Bloggers Unite to Slap Susan G. Komen

by Jayme Soulati on 02/03/2012 in Social Media Strategy

Like Gini Dietrich at Spin Sucks, I wasn’t going to address the Susan G. Komen national public relations debacle in an election year with Planned Parenthood. After reading her post and the oodles of smart comments from her community, I still wasn’t.

Then, I read Shonali Burke’s extremely amazingly thoughtful and balanced post with more than oodles of examples of trust gone awry and communications strategy, or lack thereof, gone to hell in a hand basket. (I just read in her comments it took her 4 hours to craft that post; when you read it, you’ll understand that she actually gifted us with a case study.)

One of the comments at Gini’s house gave me pause and it goes something to the effect of “isn’t this issue a way for bloggers to build links and get traction from others outside their communities by jumping on the bandwagon?” Gini provided a very smart reply and you can find it yourself when you review the 100+ comments as of this morning.

I’m trying to be sensitive to this comment from someone who doesn’t know that we who write about communications, PR and social marketing MUST cover these topics. That said, and very top of mind for me, what this issue boils squarely down to are three things:

  • Women’s health
  • Election-year politics
  • Poor public relations and social marketing strategy

Each of you reading and following has an opinion that puts us on opposing sides of the aisle. When you read everyone else’s blogs about the serious debacle unfolding (there’s so much more with Bank of America and Penn State, etc.), you can’t help but get beyond pro-life or pro-choice issues with this.

If you’re NOT in communications, I implore you to look at this from business and communications strategy angles. Again, I point you to the blogs mentioned here; these bloggers have done a spectacular job (better than I ever could) of presenting all the facts with balanced judgment to boot. I’m proud of them.  Thank you for what you do, Shonali, Gini, John, and the rest of the gang. #ThatIsAll.

The Tip of the Iceberg Only

>>Nancy Schwartz Getting Attention blog via @Shonali

>>Joe Waters Blog via @Shonali

>>Planned Parenthood causes/giving via @Shonali and Beth Kanter and there’s a Pinterest board on this, too!

>>John Haydon who writes and works with non-profits

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Should Health Of Blog Community Align To ROI?

by Jayme Soulati on 01/11/2012 in Blogging 101, Social Media Strategy

I had a post all ready for today, and then @TheJackB spat all over my blog in comments. I could not let that slide, so this post is a compilation of his musings and mine. (You get co-authorship, TheJack, but just not in the byline…heh.)

The Sales Lion wrote a post yesterday about why community is not Holy Grail of blogging that I’m sure is creating a slew of comments, not the most of which is Gini Dietrich (although I’ve not been over to comment myself). Marcus said something to the effect that “Gini shocked the blogosphere admitting her business almost went bankrupt in 2011 in spite of her healthy blog, Spin Sucks, and its huge community with lengthier commentary.” (paraphrase)

IMHO (In my humble opinion), Arment Dietrich is a service firm; it delivers professional services and seeks clients to pay it to stay viable. Gini is the point person, face, poster child, CEO, founder, biz dev artist for her firm, and, oh, yeah, she’s chief cook and bottle writer for her highly popularly ranked and accoladed blog, Spin Sucks. Her new product, Spin Sucks Pro, for which peeps will subscribe to content and teachings via webinars and writings from around the ‘sphere, launches soon (after a one-year delay during which she had to fire a tech team and start from scratch). (Never write sentences like these two.)

When you’re running a successful digital marketing/PR shop with staff and expensive headquarters near the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and you’re launching a brand new online moneymaker that fails and requires an immediate new investment in tech dollars and clients refuse to pay you for six months and the economy sucks (like Spin), then what’s so surprising about a firm nearly going belly up (in spite of a successful blog and community)?

This dilemma is one many successful entrepreneurs face –  how to clone oneself. We are the brand and brain power clients wants, hire and require. Using Gini Dietrich was a poor example to showcase that a profitable business has nothing to do with a healthy blogging community, and here’s why:

The target audience for Spin Sucks Pro are PR, marketing, social media peeps; a healthy community of such is required to ensure that Gini’s new $ venture succeeds. Can you imagine if she had attempted to launch Spin Sucks Pro without putting all the sweat and tears into building a healthy and growing community at its precursor? Right.

 

Here’s what THEJACKB had to say in comments here yesterday:

Yep, I commented on Marcus’s post. I was half awake at the time and uninterested in picking that post apart but I am not convinced that there is a relationship between Gini’s biz and comments.

Fact is that if you can demonstrate to brands that your blog reaches the eyeballs that they want to get in front of then you can make money blogging. It happens, and any one of us has the opportunity to make it happen. It might not make sense for some of us to pursue that path but the opportunity is there.

Let’s circle back to comments and community. You and I (Jack and Jayme) have talked about this, and I’ll repeat that I don’t see comments as being currency. They aren’t always useful social proof for whether a blog is popular, influential etc.

But that doesn’t apply across the board. Fact is that many of the people that speak at blog conferences get their positions as faculty because of their community and the comments. It is not impossible to get a gig without, but it is much easier when you have it.

Data mining is useful for bloggers. When you start to break down who your readers are you can learn all sorts of interesting things. During the past four days more than 4k uniques took a moment to read my post.

Two PR agencies and several brands were camped out on that post for extended periods of time. I don’t believe that they hung out there solely because they loved the writing. There is something more going on. My job is to figure out why. Maybe it is because they are looking for a writer or maybe it set off a keyword alert, but I’ll put money down that there is a money making opportunity tied into it.

Let’s circle back to the question of can you make money and approach it in a more direct manner. Let’s pretend that blogger XYZ has a product/service that they sell and that there is a valid value proposition tied into it.

Blogger XYZ needs to learn how to close. Ask for the order. Stop pussy footing around with “you might be interested or want” and ask for the sale. Remember Alec Baldwin in Glen Garry Glen Ross- “Always Be Closing.” (Excuse me while I reconnect the IV, the coffee drip just ran out.) (Indeed, Friend, you exhausted yourself with that spittle.)

What say you? (This is edited; thank you, Marcus.) Are business success and community related? Need you have a thriving blog community to also have a thriving business?

 

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New Trend: Get Off The Grid

by Jayme Soulati on 11/07/2011 in Blogging 101, Social Media Strategy

I don’t know about you, but I’m seeing more and more peeps getting off the grid for a week’s respite and even longer. There’s a general malaise, at least in my community, about the time we’re spending to remain connected across channels while coming up with something fresh and exciting to say (that’s not an echo).

>>When my friend Queen D (that’s @3HatsComm to y’all) decided to pull way back, it seemed like she disappeared for good. Upon a query, she insists she’s lurking and around, just not as front and center as she used to be. I have to say, I miss that comment energy. She left an indelible impression; more than she knows. (But, she’s not gone…just more quiet!)

>>Kaarina Dillabough, my north of the border pal, announced she was going dormant (that’s dormant, not Dorman) for a week and then announced upon her return she escaped on a 33rd anniversary with hubby to the Caribbean. (I missed her in my stream; but she was not gone…just taking family time.)

>>My dear friend Erica Allison still has her “summer off” post on her sidebar on the blog (one of the highest PostRank scores she’s tallied) which said she would be encumbered with mommy duties while running her business in summer months. These weeks, her booming business has her focused on areas like billable work and not her blog…she laments this turn of events but also recognizes the need to earn money. (She isn’t gone, just not as accessible to her community.)

>>And, the most famous infamous of all, NittyGriddy, went MIA for more than two months! Gasp! And, to inform her community she’s baaack, she hit up the Gin Blossom to announce her comeback on @SpinSucks.

>>When Danny Brown (along with a team of writers) launched his Punk Rock Views on Social Media blog about the new tonality in social media, he added to my thoughts about what is going on here?

Look around your community.  Per chance you’re amplifying messages within your own peer group; I’ve heard many a friend mention this more than once (me included). I’m hastening a guess that most of us launched our blogs with every good intention of attracting new business from small-to-medium enterprises and laughing all the way to the bank.

Alas, our blogs (at least the bloggers with whom I’ve spoken) agree we’re writing and messaging in an obvious comfort zone – right amongst our own peer group and network of service-oriented professionals (likely playing in the social media, marketing and public relations space).

Does this resonate with you? If it does, here’s what I want to say:

>>We are social media leaders following other social media rock stars just ahead of us pioneering and testing the next new app, tool, channel, platform, connector, game, and more. It’s so easy to become jaded and tired in this leadership position, but guess what?

WE CAN’T!

We have to keep the energy and vibe and positive spirit high…WHY? Because our clients, customers, peer bloggers, entry-level professionals, and others in our communities expect us to be that way – helpful, teaching, positive, thoughtful, inspiring.

>>You bet it’s challenging at the top. We’ve put bloggers on pedestals for years; wanna bet they’re tired too leading the pack as they do? Sometimes they show it; other times they don’t.

>>The point here is this…when you’re tired from being smack in a leadership role in social media and your messaging begins to show those rough edges (because your community recognizes that), then do get off the grid. Take a breather already; no one will fault you for a little R&R because when you return you’ll be back like a spring breeze to tell us all about it.

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Customer Service, Auto Collision Repair and Social Media

by Jayme Soulati on 10/06/2011 in Social Media Strategy

When there was hail damage to my beloved orange Mini Cooper convertible, I was devastated, yet counted our lucky stars kidlet and I survived driving in the tornado. The experience following to get my vehicle repaired was eye-opening and resulted in my blog post and Facebook posting on the “offender’s” fan page.

This is a piece about vehicle collision repair shops or auto body shops or whatever you’d like to call them. The teams in these businesses, often mom-and-pop establishments or franchises or dealerships, have to work daily with customers who have angst, stress, injury, insurance issues, and are expecting to spend dollars to repair their vehicles.

I’ve spoken with many experts of late about the situation that exists in body shops — they are behind the times in how they service customers, how they engage with customers, and how they perfect their own customer service to ensure a new customer returns for future work.

Here’s what I recommend right now for any body shop, collision repair facility, or dealership:

>> Bring in a public relations/marketing practitioner with expertise in social media to meet with your team, observe and analyze how services are rendered.

>> Allow that expert (Hi?!) to conduct a social media analysis to determine your collision repair facility’s brand and influence on social channels. That includes Facebook, Yelp, Twitter, Foursquare/Gowalla, daily deals/Groupon, and others.

>> Select one point of contact from the customer service team in the body shop to get trained in social media. That person can work with the public relations practitioner to learn why social media is critical, how to listen to customers, how to document what they say and follow-up, how to ask for a review on Yelp, and how to keep them coming back for more services (beyond auto body repair).

>> The contact internally becomes basically tied at the hip with the public relations consultant so that content can be delivered across channels within the regional boundaries of that business.

Social Media Campaign

The social media campaign could look like this:

>> Analyze the website and freshen it to be customer centric; write for the customer to entice and convince them that your brand, reputation and service are solid.

>> Establish a Facebook fan page and add the buttons to your facility’s website.

>> Launch a profile on Yelp and ask for reviews from customers you know had a good experience. Put up a coupon on Yelp good for an oil change and tire rotation.

>> Explore a daily deal with the area newspaper or buy a Groupon campaign to bring in new prospects. When they come in for the first time for services other than auto body repair, take them on a tour of your facility and show them the capability you have for detailing and collision repair. (The most fascinating thing about collision repair services or a personal injury law firm, for example, is that you don’t know where your next customer is coming from until there is an accident.)

>>Record the name and email of the prospect in a database you launch and add this to Constant Contact. You’ll launch a newsletter perhaps four to five times annually about collision repair, auto health checklist, and more.

>>On the business website (which should be updated), add a form that says “Register for our Newsletter here.” When you capture names, they get added to the database and they get the email newsletter.

Conclusions

The point I’m making is this:

Customer service begins on the frontlines, but it doesn’t end there.

>>Customer service begins prior to that person ever entering your business.

>>Customer service has to happen during the entire face-to-face experience.

>>Customer service requires “the ask” to invite a post-visit review (either a Yelp rating, or Facebook posting, or register for our newsletter).

>>Customer service is a follow-up phone call or survey to ensure satisfaction, and it is also a real and genuine person concerned that a customer had a good experience while in a place of business.

For years, we’ve all said, “customer service is dead.” Isn’t it high time those charged with customer service in small businesses get a little more creative to earn and keep a customer?

 

 

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Will Google+ Kill Blog Comments?

by Guest Contributor on 07/19/2011 in Blogging 101, Social Media Strategy

Today’s guest is not unknown in the Soulati-’TUDE! community; in fact, she was recently featured in Momaraderie and is a frequent commenter with killer comments re PR. Please welcome Erica Allison of Allison Development Group who writes a successful blog of her own, called Spot On.

Erica Allison Says:

Yes, I know this is yet another post related to Google +, and no, I am not an expert on the subject, nor have I extensively researched it.  I’m simply going to make an observation based on my experience and ask the question of you, good readers:

Will Google + Kill Your Blog Comments?

A week in the + world, does not a trend make

Only a week in is not nearly enough time for grand generalizations, but it is enough time for me to begin to wonder what happens to my beloved blog posts when I share them with my Google + circles; or when someone else shares my post with their circles.

What I noticed is that I get comments on Google +, but not on my blog.  If comments are part of your qualitative analysis for engagement, then this could be cause for “pause,” not necessarily concern.  I say pause, because it may not be a bad thing; rather, it’s yet another factor in your analysis and another avenue to integrate into your overall picture.  That in and of itself can be reason to pause and determine strategy.

Wait, where did my people go?

I enjoy seeing certain people visit my blog, make that ALL people! It is incredibly valuable for many reasons.  I enjoy the discussion and dialogue.  From those visits and hopefully, the subsequent “shares,” I also enjoy the stats gained from Google Analytics and PostRank.  In addition to my gut feelings on my topics and content, I can have confirmation on the type of content my readers like most.

What happens when they comment only on Google +, as was the case last week when I did a guest post on Shonali Burke’s blog, WaxingUnLyrical?  We definitely had comments on her blog, but what I noticed was that I had comments on Google + from folks who might normally comment on a post of mine or one at WUL.  They did not; they commented on Google + instead.

Stats, anyone?

Wondering about my traffic from referrals, I checked my Google Analytics. Having read Mack Collier’s piece on adding Google + and integrating with GA, I now had a view of social engagements with my blog.  When I took a peek, I noticed immediately that on July 11 (see date above), I had 5 direct visits from Google + with a very low bounce rate!  Wow.

Granted, I’m not rocking any records here, but it’s solid info that points to that post being shared on Google + and then subsequently generating traffic not just to WUL, but to my blog as well.  Very interesting.

I’m going to be monitoring what happens when I post my own link v. when someone else shares it and how that affects overall traffic.  I’ll be happy to report back on that!

Final Thoughts

  1. Find and utilize an integrated way to track your engagement levels via Google +, Google Analytics and your blog.  I’m still working on it, but for now my updated GA is a great start.  If you’re not tracking them, start.
  2. Trying to control the comment stream is futile.  Be aware that while you may not have comments on your blog, you might have them elsewhere, like Google +.  Evaluate what this means for you and your goals.  Find a way to maximize the benefits of both.
  3. Embrace the additional exposure.  Since your new spot for sharing is on Google +, and if your circles are sharing the post, guess what? You pop up pretty high in searches.  See the example below.  Even with a simple “Vlogging” search, the post landed on the 1st page.

What do you think?  Will Google + Kill Your Blog Comments?  And if it does, is it all bad?

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Do You Amplify the Echo Chamber?

by Jayme Soulati on 07/14/2011 in Social Media Strategy

I could probably link every word in this post with a blog that’s been written about the echo chamber; it’s a popular topic, and yesterday’s article here spawned some further fodder. I share a list for you, and ask you for your contribution, please.

You are amplifying the echo chamber if:

* You’ve created a stream of Twitter faves who are social media leaders and early adopters.

* You’re in Triberr (either one or more tribes, no matter) and your tribes are filled with inbreeders.

* You follow like-minded peeps in your space and don’t branch out to find new peeps from other verticals.

* You comment on the same blogs over and over.

* You’ve formed a comfy clique and don’t want to take the time to expand your horizons.

* You’ve depicted yourself as untouchable, inaccessible, and just a plain old social media rock star.

That’s my take…and, I am going to be changing it all up real soon — after I stop sucking wind this summer.

(Well, actually, I hope you’ve noticed you may not know anyone behind these links. I believe this is a great start — to share link love for those I don’t know to broaden my horizons.)

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Hey, Google! We Have No Time!

by Guest Contributor on 07/08/2011 in Social Media Strategy

My great friend, John Akerson, is my guest author today. He swoops in when I least expect it and shares some mighty powerful words in comments. And, then I need to rescue them from no-man’s land and bring his wisdom to light, just like I’m doing right now. John shared early in the morning about his thoughts about my thoughts about Google+. Essentially, I’ll let you read it, but, where’s the time?

By John Akerson

Dali Clock

Quote of the day — “No one has more time to develop yet another social network” Jayme Soulati, http://soulati.com/blog/google…

Amen!

But Google’s new CEO and organization has been built to peg 2011 bonuses somewhat directly to social media success. And, Google knows how to automate stuff; and how to make big heaps of profit from automation. I think that if anyone can do it, they can.

So. Is there a way (as Gini Deitrich says) to “make us more efficient with technology” and replace both email and IM?  That’s a dream. To be successful – any new social network needs do everything that current social networks already do, and needs to do it better, faster, and use less of MY time to do it. It needs to automate network creation and building’; needs to automate friend finding, needs to automate creative content creation; content propagation; backlink building; and it needs to automate effective impact-measurement-tracking.

Time will tell – but I’m glad that somebody is trying.

I’d be really happy to see a 4-way uber-filter. It needs to:

1) Go out and get all the stuff I like, and

2) When I write something, contribute something, blog something or tweet something, it needs to publish an appropriate essence of that something back to each of the networks that I value.

3) The uber-filter needs to slice out spammy-empty-mlm-garbage that I find no value in

4) Help me be more effective and impactful while saving time. My blog is fun; Quora is great; I love Twitter; I’m fascinated by the blistering fiery hot intelligence and exploding creativity that constantly circles some social media; but, since the universe arbitrarily limits my days to 24-hours each… I have to simplify.

And — I’m. Not. Alone.

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What Is A Refugee?

by Jayme Soulati on 06/20/2011 in Marketing, Social Media Strategy

Today is World Refugee Day, and there is an organization, called USA for UNHCR that is working to raise awareness for the plight of refugees from across the globe. They’ve been fund-raising with the sale of $5 #BlueKey(s). Together the power of cause-related marketing is being executed to promote the fund-raising and sale of blue keys — I bought four and donated more to their cause. Cost is merely $5 each sold in the U.S. only.

An admirable woman I know, Shonali Burke, has begun working this this group and has implemented the broadest, most impressive social media campaign strategy I’ve seen in awhile. (I must give kudos to colleagues’ work.)

But, what is a refugee?

This word conjures up Angelina Jolie, Oprah, Madonna, George Clooney and Bono, among other celebrity faces hitting Sub-Saharan Africa and other poverty-stricken regions of the world to raise awareness of the problem that is so far removed from other corners of the world, yet so critical.

It’s truly easy to ignore this situation, isn’t it? To turn your cheek and resume remoting the channel changer? Do you remember Sally Struthers? No greater humanitarian back in the day, and she asked us for our money all the time. Who gave to her? Now’s your chance to rectify that and help the United Nations. You can convince yourself that the plight of these people does not affect you in the least. But, you’re wrong. Refugees come in all shapes and sizes and from all countries of the world.

Violence is an overriding factor that causes people to be uprooted from homes, villages, and comfort zones. Invaders, dictators, war, and poverty become issues for women and children who are victims of rape, violence, kidnap, and murder while husbands, fathers and sons watch helplessly the slaughter of their families.

The victims of the Haiti earthquake now living in shanty towns; are they considered refugees? Probably not, but their choice is to leave poverty and seek refuge in the Dominican or the U.S., but they can’t. Semantics.

For those people seeking asylum from various homelands, such as Iran, for example, to escape a dictatorial regime operated on the theme of Islamic fundamentalism, how shall we define them? Is asylum seeker a higher-end, more affluent and non-poverty oriented moniker for refugee? Semantics.

The UNHCR is one of the most respected not-for-profits across the globe. Its brand and credibility are second to none. America is the land of the free. So, free your vision from your immediate surroundings and open your heart to help and give. When you spend $5, those 500 pennies will be shared with people who believe $.25 is a treasure.

Please consider buying your #BlueKey right now, and when you do, look around. You do know a refugee you can touch in your life today; it’s just that you’ve never wrapped your head around how to define that word — migrant, immigrant, illegal alien, asylum seeker, refugee. It’s semantics, and regardless of the label you put on one another; we’re all human and each of us deserves a safe place to make a home.

 

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Blogging & #BlueKey: Use Your Influence

by Jayme Soulati on 06/14/2011 in Social Media Strategy, Word of Mouth

I’m late to the party; what else is new…yet, there’s still time to help founders and planners of the global BlueKey campaign make their mark by June 20, World Refugee Day. Shonali Burke is driving the digital program to earn 6,000 blue keys for $5 each, and Gini Dietrich is riding tandem. Together they’re making a difference, and you can, too.

As a blogger, hit Shonali’s blog and you can lift content from her blog (because she’s provided everything you need to spread the word).
Then, you can launch and post a cute photo like @JennWhinnem did when her  blue key arrived. Or, go directly to the Blue Key Campaign site  to adapt content for your post.

And, so, please read the below excerpted directly from Waxing Unlyrical; Ms. Shonali Burke’s amazing blog. It’s only $5, folks, we can afford that hands down. While you’re there, take a look at the solid digital/PR strategy behind this campaign; it’s one for the text books.

Extracted directly from Shonali Burke’s blog, Waxing Unlyrical:
So I’ve been working with USA for UNHCR on the digital aspects of its Blue Key campaign. It’s very simple:
1. The Blue Key campaign symbolizes the key to the home that refugees may never ever hold again;
2. It’s a $5 symbolic Blue Key pin or pendant that is really very cute – and by getting your own, you’re showing support for the cause of refugees worldwide, as well as for the 6,000+ UNHCR staffers working globally to bring them some relief; and
3. Our goal for this phase of the campaign is to get 6,000 keys out to Americans (they can only ship within the US) by June 20, which is World Refugee Day.

From an SM campaign point of view, I think we’ve been doing some interesting things (but of course, I’m working on the campaign, so take that with a fistful of salt if you need to). We have:
• Refined the “online home” for the Blue Key campaign as much as possible, so that messaging is in sync;
• Reached out to cause-passionate bloggers who are active in social spaces to become Blue Key Champions (you can become one too, just let me know, the main “ask” is for you to publish a post on the campaign between now and June 20);
• Using the #bluekey hashtag on Twitter to amplify the conversation and drive awareness;
• Created tracking URLs for the primary outreach mechanisms, i.e. blog(ger)s, Facebook, Twitter & email newsletters (which USA for UNHCR is sending out);
• Customized the “thank you” email someone gets when they sign up for a Blue Key (or more than one), so that they can choose whether or not to “like” USA for UNHCR on Facebook, follow on Twitter, donate a tweet a day, or become a Champion.

(I really like it when I get to shamelessly copy content from someone else’s blog; makes my work so much simpler.) Please buy a Blue Key (and then head on over to @DannyBrown to get your #12for12K mojo, too).

Thanks! You won’t regret it.

 

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Can We Measure Influence?

by Jayme Soulati on 04/29/2011 in Social Media Strategy, Thinking

Today marks the culmination of this week-long series on Influence. We’ve explored Klout, two camps, factors that influence, what it is, and now we look at ways to consider measuring influence.

Neicole Crepeau is a partner with Coherent Interactive, a digital shop specializing in all things web, social media, and digital, of course.  Aaron Sachs is working on his Masters degree at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where I’m certain his coursework includes many live discussions about measurement.

Neicole kicks off:

I believe there are several  factors that contribute to defining influence:

  • Topic—nobody has influence in every area, most people have influence in specific areas
  • Community—most influencers are active in certain communities or have the greatest impact in certain communities
  • Activity—some influencers are content creators, others are mainly speakers, etc.
  • Type—There are different types of influence. For example, there are people who are very good at spreading the word/content, and might be valuable for content marketing purposes or to gain traffic to your website. There are people who are very influential in terms of shaping opinions—think Walt Mossberg in tech. A recommendation from him on a tech topic carries a lot of weight. There are people who are influential in their ability to start conversations and connect with individuals. I think you and Mark Schaefer fall into that category, Jayme.  (Thank you, Neicole!) There are probably other types, as well, thought-leaders, etc.

From a business perspective, you’d want to connect with different influencers depending upon your goals and audience. You want influencers who are in the communities where your audience is and who are influential in the ways that will help with your goals. If I want to get someone to be a speaker at my conferences or do webinars for me, I probably want to connect with an influencer in the relationship-builder model. On the other hand, if I want my content shared widely to people interested in a certain topic, I probably want to connect with a content curator, as per my post on Mark Schaefer’s blog. And so on.

Measurement

Is there an effective way to measure influence? I don’t think so, not yet. Currently, systems are using proxies of real measurement.  We use RTs and reshares to measure how good an influencer is at spreading the word. But we can’t really accurately measure that. If I share a link, someone clicks on it and reads the blog post I linked to, and then clicks the Retweet button on the blogger’s site, we’ve lost the trail. Someone may click the link that the reader shared, and that click should actually be attributed to me, but we can’t track it.

Klout measure shares and @’s and DM’s and comments on Facebook, too. That measure’s engagement of a sort, but from the number of interactions, Klout makes assumptions about someone’s influence. If the influence type is Walt Mossberg style, @’s and DM’s may not matter at all. What matters is how well-regarded the influencer’s opinion is and how well-spread his/her opinions are to a key audience, not whether he/she actually talks a lot with fans.

To really measure, we’d have to have a good breakdown of the different types of influencers, by topic and community, use different measures for each community, and measure all the way through. We’d need to know things like what audiences/customers the influencer is reaching, how far down the sales funnel it’s happening, who is sharing the opinion/information with customers, and whether it actually resulted in conversions (however you measure conversions: sales, registrations, etc.). We aren’t anywhere near that, yet.

Influencer identification and measurement is still in its infancy. We’ve got a long ways to go.

Aaron Sachs has some great

I want to begin with the tools that are out there–Klout, Backtype, PeerIndex.  They all measure influence, but there’s a key thing missing, before we get to what the tools measure, and that is:  Who is defining influence for these tools and what are they basing it on?

It’s all well and good to have an indicator based on partial metrics–Tweets, retweets, followers/following ratios, etc.  But where is influence in all of this?

Michael Wu at Lithium has an excellent post on influence.  In an interview with him, Michael stated that simply, influence is the ability to cause a change in mindset or actions.  Essentially, influence is the art of persuasion.  It is causing someone to think or behave a certain way.  Whether the motives of the person influencing another person are “pure” or not is irrelevant to defining influence. However, we all hope that people influencing any field are pure of heart and have the best interests of an industry or field at heart and won’t influence the direction of an industry or field in a negative fashion.  But that’s beside the point.

The tools that are being used to measure influence are broken.  They don’t measure true influence.  RAAK did several tests looking at PeerIndex and Klout. The key test was Klout, as that seems to be the standard right now.  They found that the bot that tweeted the most had a higher score than the other three bots. By conducting that test, RAAK essentially found out that Klout’s definition of influence (and somewhat the industry standard, by proxy of accepting Klout as the defining measure of influence in the social media world) was relegated to Tweeting…a lot.  Is that really how we want to define influence for social media?  For that matter, do we want to define influence as simply retweeting, interacting with others, or posting content?  I would hope not.

For social media, there has to be a CONCLUSIVE measure of influence.  If the definition of influence is to cause a change of mind or behavior, then THAT is what should be measured.  Simply measuring retweets or interaction does NOT prove conclusively that a person has experienced a change of mind or behavior. Sorry :( long rant about the tools.

The other factors that are missing in influence are things like credibility, relevance of material to audience (or relevance in general), physical appearance, communication skills, and persuasive ability. These items are the major items that contribute to influence.

Then, you take into account the things that have contributed toward a person being influential–professional opportunity (essentially status–we’re more likely to believe someone who is in a position that lends them more influence or credibility), economic opportunity, and access to tools/communities.

Retweets, tweets, and engagement are not a conclusive measure of influence, not if it is defined as causing a change of mind or behavior.  Really, the approach that the social media world should be taking to Klout and other influence measuring tools should be a mindset that understands that these tools don’t really measure influence.  If anything, they measure how engaged you are with your audience.  Engagement (does not =) Influence.

 

(Photo: NextWeb…never thought I’d see the day when Old Spice Man was relevant for an image; very cool.)

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