Les Adkins Talks ‘Influence’ in Social Media

Craig:              Wow. Wow. I like that social proof. In my industry, in the media side, social proof, it speaks to that. It speaks to pretty much, “What have you done lately?” or “What significance have you made?” and “Why should we recognize you?” That reciprocity piece, there’s give and take in business and relationship, but that authority … Speak a little bit more to that authority and how authority could help …

                        There’s a lot of noise out there, as we talk about all the time. There’s a lot of noise out there. I think influence is huge. Like you said, the influence tends to help break away from that noise, but how does that help in the area of authority, and why is authority so important in social media?

Les:                  I think authority is so important in social media and in life in general because it gives you that credibility. I’ll give you a great example. Working with you and your organization, I had some articles and several videos and put together some YouTube videos of my own and put them out there, and people started calling me, based on a quote in the article, “The Zig Ziglar of social media.”

                        After that happened, one of the things that I was able to do based on a friendship that I had, I was introduced to Tom Ziglar, who I had a phone call conversation with, and got to know and was introduced, and that relationship alone is going to do wonders for me and my credibility and also in the future for hopefully both of our organizations.

                        I think without those types of things there’s so many people out there touting themselves, that without true authority, from a perspective of understanding who you are, what you are and that you’re knowledgeable or an expert in your field is vital to get the word out there.

                        If you look at things like Coca Cola, in the south we say, “What do you want to drink?” We say, “A Coke.” It doesn’t necessarily mean that we want a Coke. That means that Coca Cola has authority. Kleenex is the same way. I might buy Puffs, but I say, “Hand me a Kleenex,” even though you’re pulling it from a Puffs box.

                        Same type of thing. There’s a zillion people that have been in social media forever and they have that credibility because they wrote the books, the Social Media Bible, they wrote books and books in the beginning.

                        Then I think that the credibility standpoint is continuously making sure that you’re relevant, that the information that you have is out there, and that you have others noticing that and speaking about that as well. There’s only really two things that allow that to happen. You can buy the best PR money can buy, but if at the end of the day you can’t deliver what they’re presenting you as, then it falls very, very short.

Craig:              Wow.

Les:                  I think there’s a two-step process there.

Craig:              That’s interesting you bring up PR. In media of course we speak to public relations, how you’re relating to the public and how they relate with you, but I think also that could stand for “Perception and Reality,” and I think from where you’re coming from, where you talk about influence, true influence comes from having the reality really supersede the perception, and you really want to be able to deliver that truth or that reality so when people perceive you in a way and they’re attracted to you by their perception, then you could deliver on that reality and make that value greater and truly influence people for the long haul and sustain that loyalty, so to speak.

Les:                  True. True. I think that those, Cialdini’s principles, and also using the Whole Brain approach are two things that will allow you to do that. There’s lots of other things out there that will allow you to do that.

                        Like everything else, you can use it for good or bad. If you use it for bad, it’s only going to last for a short while. If you use it for good, it will have that longevity and you’ll be able to continue using it and then you’ll get other people talking about, “Hey, this company … or this organization … really helped me in this, this and this.” I think social media and just a digital presence helps you with building that authority and credibility as long as you have something to back it.

Craig:              Awesome. It’s really possible for one to build that digital environment or that authority and allow that to impact their business growth?

Les:                  Yes, 100%. I think that that’s a big, key factor that a lot of organizations are missing. I think I said it before in another place, but I’ll say it again, you’re seeing a lot of large organizations scratching their head wondering why they’re losing sales, and I think the reason why they’re losing sales is they’re not meeting their people where they are. They’re not influencing in a positive way the people that have done business with them in the past, and you’ve got new companies popping up that are really into things like customer service, things like going the extra mile. Also creating that world for them in understanding how this whole new business …

Neil Howe

Neil Howe is a 3-time #1 Best Selling Author, Online Media Strategist and business radio talk show host. He covers the most Innovative Business Leaders in Small and Local Business helping them share their stories with the world.