Here at HubSpot , we are all about trying new things! So something that we will be ramping up for the new year is a brand new series, called Inbound Now.

Inbound Now will be a weekly interview series where we reach out and talk with industry experts to bring you the latest in inbound marketing, SEO, email marketing and social media.

Keep reading for an overview of today's show and make sure to enter to win 1 of 4 tickets to Social Fresh Tampa .

Or if you just want the audio click here!

In this episode, Jason Keath joins us to share some insights on some best practices for running real life events, some tips on how to build community around your brand and encourage guest posters on your site, and we dive deep into gauging online influence and how to identify and engage with those influencers.

Jason is founder of Social Fresh , a social media education company, that runs a series of social media conferences around the U.S.

Getting Guest Bloggers

Understanding why your blog exists and who your audience is a key component to figure out before going after guest posters.

Once you have your niche nailed down and you have a customer persona (who you are writing for) in mind you need to start thinking about what is in it for them (the guest poster). 

Why would they want to contribute to your blog? Are you going to pay them? Will their be affiliate opportunities? Will they be gaining exposure and credibility through your site?

The best type of people to get as guest posters are those who are passionate about your community and are invested in the future of that community.

Most importantly and an often overlooked step in gaining guest bloggers for your site is asking for writers!

Visitors to your site are not mind readers (unfortunately) and having a clear call-to-action that you are looking for contributors is a sure fire way to spark some interest. 

Gauging Online Social Influence

Using tools like Twitter Grader , Klout , and Blog Dash can help companies quickly identify people with significant online influence. 

Jason warns, however, that this doesn't take the human vetting process out of the equation but these tools do help streamline identifying influencers. 

A real world example: The Old Spice Campaign. Jason had a chance to get a behind the scenes look at how the Old Spice campaign was run and share some insights gained in the interview.

Looking Forward Toward 2011

• Influence will be a big buzzword in 2011
• Agencies are on a huge social media talent hiring spree!
• New career paths will emerge in the social space
• Location based services will continue to rise and more specifically location-based services that focus on saving the consumer money will win.

Make sure to follow @InboundNow as we will be keeping you up to date on upcoming interviews and asking you for questions to ask the guests!

Win Tickets to Social Fresh Tampa

Social Fresh Tampa is coming up February 21st and has an all star cast of speakers lined up! Jason was kind enough to hook us up with some free tickets to give away!

How to win:

1. Follow @InboundNow on Twitter and Tweet out the phrase :
   " Enter to win 1 of 4 tickets to @SocialFresh Tampa Feb 21st from @HubSpot's newest show @InboundNow http://bit.ly/edPq2X"
   (Note* each tweet counts as another entry, the more the merrier.)
2. Like our Fan page

1. Sign up to win via email .

We will be picking a two winners from Twitter, one from our Facebook Page and one email address, so make sure you enter on each!

The 4 winners will be chosen on January 7th!

Good Luck and stay tuned for the next episode featuring David Siteman Garland from theRisetothetop.com