Reach 1.3 Million People
Reach 1.3 Million PeopleWant to learn how I have gotten over 1.3 million posts about my upcoming book The Bacon System (book number 4)? Read on!
Getting To Know You
My wife does not understand why I get on airplanes to go to Denver, Atlanta, LA, New Jersey or San Diego to go to conferences. I do this to meet people, because many of those people are Internet marketers, authors, speakers, coaches and the like. These people are Influencers.
What’s an Influencer? These are people with huge audiences on the Internet. That have followings on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Blab, Periscope, YouTube, Instagram, and other social media platforms.
I have met and started (and continued) REAL relationships with people like Joel Comm, Brian G. Johnson, Ken McArthur, Felicia Slattery, Steven Memel, Rajesh Setty, Kellan Fluckiger, Cathy Demers, Lee Collins, Scott Smith, Kathleen Gage, Matt Bacak, and many others who have a HUGE sphere of influence. These names may not mean much to you, but in the Internet marketing, coaching and online worlds these people are ROCKSTARS!
I am not meeting them just for their influence and audience, I am getting to know them and serve them in any way I can. I want to start conversations and create relationships that will have some kind of mutual benefit. You have to understand that It’s Not About You!
It’s Not About You!
That is the title of my first book, “It’s Not About You, It’s About Bacon! Relationship Marketing In A Social Media World!” and it is about just that. I am trying to leverage relationships to grow my sphere of influence, but it starts with them. That is one of the reasons I do my Podcast “The Bacon Podcast“. I get to interview these influencers.
It’s part selfish, but it is strategic too. I interview people I want to learn from, but in the process I hope that the questions I ask will help you get to know these people and learn from their awesomeness. It starts with them. I give them a platform and expose them to my audience and more with the hope that it will help them grow their businesses first.
The 100/0 Principle
There is an awesome book by my mentor, Al Ritter, called the 100/0 Principle. It basically says, “Give 100% of yourself … 100% of the time … expect nothing in return … and watch what happens!” That may sound counterintuitive, but I am here to tell you that it works. It’s called servant leadership. By serving others first, they will often be open to returning the favor (and sometimes maybe more than your original efforts).
Build A Sphere Of Influence – Through A Sphere Of Influencers
This exercise is not a selfish one. I truly want to help these people. I really want to get to know, like and trust these people, and I hope they want to get to know, like and trust me back! Having them on my podcast is step two. I meet them at conferences and convince them that they can benefit from my sphere of influence. They have nothing to lose except 30 minutes for an interview! From there, I get to expose them to thousands every month (and more on replays in the future).
If I walked up to them or hit them up on the Internet and said, “Hey I would love to have you on my podcast!” they would be hesitant at best. We all listen to radio station WIIFM (what’s in it for me). Can you blame them? They are busy and have a limited bandwidth for others. If they see value, then they will make the time; however; you have to create the value first!
The Law of Reciprocity
Wikipedia says – “Reciprocity is a social rule that says we should repay, in kind, what another person has provided us.[1] That is, people give back the kind of treatment they have received from you. By virtue of the rule of reciprocity, we are obligated to repay favors, gifts, invitations, etc. in the future. If someone remembers us on our birthday with a gift, a reciprocal expectation may influence us to do the same on their birthday. This sense of future obligation associated with reciprocity makes it possible to build continuing relationships and exchanges.”
It’s also known as “Pay It Forward”. “Give 100% of yourself … 100% of the time … expect nothing in return … and watch what happens!”
How I Got 1.3 Million Message Support!
There is a program online called Thunderclap. It’s like doing a crowd funding with GoFundMe.com, but with social influence. By building those relationships, I was able to instant message each of those social influencers mentioned above and most of them gave me support. They do so by allowing me to message their followers with one message that will promote my upcoming book. They have to approve an app within Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr for me to do this.
It took a lot of face time and promotion, but more importantly an investment in relationships!
You can do the same on a smaller scale by getting out and networking in your local area. Start with meeting people. Help them promote their businesses first and you will get something in return (most of the time). “Give 100% of yourself … 100% of the time … expect nothing in return … and watch what happens!”
I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and reactions. Comment away!
Read more: