Now, there is a second type of influencer that frankly is really influential, and I'd like to call them authorities. They are the authority in their community. And basically, if you get into what makes them tick, they think, "My opinion is worth more than gold in my space." Now, they understand that they are not experts in everything but in their community, in their area, they are the ones that people turn to. So, the example I'd like to share with you here is Mark Shaffer. He's actually a colleague of mine. He also teaches here at Rutgers. And he's written books. He's the authority on his topic, Social Media Marketing, Twitter. He knows that stuff. So how do you engage somebody like Mark? Well, the key here is to create value for their community. In other words, they can't be bought, but they can be convinced. So, they're interested in anything that brings value to their audience. And if you can help them on that quest, on that mission, you reinforce their authority and their community, and they're with you even though no paychecks pass hands. So, a different technique but it works with a different type of influencer. So again, as you are looking at influencers and trying to analyze what bucket do I put them in, understand that the authority works a little differently than the celebrity and, oh, by the way, it's going to work a little differently with some of the other types that we'll take a look at. Now, there is a third kind of influencer I like to call connectors. Why? Because they're always connecting people. They are all about groups. In fact, the photo that I've selected here is of a particular influencer that I worked with, Lisa Byre. She's on the the far side there. But guess what? She's not alone. She's got one of the other members of her organization with her. Why? She's a connector. She's basically introducing me to her because that's what they do. That's what makes them tick. So here's the thing. If you understand that these connectors like to connect the dots, they like to create links, that's what makes them tick. Basically then, that means you need to figure out a way to help them grow their network because they live in a network. They add value to that network. And so, what can you do to bring new people into it? So, if you bring value to that network, then you're gold. You're invaluable. They want to work with you again and again and again. So, for connectors, what's the secret handshake? Well, it's just that, it's a handshake. It's help them connect more dots, help them meet new people, bring them into contact with folks that they can basically add to their network. That adds value to them. And oh, by the way, it doesn't involve a cheque. Next type of influencer, very, very funny people. They are the personal brands. These are the people who basically think, "My name is my equity." And who do I want to give you here as an example? Well, how about Shay Carl Butler? Everyone knows him as Shay Carl. He's big on YouTube. His whole family is on YouTube. You know what? That's how he made his reputation. And so, what does he want? Well, he's trying to build his reputation. And you know what? It's interesting. Personal brands are particularly interested in search engine optimization or SEO. In other words, they understand that if you can get authoritative links to their sites, that's going to help with their rankings, that's going to help them get discovered in search results. You know what? They're very sophisticated about that. So, in talking with them, it's a different conversation, isn't it? You want to help them enhance their personal brand and then you're going to be their best friend. And you know what? Don't hurt them. Don't treat them shabby. Do not talk behind their back, because you know what? It is a small, small, small, small universe that we work in. They will hear it, and you know what? It's over. So again, find ways to increase their visibility and be sincere and be their buddy. And by the way, take selfies. That works, too. Now, I've been working with the next kind of influencer for, boy, over 30, 35 years. They're called analysts. And you know what? They existed long before the internet came along. They used to be industry analysts and they worked at consulting firms and they would come and they would look at your, particularly, I work in the technology field. They would look at your product and they would write papers and other people would base their purchasing decisions based on what they wrote. And at one point in time, I was actually in charge of analyst relations for one of the high tech companies I worked at. So, I know these people. And what's interesting is, here we are 35 years later, and they're still there and they are still doing what they do. And you know what? They're influential all these decades later. So, one of the interesting things to sort of get into their head understand what makes them tick is they like to think, "I form and communicate credible insights." They're not afraid to rock the boat if they have to, but they want to be able to back it up because their credibility is what's at stake. So how do you engage these kind of people? Well, different kind of tactic, right? It really helps sell if you can present them with new data and help them sort of build their base of knowledge that they need to perform their job as an analyst. But here's the tip. You want to give them access to insider insights and to new data that they can analyze, but you don't want to try to impose your analysis on them. Pardon me, they're smart people. They're experts in this field. Give a little elbow room. Let the data convince them that you know what you're doing. Don't try to spin it. This is not the group that is going to respond to that. So, understand different kind of influencer, an important kind of influence. But the analysts want to analyze, it's why we called them analysts. And you know what? That's what works.
