Why is it that certain social media posts go viral and others do not? You may think it has to do with content. If you have really good content–you reason–everyone will read it, while poor content will be cast aside. That’s a reasonable thought, but not at all practical. It is not a matter of what, but who that drives social media engagement. If you want results, you need influencers to interact with your social media.

Who

Influencers are key to selling anything in your business. When we are putting together a strategic marketing plan for our customers, one thing we want to uncover are the influencers of your customers and figure out how to effectively make a connection with them. In his classic book, The Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell identified three types of influencers. The first are called Connectors. They are the people who know lots of people. If you need a plumber to fix your leaky sink, need a math tutor for your child, or need a good financial planner, they know them all. They can make the connection. The second influencers are the Mavens. Mavens retain information about products and services. If you want to buy a new lawn mower, they know the best one on the market. Not only do they have a lawn mower they would recommend, they have memorized all the facts and features about it. They can tell you the difference between one product and another and will debate the advantages of one compared to the other. The third influencers are the Salesmen. They are the pied pipers of the influencers, getting people to follow them based on their trendsetting ways. Whenever something is new, they are the first to own it. They are always on the cutting edge. Salesmen are able to convince people to try something for the first time with just a word.

The value of these influencers is not that they will purchase anything from you – they may or may not – but that they will sway other people to buy your products and services. One way that can happen is their involvement with your social media circles. Get a Connector to introduce you to a potential new customer. Get a Maven to recommend your products and services. Get a Salesman to endorse your brand and you are on your way to establishing a social network that will bring you customers.

What

However, we cannot totally ignore the content of our marketing efforts on social media. A Maven is not going to praise a sub-par product. Quite the opposite, the Maven will expose the worst parts of a bad product. Likewise, a Salesman is not going to use his influence to vouch for a brand that has no potential. You have to deliver good content if you want to keep your influencers engaged.

Finding the right people to follow you

This all comes together when you find the right people to follow you. That begins with a rather simple task: watch, ask and listen. The next time you go to a networking event, qualify the people you meet. Ask them questions about what they do and who they know. It does not take long for influencers to expose themselves. Get to know them. If they are a Connector, they will want to know you and all about what you do. Expect them to say yes to a LinkedIn connection request quickly. Expect the Maven to look your website over for the benefits and shortcomings of your product or service offerings. And the Salesmen, just watch who people are gravitating towards. Talk to them. Ask them to follow you and you should follow them.

Social media is driven by these people. If you are using social media in your marketing efforts, do yourself a favor and find the influencers. Invite them to follow you. Gear your content to their tastes and see what happens next.