If this pie doesn’t look familiar, then you need to read Copyblogger’s 2012 gratitude list.

Everybody loves pie, right? Wrong. I really don’t. That dislike leads to many awkward conversations with my husband’s pie-loving family this time of year. But, if you want to understand what it means to be an online authority, all you need to do is grab a piece of pie: power, influence, and expertise.

Power

Power is the spark that lights a million computer screens and connects users across the globe. Without that spark, your great content will die. To keep that spark alive, engage your audience through multiple connective pathways like your website, Facebook, and Twitter. Engage your audience often, and that engagement will lead to influence.

Influence

Influence flows from your online presence and helps you connect with your audience. Influence is so important online that LinkedIn’s Pulse feature includes an All Influencers tab so that you can decide whose influence to follow.

Expertise

Your audience comes to you because you’re an expert. Even if you’re an American trying to explain an Indian cricket phenomenon, you don’t need to know everything about cricket—just more than your audience. Share your expertise, and your audience will follow.

Grabbing your piece of pie

Now that you know what online authority is, you can learn how to establish your online authority by checking out Copyblogger’s Authority program or these 10 tips.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!