Guide On How To Become a Linkedin Influencer (2022)

For a general individual, an influencer may seem like an expert on a topic and have the power to influence other people. An easy example would be a doctor. One doctor may be able to convince other doctors to think in a particular way about a patient.

But what are small-time influencers?

They are new individuals who want to expand their scope of influence and convince many people to think in a particular way. The platform we will focus on is LinkedIn, so this is more on a business mindset.

In this blog, we would like to share our own experience of trying to become an influencer on LinkedIn. However, let’s start with the building blocks on things that new influencers should look out for.

An influencer is similar to a business

    1) Audience

An immediate question any new influencer would have is “who is my audience?” You can easily frame the concept of being an influencer like a business trying to sell its products.

For a business, you would like to reach out and get in touch with your target audience whom you believe will benefit from your products or service. It is no different from an influencer, who wants to share their experience or thoughts with followers or individuals to whom they believe they can give great value.

For both cases, it is very important to understand how your audience thinks and how you could give them greater value with the things you provide. It would involve talking to them and understanding and watching how others catch their attention.

    2) Time

Just because you know who your audience is, it does not mean they will follow your influence immediately. Just as everyone would say, “it will take time”.

But not everyone explains or suggests what to use your “time” on. 

Out of my own experience, it starts with your audience. You need to spend time learning about your audience. What they like and how they react to certain social stimuli like blogs or announcements. 

Afterwards, time is spent on the content you will provide your audience. Content that could provoke a reaction from your audience, whether it is controversial or simply thought-inducing.

    3) Consistency

After learning about your audience and taking the time to create the content you want to give value to others, it’s time to be consistent. The foundation of the type of content and audience is the beginning but consistency is what enforces organic growth.

Maintaining a regular posting schedule and the public image of yourself allows you to build trust and awareness among your audience. Just as others may quote, “Rome was not built in a day”.

For a new small influencer, consistency is one method to remind your audience that you are there to give them value. An influencer that is consistent with their thoughts and ideas while building on what others may say on similar topics.

Becoming a new influencer

With the business way of thinking out of the way, we can finally talk about being a new influencer.

It can be overwhelming to start as a new influencer. So I recommend looking through these three steps as you start to grow. 

The steps are:

• Defining your Brand

• Know your content

• Maintain your relationships

    1) Defining your Brand

Think of a popular business, where if you heard their name, you know what they are about. An example would be Apple; well-known for its iPhones and Macbooks. Maybe Samsung for their Android phones.

Even though they sell very similar products, consumers always have a preference for who they purchase products from. This is where branding comes in.

For a business, branding gives the organization meaning in the eyes of its customers. As for an influencer, this would be their personality and the image that your audience views you.

As you start as a small influencer, your audience would not take note of you unlike massive influencers like Bill Gates. However, this is due to the incredible brand image of simply Bill Gates. 

So what does this mean for the small influencer?

Define your brand and persona. If you learn about your audience, build your brand around their interest.

For me, I want to learn more about charities and the creative manufacturing industry with Rural Handmade. So I built a persona about building social impact with handicrafts. 

    2) Know your Content

The great thing about the internet is that information is everywhere. However, not everyone can find that information as quickly or coherently as another individual might. Content can revolve around this idea.

As I learn more about the creative manufacturing industry, I would hear or read about many different things about it. If I am curious and learning about something, there is surely another person in the same boat as me. So start with content by sharing what you find interesting with people.

It may not be much for a small influencer, but it helps build your brand and place your name out there for your interest. But simply sharing is not enough. When creating and sharing content, it is all about adding value.

    3) Maintain your Relationships

Once you establish your brand and the type of content you plan to share or create, it’s time to speak with people. An influencer should not act alone but speak and share ideas with experts and other influencers.

As your audience grows organically, you should use this time to build your relationship with them and specific individuals you would like to connect with.

LinkedIn is not like Facebook or Twitter, but business-centric social media. It is like grabbing a cup of coffee while speaking to an expert about new business trends and ideas. It is about building relationships to help better your understanding or providing great value to each other.

For a small influencer, it starts with replying and interacting with comments. It is a great way to start a public social interaction that could build into a personal conversation. Do not be afraid to simply send a message.

From my own experience, sending a message is a simple part of any interaction. If they do not reply, try speaking with another individual. But if they do reply, that’s a connection you can speak with.

Conclusion

Starting as a new influencer has always been a massive uptaking. But by taking your time to grow and understand your audience, is the start of being a better influencer.

In my personal opinion, everybody can give value to everyone else because we all experience different yet similar things. We all have gone through job-hunting situations or simply receive marketing emails.

To truly become a better influencer, requires not to be afraid of being yourself and sharing a story that others can take value from. We live in a digital age where the internet is our source of information and we continue to learn from each other.

So take it from me as another small-time LinkedIn influencer and share your voice with other people.

If you would like to hear more about handicrafters in developing countries or hear more about our operations, come visit our website and have a chat with us. 

Contact us at support@ruralhandmade.com.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts on the matter and whether you wish to support these handcrafters in developing countries.

Let’s work together and bring a social change for creative manufacturers and businesses alike.