With so much competition now afoot among various SERPs and keywords, it comes as no surprise that webmasters, bloggers and business owners are now seeking new and interesting ways to gain influence and advantage in search engine results. Between all of the new additions that can influence this metric (like social media) and the old, trusted forms of search engine optimization (keywords and content quality), many people have found that the effectiveness of these strategies do not provide the same mileage as they once did. One way that you can boost your influence via social media and web-based searches is to make valuable connections with so-called influencers, many of whom can be found on sites such as Twitter, Google Plus and Instagram. The following article will discuss the best ways that you can find and connect with these individuals via social media for an added boost of clout in SERPs and loosely-connected networks.

Through Conferences

The best place to find individuals who can help expose the benefits of your brand to others is via conferences, but what if you cannot attend every industry or niche event? A great substitute for this is to begin pinging websites in pursuit of notices of these conferences. For instance, an advertisement or press release for a niche conference will often have listed the names (and even social media handles) of prominent individuals who will be speaking or hosting the event. This can be a great way to instantly find a way to connect with influencers in a medium that can reap rewards for you over time if cultivated carefully.

Through Book Retailers

Another great way to find those who can bring your brand of business some additional attention in the future is by perusing online book retailers and outlets. Sources such as Barnes and Noble, Amazon and others will have a variety of different independent authors who have published successful books in one niche or another. Simply do a search for books in your niche or industry and evaluate each entry. From here, you can track down the respective authors via social media and connect with them. Obviously, authors with the best ratings on each site are the prime candidates for such targeting.

Inspect Your Competition

What better way to gain additional leads on potential influencers than to see with whom your competition is currently connected? By pinging websites and social media profiles of your competitors, you will be able to see which individuals are associated with them and as such, potentially find high-value influencers who can help boost your brand’s exposure. You will most likely be able to easily find all of your competition’s social media profiles via their websites, so do not hesitate to begin combing through these lists for leads!

Conclusion

Please keep in mind that you are not guaranteed any increase in traffic or exposure by simply finding or connecting with influencers. After connecting, you will then need to find ways to strike up conversations and promote valuable, quality content to them that will pique their interests in your causes. Blatant attempts to promote to these individuals may backfire, so be on your best behavior and try a more subtle approach via desirable content and relevant industry events.