Use Twitter and LinkedIn to identify industry influencers and connect with them.  I have been able to do this successfully several times.  As part of my business strategy for CSO Leadership Training, I wanted to increase my influence on the topic of security leadership and connect with key individuals I respected.  For example, I read an outstanding article on security leadership written by an industry influencer early in 2011.  I emailed the author to thank him for an enlightening read but unfortunately, did not get a response.  Then, I started following him on Twitter and re-tweeted several of his tweets over the span of a few months, which he thanked me once or twice in Twittersphere.  Then, just a few weeks ago, I responded to one of his inspiring tweets on security leadership and offered thoughts on how it helped me.  In response, he sent me a direct message saying he would like to set up a time to speak, and we are scheduled to speak later on the day that I am writing this article.  Now, I could have continued to send him emails, but the reality is that he is probably inundated with email.  By engaging this person in Twitter, I was able to set up a request from him to meet with me.

 I have also used LinkedIn to successfully connect with industry influencers.  By posting articles of interest and commenting on other posts made by others, I have been able to increase my own influence and gain access to key industry people.  In one instance, I joined a LinkedIn interest group an industry influencer had started, and this individual frequently posts articles in the group.  To increase my visibility with this individual, I reviewed the articles, regularly provided relevant comments and responses in this forum and used it as an opportunity to share my own perspective.  It worked and now, we are exploring how we can collaborate to provide greater value to our respective clients.