Jumpstart your inbound program with the Diamond in the Rough System of relationship building.

Jonathan Goodman wrote a guest post for Pro Blogger website on how to build relationships with influencers in your market segment, which he called the “Diamond in the Rough System.”  My interpretation of Jonathan’s insight provides a road map to get your content noticed and build a following in the aviation industry.

The Diamond in the Rough System of relationship building:

The Diamond in the Rough System is a way to get the influencers to want to approach you. It can be applied to any large social medium. For the purpose of this article, I’ll focus on using Twitter.

The Diamond in the Rough System will teach you how to find the diamonds behind the Twitter scenes and mine them.

First, understand that there are influential people in the aviation industry:

The influencers are the ones in control of the big brands. They have hustled and built an empire and a great network around themselves.

The trade publications are usually large organizations with multiple levels of staff. Determining which head editor to make contact with can be challenging.

The bloggers are gaining altitude in the aviation industry. Depending on who follows them, they can be very influential.

The beat reporters and supporting editors are easy to access and have a lot of influence as to what goes into the publications. They are the diamonds in the rough.

Using Twitter to build relationships with beat reporters and supporting editors

Most  beat reporters and editors have modest followings on Twitter. So while they get 100+ emails a day, they might only get two @ mentions on Twitter. Which do you think they would be more likely to respond to?

How to find the diamonds in the rough

• Follow the head editors and scan the lists of people they follow. Look for accounts that say something like, “Avionics system columnist for Aviation Week.” Follow everybody that seems to cover your product segment.
• Identify the top bloggers and influencers and follow the same steps as above.
• Search trade publication websites and find the editors that cover the subjects your product or service pertains to. A Google search is usually all you need to find their Twitter account if they have one.
• Pay attention to networks of influence. It’s not uncommon for a number of influencers to tweet back and forth with the same person that you have never heard of. That person is likely an important member behind the scenes.

How to court your diamonds

Now that you’ve found these people, respond intelligently to their tweets. If they promote a blog post or article with a link, take the time to read the article and respond with a piece of feedback or a question.

You should not respond to every tweet. Respond only if you have something intelligent to say and not more than once or twice every couple of days.

Don’t ask for anything in return. Your bio on Twitter says who you are, and includes a link to your work.

You should have a headshot as your profile picture in Twitter. People like talking to and doing business with people, not faceless organizations.

photo credit: chase_elliott via photopin cc