Living Entrepreneurship Blog / Babson Entrepreneurs

Why Influence Matters

I had a nice conversation with a friend the other day about influence in cyberspace.

You can have a big Twitter following, a ton of Facebook friends, a lot of blog followers, but what does that all mean?

Are they engaged? Can they help you spread your messages? What are they doing for you other than providing some face value in their numbers?

FastCompany released the Influence Project to find who are some of the more influential people in the world.

I wish I had influence. People look for several things in life – fortune, fame and influence. I think I’d choose the latter, then fortune, then fame.

Influence matters because you can have an effect on someone else’s life. Influence matters, especially to marketers and PR specialists, because your followers can help you spread the word to their followers creating this massive ripple effect making everything you touch go viral. The Midas touch in marketing?

How can you influence your friends and followers? That’s not an easy question to answer.

But generally, build great relationships with them. Share some goodwill with them and you can be sure that they will return the favor. Sometimes you might even have to ask them to spread the love.

Influence matters because you’re only one person, with one tribe. Connect with others and you will be able to influence their tribes. That’s influence.

Danny Wong is a blogger for some of the most influential blogs like HuffPo and TNW. He is also the co-founder of a co-creation startup, which provides custom men’s shirtsslim fit dress shirts and fitted dress shirts.