Can you share an example of how you've used social media to build relationships with industry influencers or thought leaders? What was the outcome of your efforts?

One of the most effective ways I've built relationships with influencers wasn't through the typical "brand deal outreach" approach. Instead, I spent time on TikTok immersing myself in the StudyTok niche—commenting on videos, duetting clips, and stitching reactions in ways that genuinely added value. I wasn't promoting my company, just riffing on their study hacks or sharing my own take on productivity struggles. What surprised me was how quickly those creators noticed. When you engage on their turf in a way that feels authentic, they actually start responding back. Over time, some of them began DMing me directly, and those casual conversations turned into collaborations. One creator I built rapport with this way ended up posting a short video demo of Listening.com, which drove thousands of new visitors in a single weekend. The key outcome wasn't just exposure—it was trust. By showing up as part of the community rather than an outsider trying to "leverage influencers," I built real relationships. And that trust is what made their recommendations land with their audience, because it didn't feel like an ad.

One of my goals over the past five years was building a podcast to grow my online presence. Social media made it incredibly easy to connect with top entrepreneurs and thought leaders, often with nothing more than a simple DM. The podcast gave me a reason to reach out, a platform to feature them, and a way to build real relationships. Not only have I learned a ton from the insights they've shared, but it has also opened doors to new opportunities, grown my online presence, and built authority, which is crucial in 2025. The key was offering genuine value first by giving them exposure and a great interview before ever asking for anything in return. That reciprocity made the relationships authentic and long-lasting.

We've used LinkedIn mainly as a way to talk with people who shape opinions in our field. Instead of sending connection requests with pitches, we started by showing up in their discussions. Sometimes that meant a short comment, sometimes sharing a small example from our experience. Nothing too formal. Over time, a few of those interactions turned into real conversations. One of them even led to an invite for a virtual panel where we could share our perspective with a broader audience. That opportunity came because the relationship felt natural, not transactional. The result was more trust in our expertise and a few warm introductions that turned into client conversations. What stood out to me was this: when we focus less on pushing content and more on joining conversations with honesty, people respond. It is slower than ads, but the relationships last longer.

Hello, I've built some of my most profitable industry relationships by ignoring the conventional "cold DM" approach and instead turning public social interactions into genuine collaborations. For example, when a renowned landscape architect posted about struggling to source reclaimed French limestone for a Malibu estate, I didn't pitch immediately. I shared a quick video in the comments showing rare slabs we had in inventory. That one visible, value-first interaction led to a direct message, a site visit, and eventually a six-figure supply contract. The lesson: influence is built in public before it moves to private. By making the exchange useful for everyone watching, you gain both the client and the crowd's trust, turning one relationship into a pipeline of inbound leads from their network. Best regards, Erwin Gutenkust CEO, Neolithic Materials https://neolithicmaterials.com/

I've had great success using Instagram to build relationships with local real estate influencers by sharing behind-the-scenes videos of our property transformations. When I posted a time-lapse renovation of a severely distressed property in St. Louis that we turned around in just 17 days, it caught the attention of a prominent local real estate coach. What started as a simple comment exchange evolved into monthly strategy sessions where we now refer business to each other - he's sent us four motivated sellers this year alone who needed a quick, hassle-free solution rather than a traditional listing.

I've found LinkedIn to be my secret weapon for connecting with real estate thought leaders, especially in the Las Vegas market. When I shared an in-depth post analyzing how property renovation costs had shifted post-pandemic, with specific examples from our flips, it caught the attention of a prominent local developer. What started as a comment exchange evolved into regular coffee meetings where we now strategize on upcoming projects. This relationship has directly led to three off-market acquisition opportunities I would have never found otherwise, all because I shared genuine insights rather than just promotional content.

Needing to forge relationships with travel influencers which meant going from reaching out and promoting, to real cultural collaboration. (Co-founder/CXO City Unscripted) Instead of the typical sponsored content opps, I asked these thought leaders to hit the streets for real authentic neighborhood discoveries next to our local guides. When I went to Rick Steves about our Florence guide and all of his experience with the artisan tradition we focused on bringing cultural education benefits rather than marketing assistance. We developed an article together, how did our guide make us respect the tribal clan work of traditional leather crafting that he had a hereditary connection to; by doing so we ensured that the broad audience who reads its pages includes any "cultural learning itinerant" attracted not only by exotic destinations but also by journalistic credibility. This connection grew with regular interaction — I would comment on their longform pieces around real European travel, my comments reflecting deeply read thoughts about the importance of stewardship and local community ties that they wink-wink agreed with as part of their editorial mission. Instead of making a sales pitch, I told stories to show how our guides are helping to protect traditional neighborhoods and keep local artisan families in business. It also struck a chord with influencers who are seeking travel content that has deeper meaning, and which goes beyond simple destination promotion. The focus must be on connecting with influencers in a real way by adding to their current content type reliable advice and subject-matter knowledge. From there, pitch partnerships geared to their editorial mission, telling real cultural stories that are relevant and relatable to the audiences they inspire rather than more traditional marketing collaborations.

For a fintech client, we worked to compile a list of thought leaders in the embedded payments industry — both high-level execs at prospect companies and journalists/media/industry professionals on LinkedIn with credibility, a following, and a point-of-view. When people on our target list posted or published compelling content that was relevant to our client's audiences (decision-makers within certain industries), we would re-share their insights and tag them as sources — showing appreciation for their ideas and expertise while at the same time providing value to our client's LinkedIn followers. Getting our client on the radar of these thought leaders and influencers by sharing their content led to outcomes like new business leads, cross-promotion, media hits, and invites to reach out for interviews.

Chris Mignone here. I've built relationships with estate lawyers and financial advisors through authentic Facebook storytelling about complex solutions. When I detailed how we navigated a recent case with heirs stuck in probate court--turning a contested property into cash in under two weeks--it resonated with a prominent estate attorney who messaged me. Now we partner closely: she refers families needing closure to our win-win approach, and we've collectively resolved 22 distressed property cases just this year through this connection.

I actively engage with local real estate thought leaders on Facebook by sharing success stories from my military transition into investing. When I posted about how my Army discipline helped me close 15 deals in my first year, a prominent Tennessee investor reached out to discuss veteran-specific challenges in real estate. That conversation led to me speaking at his monthly meetup, which generated three new wholesale deals and established me as the go-to investor for military families facing PCS moves in the Clarksville area.

For our reputationcompany, what we do is we grab an exceptional customer testimonial (such as one that articulates the true value of the product or service) and then share it out on social asking people's opinion. And of course, instead of just sharing the review we tag a key individual at the company (typically the founder, CEO or head of customer experience). It is an easy way to respond while also expanding your audience by allowing that individual to jump in and share their feedback with a wider following. We did this for a client, and the CEO we tagged shared it with a personal note from the customer. One single action and that post managed to double it's reach overnight, sparking a flood of comments by potential buyers with enquiries. This makes a natural loop when genuine customer praise is turned into a public pat on the back for leadership, connecting the brand, the client and important people in the industry to build trust and get noticed.

Instead of chasing individual influencers, I focus on empowering my referral network through social media. I'll share simple posts in local real estate groups on Facebook breaking down my 'Triple Dip' strategy, which shows agents how they can earn commission from both sides of a single deal with us. This approach has led to me being invited into brokerages to train their agents, which has become my single biggest source of win-win deals and built my reputation as a trusted partner in the Augusta community.

Coming from an engineering background, I treat social media as a data source for building relationships. I noticed a key Las Vegas influencer discussing acquisition strategies in a private Facebook group, so I messaged him directly to share some key performance data from our targeted SMS campaigns. He was impressed by the systematic, data-driven approach, which led to a partnership where we now combine his network with my marketing systems to find off-market deals.

We developed a strategic partnership with Jasmine, a well-known influencer in the perfume industry, to enhance our social media presence and industry connections. Our approach involved collaborative content creation where Jasmine provided high-quality visual assets and promoted our brand across her established social platforms. This collaboration significantly increased our engagement metrics and created valuable networking opportunities within the beauty sector. The most notable outcome was the organic ripple effect, where fashion and beauty websites began featuring our products and providing backlinks to our digital properties. This partnership demonstrated the power of authentic influencer relationships in expanding brand reach and establishing credibility within the industry. The success of this initiative has become a blueprint for our ongoing influencer relationship strategy.

Over the past two years, I've utilized the Aspire platform as our primary tool for building relationships with beauty creators who have trusted audiences in our industry. The platform has allowed us to be very strategic in our outreach by specifying exact campaign requirements and targeting influencers who align with our demographic needs. We can directly email potential partners through the system and bookmark creators for future collaborations, which has streamlined our entire influencer relationship management process. This approach has proven to be both cost-effective and efficient compared to other methods we previously used. The outcome has been particularly positive as we've been able to establish ongoing partnerships with beauty thought leaders who genuinely connect with our brand values and audience.

Instagram has been my most reliable bridge to industry voices because I treat it like a value exchange, not a cold pitch. One example: I connected with a wellness entrepreneur through DMs after I shared her work in Stories with a short take on why wellness-first brands win earned media. Instead of asking for anything, I sent a tight media-angle brainstorm she could use immediately and offered a quick cross-post plan. We moved the conversation to email, co-wrote a short feature for FemFounder, and launched a small, co-branded content push across both of our social media feeds. The outcome was simple and measurable: new, right-fit founders discovered my work through her audience, a few became template customers, and several turned into PR/branding consults. The lesson: lead with a specific, usable contribution, make the next step effortless, and let the public collaboration signal credibility to both audiences.

In our agency, we utilize **Strategic Social Spotlighting** by featuring experts in a well-crafted roundup articles and then tagging them in our LinkedIn posts promoting the piece. The feature must be truly compelling, showcasing their unique points of view as well as distributing a small amount of their know-how and placing them in the forefront of their field. This is ideal as the light touch is both genuine and relevant to what was happening around them, as opposed to transactional. For instance: we implemented this on behalf of a client in the B2B services industry, and we observed that tagged thought leaders commented, shared back and some reached out about possible collaborations. These posts also had an engagement rate 47% better than standard content, and another prompted a co-hosted webinar generating over 300 qualified leads. So my advice, treat the 'mention' as a conversation started, not the end goal. Place their skills in the right context in your brand narrative and you develop a win-win that leads to exposure AND collaboration.

One of the strategies we have used to develop relationships with industry influencers is what we refer to as a "Co-Creation Loop" strategy. Rather than treating influencers as a ONE-TIME promotional partner, we brought them into the content creation process. For example, when we kicked off a new B2B campaign, we conducted a roundtable where we gathered together 10 different thought leaders from adjacent industries to get insight into future trends. We didn't simply include them in a post, we brought them in as COLLABORATORS. They felt they had a stake in the success of the campaign through blog series, short video clips, LinkedIn features about their perspectives. The results were striking. Many of those influencers not only shared the content organically with their own audiences, but engagement spiked 38% above similar activations featuring influencers as just amplifiers. Even better, many of those thought leaders we reached out to came back and co-hosted webinars as well as cross-promoted their projects with us. That's the message, and it's worth repeating: When you change your thinking from "influencer as a spokeperson" to "influencer as a partner," you don't just have reach — you have a friend in the long-run who can't wait to work with you again.

I once started commenting regularly on a thought leader's LinkedIn posts—not with generic "great post" fluff, but with short, useful takes that added to the conversation. After a few weeks, they replied, followed me back, and we started trading DMs about industry trends. That turned into a podcast invite, which put me in front of their entire audience and led to a handful of new client inquiries. It was a good reminder that genuine engagement beats cold pitching—showing up with value first makes the relationship happen naturally.

I once connected with an investor I'd been following for a while on LinkedIn—someone very active in early-stage fintech. I didn't start with a pitch or a direct ask. Instead, I consistently commented on their posts, adding insights or counterpoints when relevant. After a few weeks, they began liking my comments and eventually messaged me about a post I'd shared on structuring investor updates. That led to a call, not to pitch anything, but to share perspectives. A few months later, when one of our fintech clients was preparing for a raise, I reached out, and because we'd built that rapport, he agreed to a meeting with them. That intro ended up securing a six-figure commitment. It's a perfect example of what we tell startups at spectup—relationship-building isn't transactional, it's cumulative. We've since helped that investor structure their own scouting approach, and he now refers early-stage teams our way when they need help getting investor-ready. Social media didn't close the deal, but it opened the door, and that's often the hardest part.