Social Media Influence is all about "Click-Trust"

There is so much danger out there, it's beyond belief. It's truly a wonder anyone ever uses the Internet for anything with all of the spam, viruses and hackers lurking out there. But what's the alternative? There is none. So people keep clicking on e-mail links and Twitter direct message links and Facebook spam - the list goes on and on. And every single time, somebody pays the price. In most cases you hurt your "friends" online by spreading viruses and trojans to their devices. It can get much worse, as we all know. So what is the real power of influence in social media?

It's All About "Click-Trust"

The people I follow, the ones who influence me, are responsible citizens who would never intentionally hurt one of their followers. In fact, they take extra care to make sure the content they retweet or share on the myriad social networks is reputable and worthwhile. I work very hard on that myself. So how did they get to be so trusted and earn such a massive following? By doing exactly that. By "owning" the content they share and sanitizing it before sharing. They know who to trust and where to find the most solid information while maintaining interest and entertainment value. You can call this whatever you want - it's been called "curation" and "thought leadership", but what it boils down to is integrity.

So where can you go to find an honest person in social media these days?

Some of the people or groups I follow and trust for their content, in no particular order:

• @Mashable - great syndicated content on a daily basis.
• @HubSpot - they find a way to make marketing fun and informative every time they speak.
• @ProBlogger - the best advice on blogging and social media with a "Down Under" spin.
• @MarketingProfs - everything you need to know about today's best marketing strategies.
• @JasonFalls - a.k.a. Social Media Explorer - great insights on what's working and not working in social media marketing.
• @JayBaer - another true expert on best practices in social media for business.
• @ChrisBrogan - the author of "Trust Agents". How can you not trust this guy? His stuff is always on point.
• @SocialMedia2Day - another great compendium of the best bloggers in the social media marketing space these days.
• @MayhemStudios - when I want something fun and informative, my go-to guy is Calvin Lee, who never seems to sleep and never fails to find something interesting to tweet about.
• @SpinSucks - I like Gini Dietrich's "spin" on things, because it ain't spin. She's always letting deserving bozos have it with some nicely documented punches. My kind of humor.
• @aschottmuller - Angie Schottmuller shares great information from the great north and across the globe. She's been a great supporter of mine and deserves to be called an influencer.

I'm sure I have left out a lot of great, trustworthy influencers. If you stick to these folks, you can't go wrong. They recommend great content, and their own content is definitely worth a subscription. And, no, you can be certain that your PC or iPad won't melt down when you click on one of their links. They've already tried that, and they're still standing.

Photo credit: mightyohm

FREE Webinar:  3 Steps to Successful B2B Social Media

Thursday, August 25, 2011 @ 12:30 PM EDT, 9:30 AM PDT

Special guest Nancy Myrland, President of Myrland Marketing, and Kuno's inbound marketing team reveal three steps to successful B2B Social Media Marketing.