Asking for Influence Gets You Something Else
Earlier this month I received a string of private, direct messages (DMs) on Twitter from someone who has never sent me a public or private via Twitter or other social network. She’s never sent me an email. I’m pretty sure she’s never commented on my blog or my Instagram photos. She’s not a shareholder on Empire Avenue. As far as I recall, we’ve not met me at a conference or had a conversation on the telephone. Our sole relationship is that she is a human being with a Twitter account who chose to follow me whom I chose to follow back because she has an interesting Twitter bio.
The first direct message asked me if I could “get out the vote” because she wanted to win some prize being given to the person who got the most votes. I don’t know anything about her beyond her Twitter bio. How could I ask my friends to “get out the vote”? The choice seemed simple choose for my friends and my network — by not asking them to invest time — or choose for someone I don’t know.
That’s when it got interesting. The string of messages that came next thanked me for my help and asked me for help again. One in the mix — most likely meant to explain the behavior said, “she was crazy for the prize,” but she’d be happy to get noticed even if she couldn’t “take it home.”
The experience reminded me of a wave of similar requests that flooded my Twitter account during the run of the Fast Company Influencer Project in 2010 and a blog post I wrote about influence back then. What follows with some further explanation is what still applies now.
Recently Jason Pollock commented on Twitter about the Fast Company Influencer Project Project @Jason_Pollack said, I signed up for the “influence project” but quickly realized those at the top were just being very spammy to be there.
Robert Scoble replied with some true words of wisdom … @Scobleizer said, “Seems to me @Jason_Pollock that people with real influence never have to point it out or beg for it.”
They have a point.
Begged, Borrowed, or Stolen … The Economics of Influence
People rich with influence understand it as a currency. True and lasting influence — like true and lasting wealth — is earned through investment of time and resources. But it’s also a way of thinking and valuing what we do and the people we do it with. But influence, unlike monetary currency, cannot be begged, borrowed, or stolen. It can only be earned.
When a stranger asks me to “get out the vote,” she’s begging to borrow my influence as if it’s a limitless commodity that I’m at liberty to share. Were I so frivolous as to offer my network so freely to people I don’t know, I’d soon find that I’d spent what influence I had foolishly by not valuing the people who had valued my word. Or to paraphrase the axiom …
A fool and her influence are soon parted. Here are four ways to use the economics of influence to build influence of your own.
The difference between begging and building influence is the difference between giving to get and investing wisely.
- The exchange rate. In economics, influence would be a local currency. It’s value is only worth what your network agrees that it might be. The ideal is that you might take a single contact to move people to action. Contests that require millions of votes to choose a winner are an example of hyperinflation.
Power up your network. Be willing to work to prove your value.
How can you connect with the people who most represent what you value?
- The production costs. Producing influence takes resources — spent in building quality relationships, systems to maintain them, content to keep connected with them, and ways to grow those relationships. True influence grows from aligning our goals with others.
Share your influence as an equal partner.
How can others be better because you helped?
- Specialization. People rich with influence have integrated their passions and skills into their sphere of influence. They choose their networks on values and ethics and by doing so have established an automatic barrier to entry.
Know and value what has drawn you to each and all of your contacts.
How do you describe your network?
- Scarcity: Supply and Demand. If oak leaves were currency. They would only be valuable where oak trees don’t grow. People who have influence choose and feel no need to showcase their influence bank account. Their generosity is from a place of strength. They promote what they value in others, not what they hope will return.
Value your word and the power it has.
How do you know what not to influence?
When we know the value of our influence, we can invest it wisely in people who invest back. We don’t give our value promiscuously to every person who asks. Influence is earned. It’s given as a trust and kept by those who understand its value. It can’t be begged, borrowed or stolen, and in like manner, it can’t be bought or sold.
Who influences you simply by the way he or she influences others?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!
Hi Liz!
It’s been awhile since I stopped by your blog. Fitting that this is the first post I read. Powerful food for thought. I’m currently re-evaluating both of my main blogs, as I think I’ve lost my focus. You’ve definitely given me something to think about in terms of why those blogs exist and the kind of atmosphere I want to build around them.
Liz,
I always appreciate your posts like this. Too often we loose sight of the pillars holding up our character and begin to undermine ourselves.
The influence factor is ultimately one of character, integrity, and purpose. How can we possibly compromise that “for a prize”?
Thanks for the treasure you uncover so often for us!
Cheers,
Justin McCullough
Great post, Liz.
Hi Liz, though it may sound selfish, but I generally adhere to the rule of thumb, that value should beget value on twitter. I do employ the quid pro quo model from time to time, though I will on some occasion, do favors for my peers, knowing that if I needed them, they in turn, would do the same for me. That’s the benefit of the network, it’s the fruit of the labor. though I don’t look at my network as a labor of love, as much as a network of my peers. As usual, most don’t want to put in the time to do what it takes…Remember the old saying, making out, 5 minutes after we met…that comes to mind…
I am not sure how I feel about what the person who was DM’ing you on Twitter was trying to do. I feel a bit dirty after reading that. Kind of reminds of a person who wants to marry you before your first date.
Social media has made it easier for someone to have ‘influence’ by the number of followers they have, regardless of the quality. My feelings are mixed on this as well. I look at the number of followers some people have on Twitter and I wonder what they are really bringing to the table.
I absolutely agree on your advice to building influence. Influence must be built by developing relationships through the use of time, resources and the sharing of value. At eCairn, we build a tool that helps to identify influencers. Our tool only works because it allows the natural order of social communities to vet who the influencers are (and not intentionally). Much like a researcher in a specific field of study is frequently referenced by his peer scholars, an influencer’s posts are frequently referenced by their community. In both cases this is an indicator of trust in the expertise and value that the individual brings to their community. You cannot “game” this. You cannot cheat the system by begging for other prominent individuals to follow you or vote for you or reblog your posts because they’ll only do it if they see value in doing so. It’s much like the anecdote you described above.
Thank you, Liz, for a compelling reminder of how social works best. I particularly like “promoting the value in others.” Social media works well when it mirrors our social lives: listening, learning, sharing, supporting…building relationships. Anything else, such as “influence,” is merely a byproduct of preparation, authenticity and purpose.
The last crisis was not an exception. It has ended somewhere but not elsewhere. Yet the media keeps talking about it.
Well said Liz. What your DM’er never grasped and probably never will is that one doesn’t ask for help, it tends to come to you.
It comes to you because of the help you’ve given others in the past, be that by the relevance of your words in some media or by connecting people altruistically.
That’s how you grow and earn influence.
It’s great to learn from you Liz. I’ve just started an Internship in a start-up in Ireland (supply.ie not to mention) and we need to read some stories like this. Thanks very much.
I’ll just come out and say it, you influence me Liz. You influence me to better myself every day. You influence me to do more for my network than they expect of me. You influence me to get out of my comfort zone, meet new people, go to places I don’t think I belong. You influence me to “Own it”.
Influence is a strange commodity if you treat it as such. Influence is so much more if you accept it. Influence, like trust, is earned over time and easily lost in an instant. Invest it, and spend it, wisely.
Liz, I hear you and thank you for writing this post.
The audacity of some people blows me away. Same drill â they follow but have never mentioned or RTed me, yet DM asking me to amplify their cause (no matter it has absolutely nothing to do with my interests, which are clearly stated in my Twitter bio). When I politely decline, instead of saying, “Oh, geeâlet me take a moment to establish a relationship FIRST and THEN ask you for a favor” â they usually unfollow.
I’ve had a discussion with someone about “missions” on Empire Avenue, and whether the free-for-all thumbing up, commenting, like-bombing, etc., devalues the reputations of those who so willingly participate.
You hit it on the head when you said “influence is earned.”
Another thought-provoking piece. Thank you, Liz.
Liz, Thank you for a much-needed article. I often look at the profiles and messages telling me I can get 10,000 new followers in a day or see that someone has 100,000 followers and I wonder “for the sake of what?” I also look at Klout and ask myself if the score really has a lot to do with one’s real influence and whether one makes a difference in the world. I enjoyed reading your comments and am pleased that you addressed this topic in such a compelling way.
Love this! I recently experienced this with someone I barely know online in a “fanpage hop.” I didn’t feel comfortable randomly fanning everyone on the list, and select who to fan(endorse) based on my priorities. Thank you for this.
Interesting story. Thanks for sharing … my view is, your influence is earned; use it wisely. I think if I was a big business guru, had a large staff, doing as in the following story would be like flipping a coin: 50 – 50! I think I’d ask lots of questions before clicking the mouse!