Stop talking about your products and services. People don’t care about products and services; they care about themselves. (David Meerman Scott)

I recently subscribed to Copyblogger and was scanning through the archive blogs today. An August 2010 blog by Sam Rosen caught my eye – 60 Ways to Increase Your Influence Online.

Rosen outlined how he held a 60-minute online marketing conference, The Influencer Project, where 60 of the web’s brightest minds spoke. Social media celebrities, including Guy Kawasaki, Brian Clark, Brian Solis, Michael Stelzner, Michael Port, Anne Holland and many more, participated.

Each one had 60 seconds to share with entrepreneurs how to increase their digital influence.  Yes, you read that right: 60 leaders for 6o seconds each = 60 ways to increase your online influence!

I expect Twitter played a major influence on the speakers staying on target. They all crafted concise powerful messages, which have been further condensed by Rosen to 140 characters or less.  Rosen’s blog is essentially a collection of 60 quotable quotes, also known more fondly by the digital world as Twitter tweets.

The speakers shared their personal thoughts on how you can market and extend your influence on the web. There is a gold mine of wisdom for the rest of us.

As I read the speaker’s ideas, a fire started burning inside me. The following six quotes really stoked the fire: 

• “It is not about digital. It’s about people. It’s about passion conversations, not product conversations.” (Robbin Phillips)
• “Make people around you more successful than you are.” (Erica Ogrady)
• “Get active in other people’s communities. Get out of your own head and get into other people’s spaces.” (Mitch Joel)
• “To change your world, start by trying to change the world. What is it that you feel passionate enough about to shake things up?” (Todd Defren)
• “Many people are afraid to speak; if you speak for them, they will be listening.” (Mark Silver)
• “Give as much as you can give. Too often we’re too focused on what we want to accomplish.” (Muhammad Saleem)

Why did these particular nuggets burn inside me, kicking my writing passion into high gear, which resulted in this blog? As I stepped back and re-read all the quotes, I did a virtual organizer in my head of all the themes. I realized that the ideas above, which resonated most for me, were from speakers who “crossed the line.” They moved from talking specifically about marketing to speaking about life in a broader sense. Hmm, did someone give them permission to go there?

What excited me is that their words captured the magnitude of how important it is to connect to people, give to and help others, and live one’s purpose and passion in life. No, they didn’t focus on marketing per se. In 140 characters, they revealed the depth of who they are as individuals, the essence of why they are influencers in the digital world. And that type of influence has a side benefit – successful marketing!

Social media for both marketing and for social good? What could be better than that? The influencers have spoken!  I write….

Read all 60 quotes on the blog at Copyblogger. They are more than worth the price of an annual marketing newsletter subscription. And check out the project itself at The Influencer Project. You’ll see the faces of influencers impacting the digital world.

Tags: Ann Holland, Brian Clark, Brian Solis, Copyblogger, David Meerman Scott, Erica OGrady, Guy Kawasaki, Mark Silver, Michael Port, Michael Stelzner, Mitch Joel, Muhammed Saleem, Robbin Phillips, Sam Rosen, Social Media, Todd Defren

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Posted in Business and Marketing by I Write 9 Comments