Today I was reading a post over at emergence marketing talking about influence and it inspired to me to write a post of my own, after all the topic of influence is quite an important one. I believe, that influence and authority go hand in hand. The more authority you have on a particular subject the more influence you have over people who are interested in that subject (or product). In order to understand what influence is, we must first understand what influence is not.
Influence is not:
- about how many followers you have or about how many connections you have
- about forcing or convincing people to do or buy something
According to the dictionary influence is defined as:
“ the act or power of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command”
So if I recommend using a particular social media tool or product and 70% of you go try that product or service out, then I have a good amount of influence. If I recommend something and you tell me that I’m an idiot and should be beaten with bamboo sticks, well then my influence is not so great. The issue that Francois from emergence marketing has raised is that I may be considered an influencer in some industries yet not for others (or for some companies and yet not others). Therefore how do you measure influence? If Barrack Obama told you to try out a social media service would you? What if he told you to vote a certain way on a particular issue?
Again, I think the issue here has to deal with authority as well as influence. If you are an authority in a particular field you can influence not only your field but also other fields. So if Obama was a nobody and told you to try out a social media tool, you probably wouldn’t listen, but as President Elect if he tells you to try out a social media tool, you are much more likely to listen because even though Obama is not a social media authority, he is an authority on politics and government, make sense?
As Shel Israel mentions on his blog, influence is very difficult to measure and is pretty much based on a case by case basis. I try to establish myself as an influencer and authority by sharing my ideas, tips, and strategies with all of you. I don’t have as many readers (yet) as Chris Brogan or Techcrunch yet the conversations I have with all of you are not any less valuable here then they are on other mediums.
I think this is a very interesting topic and am curious to hear your responses.
How do you measure influence (or authority?) What is influence to you?
thanks for reading!
Comments