We all use social media quite frequently and most of us can be self-proclaimed as “social media experts”, even without being able to prove our title in practice. It seems so easy nowadays to consider yourself a social media influencer that we can’t help but wonder, what exactly is social media influence?

Social media influence is a very general term that even the real experts of the field are not able to define it by reaching on a general agreement. In simple words, we could say that social media influence is a “power” that some people gain over time through their networks, which is translated into bigger reach on their posts.

You might be a social media influencer either by being an already well-known personality (e.g. being a politician, or a celebrity), or by using extensively the social networks in a wise way that allows you to broaden your community over time. However, measuring the social media influence of a person is not that easy.
A few years ago we could have said that influence cannot be numbered. Things have changed with the appearance of platforms like Klout, Kred, etc, which analyze your social media activity and provide you with a score that defines your social media influence.

This measurement of social media influence has been quite popular during the last years, although it is still debatable whether it reflects the real social media influence of each person. It might give you an idea of whether you’re a social medi rookie or a pro, but can it still be exact on whether you are a bigger social media influencer than your competitor?

If we have to leave the numbers aside, it would be safer to say that social media influence could be measured by the combination of:

  • Followers (the total people that are following you on all your networks)
  • Engagement (the people that react to your posts, the ability to grab others’ attention when writing something new)
  • Expertise( the knowledge you have on the topics you are discussing)
  • Authenticity ( the importance of being yourself and not imitating the others)

All the above combined make a great social media influencer and it is definitely rewarding. But as in every case, influence takes time. Nothing happens over night. Are you patient enough to be considered a real social media influencer then?