It’s all very well having lots of followers but the trick to growing them is to be part of the few that everyone wants to follow. It would be exhausting trying to round up everyone. I say:

Be part of the few. The masses follow the few.

So how do you do this?

Finding Content

A good way to identify key influencers is by finding content created by them. Unless you are using a premium social media monitoring tool a good way to do this is through RSS feeds of search results which you collect in Google Reader.  Most search engines allow you to subscribe to results via RSS feed. There are many you could use, just look for the RSS logo on the results page.

• Goole Alerts
• Socialmention
• IceRocket.com

For this example we are using Google Alerts. Set up a Google Alert and receive it via RSS Feed into Google Reader.

To summarise, once you have the search results coming into Google Reader you simply need to identify the authors, decide which are key influencers and then seek to engage them.

See Which Content Gets Shared Most

By using the PageRank extension on your browser – I use Google Chrome – you can see which blog posts are getting talked and shared about the most. Look for the mid to high scoring blog posts as an indicator of who is most influential.

Use The Author Name To Find Social Profiles

Click on the authors name and see where it takes you. Often there will be a profile page.

Look for links to Twitter and copy their Twitter name

Visit PeekYou.com, Pipl.com and finally Google to search on their name and username

This will show you the channels where you can find more content and connect with the author.

Find The Most Influential Bloggers

Once you have someone’s Twitter name you can see who is the most influential. Again by using extensions in your browser this is easy. Add the Klout and PeerIndex extensions and you will see people’s scores against their names.

Connect and Say Hi

It is rare that people actually tell you when they follow you. I recommend you send them a personal message whatever network is it on and tell them why you are following them and that you are looking forward to reading more from them, speaking with them or even meeting them. A good way to do this is to actually leave a comment on some of their other content and then tell them;

Just left a comment on your great blog about Going To The Moon. Looking forward to reading more. Would be great to connect.

Comment and Share Regularly

No relationship is ever established instantly. If this person is high profile they may get lots of people connecting and following them. You need to show over time that you are interested in them and that you can offer value back to them. You will do this by consistently commenting and sharing on their content. People don’t use social media or write blogs to stay anonymous. You noticing and contributing is an asset to them and over time a relationship will be established. In order to do this you need to stay aware of the latest content and updates. Put your key influencer targets in a Twitter List of Google+ Circle. Add RSS feeds of their content to your Google Reader and put them in a separate folder. Now you can promptly comment or refer to their content. If you are worried about looking like a stalker, well judge for yourself where you are adding value or where you are simply hunting someone down. Consider it flirting!

A consistent approach to this method will ensure you are able to engage key influencers. When these people talk about you or with you all their followers will get introduced to YOU.

Have you got such a strategy? What tools and tricks do you use? Feel free to share them in the comments.