Influence marketing is a significant kind of investment in your company’s future. Leveraging influence marketing means that you are gaining a number of relevant and dynamic followers with connections. It means that your online community is engaged and interested. It also means that you are making sales. By growing your social and digital community, you will be turning leads into sales in no time. These days, social communities are overwhelming and fast paced markets. Expanded via use of mobile devices, social networks have provided nearly unlimited opportunities for building your company’s digital identity. Gartner Analysts preach diversification and dedication: “The point is that the most effective digital marketing strategies orchestrate multiple channels, amplifying brand engagement across paid, earned and owned media, often including but certainly not limited to Facebook. Blindly throwing pennies at Facebook and expecting it spit out quarters like a slot machine is little more than a fool’s errand.”  Your competitors are always on the lookout for users and will engage if you do not. So how do you know if you are harnessing all the possibilities available to you? We have identified 3 ways to influence your space in the market: 1. Follow and Engage Influencers In order to leverage your social media presence you need to engage with issues that industry influencers care about. Remember to follow the influencers who you want to follow you. Engage with their blogs, their discussions and their “likes”. If you reach out to an influencer and comment about their interest, they may engage with you. Most often, often reposting or sharing your work too. Remember to be a follower of those who you want to work with the most, and to be the kind of online presence that everyone just has to follow too. 2. Interview and be Interviewed by Industry Influencers One of the most critical ways to get involved with influencers is to interview them and make connections. Influencers are looking for positive and engaging promotional pieces for themselves and their businesses and they are going to share those with everyone. When you mention someone on your site in a positive way, you are offering them an endorsement opportunity. If they are satisfied with your work, they will do the same. Offer yourself up for an interview as well. If you can offer a unique commentary then users will be interested. Customers will be interested in what you have to say and be compelled to reach out to you on social media. By spreading word of your message and clicking that most important “share” button. 3. Build Credibility You need to tell your audience why you should be considered an industry leader. Your portfolio needs to be presented impressively online and it must be easily accessible. Building the best possible online community will help build your credibility as a committed and dynamic organization with the best possible product. You must be an active participant in any social media market that you enter. You need to network, like and be liked. And you need to do this often. It should be cutting edge and you should be updating regularly and in advance of any big company announcements and launches. Remember these influencers can sell your product for you. They have built their own networks and built those on trust and confidence. If they nod in your direction, others will follow. Gartner Analysts sum it up: “Digital marketing is what you put into it. The sweat equity of picking, prioritizing, engaging and measuring multiple channels and continuously optimizing investment are the ingredients of the magic elixir that turns good digital marketing intentions into real business outcomes.” You are going to have to share your space in the market but let us face it you can take a bigger slice of the pie if you are committed to grabbing it. Make your business credible online and in every possible media space. Follow your influencers and be a business they want to follow. You will soon see a significant impact on your bottom line.