More people are using social networks than ever before and it is, therefore, becoming more difficult to be heard above the ‘noise’ of other participants. For many using social networking as a vehicle to deliver their marketing message, this can be a real problem. So how can a person increase their own social influence at  this heavily congested online communities? They will need to become better at learning new skills that will increase their friends and followers on social media.

Here are 5 skills that will increase your social influence at these online communities when there are several others competing just to be heard themselves.

STRONG WRITTEN AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Writing for social media is the key skill set you need to bring to the table to successfully grow your presence and increase your friends and followers. It is important that you stay engaged with your audiences and this is where writing becomes necessary, the more consistent writing delivered, the stronger your presence, this gives you social credibility in the long run, when looking to develop your writing skills for social media you must develop in areas like “content creation” “creative and powerful headline skills” (remember we only have 140 characters on twitter), conversational writing skills- aka human language skills- for blog writing and a basic understanding of journalistic style.

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS ( BE SOCIABLE AND ENGAGING WITH OTHER PEOPLE)

One skill that cannot be ruled out of social networking skills is having interpersonal skills, you have to start conversations and join in and contribute to the conversations of the community. By knowing how to create conversations you will be able to build relationships on your social network, thereby, increasing your friends and followers on social media.

KNOWING OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND IT’S CONSTANT CHANGES

Knowing about the latest trend on social media and adapting to these changes is one of the best skills for growing your friends and followers, it is important that you understand the different types of media in order to formulate a strategy for growing your followers. It’s critical to stay aware of what’s new, what’s coming and what might benefit you and your followers. By understanding new changes and implementing them you can attract followers and friends on social media.

ORGANIZATION

You must learn to be a highly organized self-starter, if you are looking to increase your followers, you must know when to post news feeds, the best time to send friend requests and many more, it’s a necessity to have a process or system for managing your accounts, responding to inquires and commentary, monitoring engagement  and communicating with friends on your friends list, by being organized, you must be consistent and learn to get up early and stay up late.