From Present To Influential: The Shift Business Leaders Need
- Mar 23
- 3 min read
If you’re honest, posting has started to feel… exhausting. You find yourself thinking about it more than you want to, second-guessing what to say, wondering if it’s “good enough” to go out. You tweak the graphic, adjust the caption, look at what everyone else is doing, and try to keep up with what’s trending. And somehow, after all of that, it still feels like it’s not working.
Somewhere along the way, your focus shifted from meaning to aesthetics, from connection to curation. We’ve been taught that if it looks right, it will perform. That if we post consistently, we’ll grow. That if we follow the trends, we’ll be seen. But we’re living in a time where audiences don’t respond the same way to overly curated content.
They can feel it. They can tell when something looks polished but says nothing. When a brand is visible but not impactful. When someone shows up but doesn't actually connect.
You're frustrated because you've been relying heavily on presence, which doesn't equate to being influential.
Presence vs. Influence
In school, when the teacher said your name, the proper response was "present" or "here." But just because you showed up to school doesn't mean you were popular, memorable, or impactful. Presence is where you show up and how often you do — and that's really it.
Influence is all about the impression you make. According to Google, it is defined as "the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something." Digital influence includes:
How people engage with you online (like, comment, shares)
How often people repeat your ideas and thoughts online
How willing people are to invest, trust, and move forward with you
You don’t build influence by doing more. You build it by doing things that stay with people.
What Actually Builds Influence
Influence is not built through content alone. It’s built through experience. The way someone feels when they encounter your brand. The clarity they walk away with after interacting with you.The consistency of how you show up—not just publicly, but personally. That’s what people remember. That’s what they talk about. That’s what they come back for.
At its core, influence is shaped by user experience. Not in a corporate, overly technical way. But in a very real, human way. User experience is defined as the overall interaction, feelings, and perceptions someone has when engaging with you, your services, or your brand.
Experiences do something content alone cannot: They make you Memorable, Trustworthy, and Referable. They are personal. They are specific. And they are impossible to replicate exactly the same way. When someone has a strong experience with your brand, it doesn’t just stay with them—it spreads.
They talk about it.
They bring others into it.
They carry your influence further than you ever could on your own.
That is influence!
The Five Building Blocks of Influence
There is a way to structure your brand so that your influence grows naturally, without forcing content, chasing trends, or trying to keep up. Click below to download my full framework on how to:
Clarify your brand in a way people can actually connect to
Understand the right people you’re called to influence
Create experiences that people remember, trust, and talk about
Build consistency without burning yourself out
I shared this full breakdown at a recent conference I spoke at. And now, I am sharing it with you. Let's get started on more quality user experiences.
Download The Framework
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