This is the fourth post in the What is Influence series. I appreciate and thank our contributors today, Erica Allison, Michelle Quillin and Davina Brewer. Each of them are influential in their own right; they engage with their communities, they blog with aplomb, and they are accessible to anyone who wants to learn from their expertise.
What’s amazing to me about this series is that one word can conjure (not negatively) so many thoughts from a wide variety of people who blend disciplines in this social media marketing space. Please come back tomorrow when we close the series with Aaron Sachs and Neicole Crepeau who wrap this first phase with more on measurement.
Again, I appreciate the many comments and tweets about the blog content. I have enjoyed this! (This one is a bit longer than most to squeeze them all in…have edited a tad, Ladies, I hope you don’t mind.)
Erica Allison is president of Allison Development Group in North Carolina. Her public relations and social media firm is active in fashion, design and other industries. She blogs at Spot On. I had the pleasure of meeting Erica at Social Slam recently!
I view Influence as a goal, something that I strategically work towards in business and in relationships. If my suggestions, advice, or identification of information and insight can make someone move from point A to point B or choose one option over another, then I’ve influenced that person or persons. If my work or writings can cause someone to stop and think, or review their point of view from another perspective, that’s influence.
I find that the success of one’s influence is directly related to one’s relationship and level of trust between the two parties (or more) in the relationship. If there is a high level of trust in what one person (the influencer) says or thinks, or in their credibility, based on their accomplishments and real life experiences, then that influencer has tremendous potential to change opinion, inspire action or change, and generally “influence” another.
In addition to relationships and level of trust and credibility, I think context is a major factor here as well. In the social media world, Klout is obviously the major measurement tool for influence. It’s convenient to say Klout doesn’t matter or it’s flawed, but it is a consideration among folks who work in the social media world and to ignore it may in fact result in lost work, lost credibility and lost opportunities.
For those folks NOT working in social media, and trust me, there are plenty, Klout has no relevance what so ever. Influence is measured by results, pure and simple. If you can’t deliver results, your level of influence is called into question. Understanding your own level of experience, credibility and relationship ‘capital’ is key in understanding your own level of influence.
Michelle Quillin is co-owner of New England Multimedia. I’ve had the immense pleasure of working with Michelle at The SMB Collective, and she inspired me to produce my first video that shall remain unpublished at this time. She is consummate marketer on Facebook and recently launched a new LinkedIn Group.
How do you possibly measure influence?
In the realm of marketing our services via social media, my behavior changes as I “see” patterns of behavior online, including my own behavior. I’m a student of people, of the way we think, of how we engage with brands, of how they engage with us. I pick up on how people (including myself) respond to calls-to-action, even subtle ones, and then I in turn make choices to implement tactics and strategies and test the response. Over time, I’m getting more and more strategic as I see what works. I bet I could’ve learned all of this in school, but maybe not. Maybe it’s all about influence.
I’m a youth minister (7 years now), working with teens, and let me tell you – they are very, very easily influenced by media and entertainment, and they in turn wield powerful influence among their peers. They don’t even realize its happening. I wonder if we’re the same? Are we all being influenced all the time, even in ways we don’t realize?
Davina Brewer is owner of 3 Hats Communications with a very spritely blog. She is one of the most prolific commenters I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing, and her opinions are on the leading edge.
The biggest obstacle to defining and measuring influence in the social arena is qualifying and quantifying motivation. My motivations have been to make real connections that develop my expertise, build my credibility and yes, someday lead to a network and a community of professionals which just may include referrals and money-growing trees. If I found better, more effective and profitable ways to develop my skills, build community and establish credibility, my motivations and therefore the influence would shift.
That said something by Gini may sway my opinion; she’s got me thinking of Livefyre. Something from someone else, because of a connection and friendship, may pull my attention to a particular blog post, on which I may or may not comment or RT. And someone’s perceived reputation and “Klout” may bias my opinions on someone’s authority and prestige.
We don’t always argue, debate or disagree with influencers or those in positions to possibly help further our own goals and objectives. Now we certainly are NOT a bunch of kiss-ass sycophants and I love that, I enjoy the intelligent debates and discussions. But I’ll read posts from many a TopNoOneElseCaresBigNumberList and be unimpressed, yet see mostly praise in comments. I’ll follow their tweets that seem pedestrian, downright ordinary.
I wonder WHY some have the reputation and influence they are reported to. Then I remind myself that they’ve built that reputation and cultivated their community over time, w/ lots and lots of hard work. And that anyone can think the same of me. It’s the WHY that’s the challenge. Things and people only influence us if we let them, right? So what influence I have (which is negative numbers) or who has influence over me gets into WHY I allow that, just not sure charting and graphing tweets and clicks will really reveal that.
Erica, you mentioned a top concern of mine in maintaining the social media presence Klout conveys to others. Even if it doesn’t mean much more to me than that I’m consistent and focused, to others it may make the difference between whether they find me someone worth initiating a relationship with. No pressure at all!
Michelle, I do believe influence is hard to quantify because of the fact that it’s always going on. Every time I look at a tweet, read a post, see an avatar, there’s the potential for my opinion to be honed or bent. But most of those effects result from previous experiences, conceptions, and information already stored away, and as soon as I see something else new, it’s added that store, to influence the next bit of information I take in, or be influenced by it.
Davina, I’ve often had the same wonder. And then I think of celebrities that have follow numbers I’ll never attain and remember that as you said, they brought that with them from their own actual work and reputation, which is larger than life. A “real” personality and reputation is actually pretty pedestrian and boring on average, IMHO. We work hard at sharing content and anecdotes we think will make us interesting to others who interest us for whatever reason, but only a few of us are consistently witty, bright, informative, and opinionated–even in our own niches. And I do the same thing: follow somebody who I can see has a reputation and personality online, and end up sharing or finding interest in only about a tenth of their tweets. But it’s not really them, it’s me. And the gems I do glean from them shows how they got where they are.
I hear ya. I think influence, reputation, power, quality, personality is all so subjective. I may seem strong and opinionated, but can be easily swayed like anyone else. Everyone may ‘like’ this actor or celeb, but that fame and popularity does not always influence the receipts at the box office. Oprah can like a pedestrian book, elevated it the best seller list.. but do people really read it, agree, continue to be so influenced by her? If not, do the book sellers even care? IDK.. but it just makes me rethink tools that try to figure out how to rank influence: which yardstick, designed by whom, measuring what? Not saying to NOT try, not at all; just take a closer look at the process and the results. FWIW.
Shakirah, I hate to even say it out loud, but that Klout score does have a relativity among certain groups. Do I let it rule my life? No. Am I aware of it? Yes. Having been ‘off the grid’ for a week and not really tweeting regularly or engaging, my Klout score did go down a point. The week before, while at Social Slam and tweeting ALL DAY LONG, my score went up by 2 points. Crazy! But, since my clients don’t really care about that one way or another, my influence score with them is based on delivery of product and results. Serious ramifications if I don’t deliver those – regardless of my Klout score.
I always appreciate your perspective, Shakirah. You come at it from the one side people often miss. Thanks for support, participating, and input.
Wow Jayme, may I quote you on that? IDK which I like more: the ‘spritely’ as that is so not me 😉 or the ‘leading edge.’ Unpublished vid? Maybe someday.
I bloody love Erica’s point on influence as goals and trust and credibility. She’s right that – like it or not – Klout has some ‘influence’ within this SM sphere, so ignore or dismiss it at your own risk. I am aware of that, and will pay a little more attention to it. I LOVE even more her point that for people outside the ‘verse, Klout has no value WHATSOEVER. Can I get an amen? I know people who live via FB but think Twitter a joke; I know folks who surf the web and read fanfic, watch YouTube and research products and services and recipes all day, yet totally dismiss ‘blogs’ not realizing a big chuck of the ‘media’ and ‘news’ sites they read are just that, some form of a blog. Just b/c we may think it’s relevant.. means it’s relevant to us.
I agree with Michelle on seeing influence in terms of behavior. We are being influenced by everything around us; I may think I know this or that but one smart post from someone – I know or not – may make me think. As to the influence, who knows? Michelle’s right… did it change my behavior? People may poll that they hate reading nothing but scandals, but then if the circulation goes up their behavior shows a different sort of influence. Critics may pan a movie, yet the people may go anyway. The studios then market the box office as a barometer of quality and influence, consumers voting with their wallets.
Mine, well… it’s still about the WHY. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s lame and we’re calling attention to it, lots of WHY we say or share or do something. I like tons of marketing and am influenced by lots of people, but end of the day no matter how much so-and-so praises and pushes their PC, I’m still saving up for a new Mac. Why? Because I like it better. How do you categorize and calibrate a measurement tool to take into account why followers like Brogan or hate Godin (but follow anyway)? IDK but IMO those kind of factors are part of true influence. FWIW.
You’re too funny. People have to care/pay attention about Klout; it’s going to have relevance to those not in the know and when we lose a piece of business b/c our score/ratings, etc. were a smidge lower while all else was equal, we’ll be forced to focus. Sad. I think that’s coming, although my crystal ball is a bit blurry tonight. Thanks for you.
Hola, Ladies! So sorry to be late to the party! Davina, you are indeed ‘spritely’ — sounds very ‘apropos’. I like your thoughts on the WHY and the realization that it comes over time and with hard work. I agree. It’s the experience that counts with me. If you don’t have it, I don’t see where the influence comes from – at least not for a sustained period of time.
Michelle, let me say thank you for what you do and get your contact info right on the spot for when my 8 yo and almost 3 yo hit the teenage years. I’m so unprepared and realize that they have a whole world of ‘influences’ as you point out, that I never did. My biggest influences were those “After School Specials”- remember those? Ralph Machio had to be in a couple of them…I digress. 🙂 Your point is well taken and you’re right, they don’t even know it’s happening. I’d like to think we know it, but I’ll bet on a lot of levels, we really don’t.
Jayme, thanks so much for including me with these smart ladies! They make me look good and I always appreciate that! xoxo!
I am even more late to our party, Erica, and I apologize. Thanks, All, for holding the fort whilst I was having an office expanded which took my desktop away. This has been a wonderful experience to see everyone’s interpretation of influence. Surprisingly, each of us has slightly different nuance, yet we’re all essentially saying similarly.
Great post! For setting smart goals, have you tried GoalsOnTrack? It’s a goal setting app and has worked very well for me. It saves me a lot of time in keeping track of my goals and most importantly it helps me better organize my daily todos towards achieving my goals.