I’m going to expose some tips that will potentially cause some grief to my fellow public speakers and authors, but these tactics are just too good not to share.

Let’s call our mark’s name Rodney…

Interview them for your blog

The bigger Rodney’s ego, the more likely he will give you the time. Of course, you have to have a decent looking site and ideally some traffic. He or their publicist might check your Google pagerank, Alexa rank, and general site content.

If you don’t have a high power site, become a guest author at one that is. Eventually, you make it onto PR distribution lists and then PR agencies reach out to you asking if you want to cover their client’s new book, product release, or whatever.

This also pre-assumes that you have already chosen an area in which you want to be known as an expert.

The Google Alerts trick

Not the same thing as comment spam. You set up a Google alert on that particular keyword you want to DOMINATE, and also on Rodney’s name.

For alerts on what Rodney posts, you shamelessly praise him for his insights, making sure to say something specific. Otherwise you look like a robot idiot.

Maybe you are commenting on a New York Times article– in your comment mention Rodney and his point of view. Rodney will certainly notice.

The Twitter tickler

When you see Rodney tweet, give him some love by retweeting. Be his biggest fan (to mix vernacular).

To really get a response, reply back him, copying other folks in his industry. This tactic can be aggressive, so use it sparingly. Most folks will reply– the exception being certain celebrities that don’t manage their own twitter accounts.

The conference ho

Ho ho ho– it’s Christmas for you at conferences if you know what you’re doing. The suckers are the ones who approach Rodney AFTER he has spoken. Then you’re one of many in a line of people to have their business cards discarded in the men’s bathroom, when nobody is looking.

But you’re smart. You approach Rodney the day before he is scheduled to speak to ask him for advice on whatever is burning a hole in your mind. Don’t do it right before he’s about to go on stage, though.

The atomic bomb

If you’re a real pro, combine all these tactics. For example, write a glowing review about their latest achievement, article, or whatever. Then tweet that URL with an irresistible comment.

Or read up on the topic they’re talking about at the conference and ask them for a 5 minute interview. It’s never 5 minutes, of course.

Well there you have it!

Now you can get the time of CEOs, subject matter experts, or people that you plain just want to meet for whatever reason.

How do I know this works?  Because I have done it and others have done it to me.

I suppose you could comment bomb me below or retweet this, if you’d like.

Meet Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is the Chief Technology Officer of BlitzMetrics, a digital marketing company which partners with schools to train young adults.

Dennis’s program centers around mentorship, helping students grow their expertise to manage social campaigns for enterprise clients like the Golden State Warriors, Nike, and Rosetta Stone.

He’s an internationally recognized lecturer in Facebook Marketing and has spoken in 17 countries, spanning 5 continents, including keynotes at L2E, Gultaggen, and Marketo Summit.

Dennis has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, LA Times, National Public Radio, TechCrunch, Fox News, CBS Evening News and is co-author of Facebook Nation – a textbook taught in over 700 colleges and universities.

He’s a regular contributor for Adweek’s SocialTimes column and has published in Social Media Examiner, Social Media Club, Tweak Your Biz, B2C, Social Fresh, and Heyo.

He held leadership positions at Yahoo! and American Airlines and studied Finance and Economics at Southern Methodist University as well as London School of Economics. He ran collegiate cross-country at SMU and has competed in over 20 marathons including a 70 mile ultramarathon.

Besides being a Facebook data and ad geek, you can find him eating chicken wings or playing Ultimate Frisbee in a city near you.

You can contact him at dennis@blitzmetrics.com, his blog, or on Facebook.