The “old school” rule of succeeding in the influencer world was that you needed to outwork or outsmart other influencers. Or else.
This thinking had the hint of the way big business was run in the 1900s, with a ruthless, cutthroat, “one winner takes all” approach to success. (For those in need of a refresher, check out this SNL sketch with Adam Driver).
Thank goodness that thinking is far, far, far behind us. Today’s influencer world is one that welcomes collaboration, sharing, and a “rising tide lifts all boats” attitude—where influencers can learn from others, inspire others, and grow their brands together. When you network with other influencers today, it’s all rainbows, unicorns, kittens, puppies, and cotton candy.
This is the power of influencer networking.
Influencer networking is very much like compound interest, which Albert Einstein is rumored to have called “the most powerful force in the universe.” The difference is that compound interest takes time. Influencer networking can be done today and help you now.
Here are 7 ways networking can help you grow your brand exponentially as an influencer.
1. Drink Knowledge from a Firehose
To improve in golf, you play with better players. To improve your guitar playing, play with more talented musicians. To improve in the influencer game, learn from others’ successes (as well as mistakes).
Reach out to and spend time with influencers who have a much larger brand than yours. See how they grow their audiences. See how they accept (and reject) brand deals. See how they interact and collaborate with other influencers.
Lean outside your own “bubble,” and see how other ideas and approaches can help you. Find new resources where influencers collaborate and share ideas (Hint: Perlu is the only influencer-to-influencer collaboration platform). What’s cool is that you’ll find different ideas from different fields can come together to create something magical (Remember, Twitter was a podcast network before it was a micro-blogging platform.).
And while you’re meeting, getting to know, and collaborating with others, don’t be shy. You’ve reached your status for a reason—share your tips and ideas. Reach out to others to lift them up. This not only gives you good “juju,” it will help build your digital Rolodex for future opportunities.
Start Drinking Up Knowledge
Schedule a Demo of Perlu Today!
2. Solve Problems Like Sherlock Holmes (If He Had an Army of Detectives)
It often took poor Sherlock Holmes at least 20 pages to solve a mystery. (Or two hours if Guy Ritchie is directing the movie version.)
You don’t have to suffer long when you hit an obstacle to growth.
With access to a network of fellow influencers, your wait time to success is substantially shorter. If you’re hitting a brick wall while writing an article, launching a podcast, or pitching a brand, you can bet other influences have “been there, done that.” See how they overcame their obstacles. Never be afraid to ask.
On Perlu.com, you have the power to start a brand-new Collab, where you can ask other influencers questions, request help, launch a survey, learn new strategies, brainstorm with a group, or create most any project you want.
3. Become a Collaboration Machine
Networking can lead to collaboration. A lot of collaboration. A mountain of collaboration. And that’s a really, really, really good thing.
Think what you could create with a team of like-minded influencers. At Perlu, you can team-up with 2, 4, even 10 other influencers and reap the benefits of your group’s ideas.
Trade and co-author content, exchange expertise, endorse products, consult on a project, join a webinar, become a reseller, review events… you name it—you can do it.
With Perlu, the infrastructure is in place for you to join others to ramp up your content creation exponentially—remember the power of compound interest—and even escape your comfort zone and do something you’ve never done before.
You can grow your brand safely with the help of others and dramatically reduce the time it would normally take to reach your ideal levels of growth.
Look around you, and you’ll see travel influencers organizing to “meet up” while traveling—whether a planned meet-up or a common industry event—and create a collaborative video during the experience. You’ll see foodies exchanging recipes. You’ll find fashionistas reviewing each other’s style photos. You’ll uncover moms reviewing organic products. You’ll come upon influencers reviewing books and shooting videos for other authors. You’ll witness women’s lifestyle influencers acting as consultants on projects. Heck, Perlu’s Travel Inspiration Pack has 20 Collabs in the past two months alone.
Collaboration opportunities really are endless, and it’s to your advantage to become the ultimate collaboration machine.
4. Find Inspiration Every Day
We all need inspiration. Especially on rainy Mondays.
Influencer networking allows you to find true mentors and people you genuinely lean on for support. Plus, you’d be surprised the sparks that fly when two or more smart, passionate influencers get in a room or forum together. Magic truly happens.
Reach out to influencers you admire, and ask them what’s new that they are working on. See what’s inspiring them, and it may just inspire you as well.
Spend time going deeper. Instead of spending 10 minutes reviewing your new connection’s Instagram feed, engage with them for an hour. Try to understand their motivations, thoughts, and feelings on an entirely different level.
Collaborate with others for a super-charged jolt of inspiration. When working together, you may be impressed with what your fellow collaborators are creating and able to achieve. This type of collaboration often makes you yourself go above and beyond, and that’s exactly how creatives grow and improve.
Never get stale. Keep improving every day. Inspire others while they inspire you. It’s an awesome formula for greater success.
5. Build Lasting Friendships
This influencer game isn’t all about the almighty dollar. (“Mo Money, Mo Problems,” preached Notorious B.I.G.)
This is about connecting with people while we’re on Earth for a relatively short amount of time. The influencer world is full of great people. Really great people. Fantastically amazing, ridiculously awesome, out-of-this-world gotta love ‘em people.
Connect with people you think you’ll genuinely like and enjoy spending time with. Travel together, write together, create together. Help each other out. Give more than your take. Empower others to succeed. Really care about those you work with. Create lifelong friendships that extend out of your world of influence.
Growing your net worth and your group of friends can be synonymous. You’re darn lucky to be an influencer. You’ve worked hard to get where you are today, and there’s nothing like having a team of influencers in which you are all supporting each other’s growth and happiness.
It’s like a daily shot of Vitamin B-12. You’ll be happier. And the happier a creative person is, the better their creations.
Go make new friends. Expand your horizons. Feel the love. (Insert cat-themed inspiration poster line here.)
6. Grow Your Audience 10X
OK, we’ve talked about fun and friendships and Pin the Tail on the Donkey parties.
Let’s get down to business now. When you network with other influencers, you get exposure.
E.X.P.O.S.U.R.E.
Are you feeling it?
Influencer networking is how it happens. What we’ve found with successful collaborations is that audience growth is contagious. One influencer’s audience starts following additional influencers, and vice versa. (We repeat: a rising tide lifts all boats.)
When you partner with other influencers, you can collaborate on joint projects and get in front of twice the number of audience members. Networking and collaborating with other influencers is a powerful way to expand your reach. Plus, by partnering with other influencers, you earn followers that actually stick. They are genuinely interested in what you’re interested in. This isn’t Fiverr.com, where you can get a ton of new audience members in one day and then watch them disappear the next.
This is authentic. We’re talking 2X, 3X, and even 10X audience growth that is passionate about your brand. Yes, you must earn their respect and attention, but if you’ve read this far, we’re betting that you’re 100% invested in your brand and don’t take days off.
7. Create a Lasting Brand that Stands for Something
We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. After all, editing a video at 2am loses its luster after the third night in a row, unless it’s for a true purpose.
Growth is great. Money is fantastic. But you’re an influencer. You influence lives. When you get better every day, you can punch the clock knowing that you’re helping others and even changing some lives.
Networking with other influencers is an effective way to not only build your brand, but to also strengthen your brand. Look around, and you’ll see many of the most successful influencers collaborate with others in creating joint content, whether videos, podcasts, blog posts, or pretty much anything else. The more influencers you network with, the more everyone will be talking, writing, and sharing about each other, and the faster your brands will consequently grow.
Network Like Crazy
If you’re hesitant to approach other influencers, don’t be. Influencer networking follows the golden rule, and the industry is extremely collaborative and helpful—especially at Perlu! Again, sure, you can go it alone, working tirelessly and crushing your fellow influencers like an oil baron from the early 1900s. But to truly grow your brand, continually impress your audience, and become a shining beacon in your field, connect with passionate, like-minded collaborators and network like crazy.
Find, connect, and engage with them today!
