How to Be an Online Influencer
They don’t build statues of critics.
Whether you are a professional writer or operate an online business, every day, ask yourself about your business? Is it reaching the goals you set out for it?
If not, how can you pivot?
What we focus on is what we build and what we attract.
I have seen this first hand since I set out nearly a year ago in June, to write for Medium and make an income as a writer. My last payout was $1,700.
That is a solid month for only spending ten months on the site posting an average of five times per week.
In addition to my income increasing each month, I’ve gained more followers than I thought I’d reach. It isn’t in the hundreds of thousands (yet!) — but I’m pleasantly surprised at how my work has paid off.
Now that I’ve reached my goals beyond what I was expecting, I realize I need to dream bigger. If I can make that kind of part-time income in one month from posting on Medium five times a week, I can make $5,000 a month, or $10,000, or heck, why not $22,000 as one person made in April for one story.
It’s possible.
I just need to adjust my strategy and up my game.
I don’t treat my writing like a hobby; I work hard.
I worked especially hard in the first three months, when I posted seven days a week and made it my primary focus. I was writing and posting on Medium so much, I dreamt about it at night.
Writing is the first thing I do in the day, from about 7 am to noon, spending my power hours on writing, editing, choosing an interesting image, and sharing my work.
The biggest hurdle for me was starting; once I started, I was off to the races and haven’t looked back.
Visualize success before manifesting.
Every successful person will tell you, you have to see the dream first. You have to be able to see what your dream will look like.
My goal was to work from home, make my own schedule, spend time with my family when I needed to, go to a coffee shop, sit there all day with my computer, and make money online.
I knew what that would feel like, freedom.
Not having to comply with someone else’s schedule is freedom.
I love writing, so I wanted to get better at it. Writing a lot makes for better writing. And Medium is the perfect place for new writers to find their chops, hone their voice, and find an audience.
I knew I could succeed if I put in the hours.
Reading authors on Medium who have found financial success also helped me to see it was possible. If they can do it, why can’t I?
My day is ideal.
I write for several hours a day. I also read and listen to a lot of podcasts while I hike. I use what I read and listen to and write about it, adding my own perspective.
I love learning and would learn for free.
If I can learn and write and get paid, well, then I’m winning. When I’m happy and doing something I love, this benefits my family.
Impact.
There is a difference between someone who has a lot of likes and someone who has a lot of impact.
If you want to have influence online — if you want an audience to read your work — be someone who has an impact.
How do you have an impact? The biggest influencers online are those people who have a positive effect on people. People are fed up with negativity online, don’t be one of these people. Trolls, haters, and misogynists are a dime a dozen and don’t have much to say.
Be a beacon of light, be authentic and enthusiastic, that’s what attracts people.
An audience wants positivity and a way to make their lives more fulfilling and fruitful — whether you offer productivity hacks or financial advice or professional writing advice, be uplifting.
People want you to understand where they are and how to get to where they want to be. Don’t be perfect — your level of enthusiasm will outshine perfectionism. People will buy from your business — your words, your books, your products, your services — if you allow them to feel understood.
Know your Clients. Know your audience.
Live inside your client’s head. The most successful entrepreneurs know their clients inside and out. They know where their client’s shop, if they have kids and how many, where they vacation, what brand of car they drive.
They know their avatar, and she has a name.
If you are a writer, you know your audience well, and you speak to them. If you are a writer — read the comments. There is gold in the comments, even the seemingly negative ones.
Even though I tend to take a while to respond to my reader’s comments — I need to get better at this — I do get to them.
Even if you have influence over three fans, treat them well.
They are your tribe, and they like what you have to offer, show them respect by responding to their comments. Comments on your work are filled with pearls of wisdom and mostly positivity.
The comments make me think, keep writing, and act as an idea generator for me.
One negative comment got turned into a story; instead of responding to the negative feedback, I spoke to it in an entirely different post, and it’s of my highest read articles.
Clear the clutter in your client’s head, show them a way to live better, sell a service or a product that will help them feel good and better their lives.
Vulnerability sells.
Raw, real messaging in content sells. And you can’t fake it.
Audiences are smart, and they know when a writer or business owner is faking it; faking the story, or they don’t have love for the product they are selling. People are very savvy, and authenticity is what they are drawn to.
This is not to say that you have to emotionally dump on your audience in a story. There is oversharing. You should heal before you share a story, and get on the other side of it; if not, it is taking advantage of your audience.
Everyone has a story to tell, so write it.
When we share our stories, we feel less alone. Humans crave connection, share with your audience what happens behind the scenes of your life — the messy/human stuff — that is what they want to read.
Those stories that share your humanity make you relatable. I know, that word is overused, but it is true, they want to see the real you.
When you use the real and transparent stories of your life, it draws the reader in, and it works. Simply the act of sharing your art, your writing, your ideas, your with no assurance of appreciation is vulnerability. The more vulnerable you can be with your audience, the more they will connect with you.
To write is to be vulnerable.
Don’t stomp on critics.
Do not listen to the peanut gallery. Or, in my case, my family. Critics. They don’t build statues of critics.
Step over the critics and keep walking.
No, you don’t have to step on them, just over. They aren’t in the arena. Those who log on to troll — not add anything of value — they don’t get to have a say in your work. Nor do you have to participate in the negatively.
You don’t even have to read what they write about your work, just step over.
It takes guts to open up and share your stories. You are in the arena daring to succeed.
Trolls are not.
Write on.
Jessica is a writer, an online entrepreneur, and a recovering perfectionist. She lives in Los Angeles with her extrovert daughter, two dogs, and two cats.
