominant online presence, and using them to raise your social media popularity, you will also increase your influence. With a little patience and effort, you’ll soon see your goal of becoming a top influencer in social media become a reality.

This article by Andy Franco was originally published on Social Media Today.