More than just responding to comments though, it’s also engaging with the community as a whole. Influencers are much more than just someone on a pedestal – they’re in a complex, 3-way relationship between their audience and the brands, and it’s a symbiotic one that requires maintenance at all times – providing value, engaging, and being yourself with great content being at the core behavior of everything you do.
And, you have to love it! This is a job that needs you to be on the ball at all times. One of the best ways to start a conversation with the wide community is to just do a blitz of social media. Take a trending issue or hashtag and have at it with gusto. Don’t forget you can also leverage other groups and social media to build your presence, too.
Of course, this is all sounding like a lot of work – especially with the epic workload of fresh content that you need to produce every day. Is it easy? No. Building a brand is never easy, and like all businesses starting up, you need to put in the time before you get to the top.
One key thing that’s rarely mentioned in guides like this is dealing with criticism. Not everyone’s going to like what you do – and that’s fine. Everyone has haters, whether the hate is justified or not, but how you deal with it is what really counts.
The truth is, few people can truly deal with it – so if you can handle haters with aplomb, you’re already miles ahead of a lot of people. It’s also good to remember that criticism shows you the way forward for improvement – do you really want to be surrounded by a bubble of yes-men?