5 Ways To Find Key Influencers Within Your Industry On Twitter
By Ashley Anderson Account Manager at SocialKaty, Inc.
Is your buzzword detector going off yet? Oddly, as annoying as the term “influencer” seems, it’s equally as important. So what’s it REALLY getting at? In my opinion, great content, good frequency, and quality interaction are more beneficial in a brand influencer than 30,000+ tweets or celeb status. Ranging from tweens to senior citizens, influencers have a loud opinion and a large following, and they’re talking about your industry. Your brand’s first step after creating a Twitter account should be identifying and connecting with the thought-leaders in your niche. And believe me, it doesn’t matter if you’re a new mobile app, or selling designer cat pajamas...there’s a niche. So, where to look?
1. Twitter Search
Your first stop while looking for influencers on Twitter should be...Twitter. Instead of searching for handles, keywords, or names, try searching hashtags pertinent to your brand. You can also use various dashboards like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, and Seesmic to monitor mentions, create RSS feeds, and basically just be awesome at multitasking.
2. Curated Content Sites
Type in keywords on Listorious, and you’ll be directed to pages full of pre-made lists, experts, and tags associated with your industry. Topsy offers you a more analytical approach with popular tweets in real-time, while Alltop produces the top news stories surrounding your search query.
3. Who Your Competitors Follow
Yes, it’s ok to be a little sneaky.
4. Klout
Dubbed a “social credit score” by its founders, Klout crunches social data and provides users with an influence score based on likes, shares, retweets, and overall engagement. Go after your peers bearing super high Klout scores and give them +K.
5. Tweetchats
Often led by industry leaders, Tweetchats occur when users meet at a pre-arranged time and employ a specific hashtag to discuss a topic of choice. A simple Google search will produce lists organizing popular chats in every imaginable category including cities, professions, hobbies, and TV shows to name a few. Many award prizes just for participating, and depending on the content, they can get a little rowdy.
Think of it as the first day of school...just go make friends, they’ll love you!











