People are always asking me “Josh, you came out of nowhere, now I see your name all over the place, how I can do that?” That’s the question I’ll be answering in my book Influencer Inc. The book will help you answer larger questions like “Why do I want to be an influencer?” and “Who do I want to influence?” but will also dive deep into the tactics of how to become an influencer. By the time you finish the book I want you to have a step by step roadmap that will teach you how to start a blog, build an email list, foster a community on social media, get a book deal, and get paid to speak. In order to make sure this book answers the questions you have, I’ve compiled this list of questions with the help of subscribers to my email newsletter. Do you have anything to add? Please comment below!
- Should I have my own website?
- How much should I pay for a website?
- If I build a website how do I get people to come to it?
- Should I create a personal brand that is separate from my company brand?
- Do I need to pay for professional photography and video of myself?
- Is it worth my time to get followers on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram? If so, how do I do it?
- Should I be doing video? How do I get started?
- How do I get a book deal with a reputable publisher?
- Should I even go with a publisher, or should I self publish?
- If I go for a publisher how do I develop a proposal? How can I estimate the number of book sales in the first year?
- Where should I self publish?
- How long should my book be?
- How much should I price my book at?
- Once I write a book, how do I get anyone to read it?
- How can I start doing public speaking?
- How do I get paid to speak?
- How much should I charge as a speaking fee?
- I’m young. Can I be an influencer?
- I’m old. Can I be an influencer?
- I haven’t made millions of dollars. Can I be an influencer?
- Should I attend conferences, even if I’m not speaking at them?
- How do I organize my knowledge and experience into a message that’s ready to deliver?
- What are the best channels for my message?
- How do I work on my personal brand?
- How can I differentiate myself from other people speaking on similar topics?
- Should I hire a PR agent to book me speaking, guest blogging, and podcasting?
- Do I have to “fake it til I make it?”
- How did other people become influencers and what was it like for them early on?
- What should I start with first?
What questions would you add? Tell me in the comments below.
How much of a subject expert do you need to be to become an influencer?
What different kinds of influences can influencers make (if there are different kinds)?
What qualifies you as an influencer? Is it a certain number of followers on your social media or subscribers to your email list?
Thanks for the additional questions, Katya! To give a short answer to your first question about how much of an expert you need to be to be an influencer, what I’ve found is that to be an expert you just need know slightly more than whoever you’re talking to. It’s similar to if you’re with a friend in the forest and suddenly a bear starts chasing you. How fast do you need to run to get away? You don’t need to outrun the bear, you just need to outrun your friend 🙂
Thanks! Interesting, if one’s influencer status is dependent on who they’re talking to, I wonder if/how the dynamic changes once influencers are put in the same room– then who’s the influencer in a room full of “influencers?”
Another one– is there a difference between an influencer and a thought leader? If so, what is it?
That’s what I have so far! Your list in the blog post is definitely comprehensive.
I think influencer and thought leader are almost synonymous, but an expert is quite another thing. One can be an expert and not be an influencer, and those are the people I want to help. They have something to offer but they don’t know how to get the message out. On the other hand, it’s difficult to be an influencer or thought leader without being an expert at something.
The secret is that everyone is an expert at something, even a child. And some children/kids have become successful influencers, just check out the Evan Lego kid on YouTube or Malala https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malala_Yousafzai.
Is there any relevance of becoming an influencer with maturity?
Are you asking if it’s easier to become an influencer or have influence as you get older?
What are the best ways to monetize your influence and/or blog?
It depends. In my case, I blogged for 10 years here, on this blog, and didn’t make a dime. Then I got the opportunity to write for Forbes in large part because of this blog. Once post I wrote for Forbes generated over $2M in revenue for my digital marketing agency, MWI. I leveraged writing for Forbes to get my writing into CMO.com, Entrepreneur, Time, Mashable, TechCrunch, and more, which has also generated revenue for MWI. I also landed a book deal because of writing for Forbes.
I’ve never made more than a few hundred bucks off of this blog, at least not directly, but I’ve made millions indirectly. That’s the way I’m monetizing this blog, but there are other people monetizing their blogs through ads, affiliate links, etc. It all depends on what other business interests you have and what your objectives are.
“post I wrote for Forbes generated over $2M in revenue for my digital marketing agency, MWI.” that’s awesome!! Congrats and thanks for the response.
Found on several blogs a post (English & French) from @bernard jomard published in several countries, Canada, France , US and so on… giving most of the details needed to becom an influencer and to make $ 3.000-5.000 a month or more – go check it out on http://bernard-jomard.com/2017/06/19/influenceurs-marketing-jungle-sy-retrouver/