Tag Archives: social networking

Identifying Influencers. Do you know who they are in your social media channels?

Today I moderated a Twitter chat #SMCColumbus where we discussed Social Media Influencers.  Here’s some of the highlights.

What’s a social media influencer?

Short definition: Someone who is active on a social media channel who are well respected and likely to be listened to.

Successful social media marketing isn’t simply about amassing thousands of followers, but instead precisely identifying the most influential members of your audience and recognizing them for their value. By directly engaging one influencer with exclusive opportunities, special offers, and unique content, you are indirectly engaging thousands of other people who are part of this influencer’s social sphere.

Keep in mind, the type of friends, fans and followers a brand amasses on social media sites matters more than the number. On average, approximately 1% of a site’s audience generates 20% of all its traffic through sharing of the brand’s content or site links with others. And these “influencers” drive an even higher share of conversion. These very important Internet users can directly influence 30% or more of overall end actions on brand websites by recommending the brand’s site, products or promotions to friends.

How do you measure the influence?

In my opinion, it depends on the specific media source of course.

  • Blog- traffic as measured on sites like compete.com, Alexa.com.
  • Twitter-followers are a good indicator of influence as well as number of times listed. After that, re-tweets. Services to help: Klout, PostRank

The most influential are not on just a single network, but across multiple networks. Just like a luxury product goes well with another luxury product, so do different social media channels.  This way they take advantage of both Reach AND Frequency.

How do you find them?

1. Use reporting and traffic analysis tools to find out who your most influential followers are.   Radian6 is a good option.  The goal is to find which individuals are most actively sharing your brand’s links and messages.

2. Find out what motivates them.  Are they seeking exposure and fame?  Do they tend to share deals and discounts? Or do they prefer to share links to your branded entertainment content, like YouTube videos, social games and contests, or informational articles?

3. Engage your fans and followers around what they like about your brand and products, why they like it, what they’d like to see improved, and what types of opportunities and offers they’d be most interested in receiving.  Just be authentic and don’t sell.  Because if you overly “sell” to your influencers, you’ll burn a bridge and potentially turn your biggest fans into your worst enemies.  Be personalized.  Be authentic.

What are the key mistakes when targeting influencers and how to avoid them?

First, you need to appeal to them. If you want them to do something, you need to give them an idea of what’s in it for them, without being offensively obvious about it. The fact is that you need their help more than they need yours, so you have to be political about it. Secondly, a canned message rarely works. If you truly want to get them on your side, you better let them know that you actually are a fan and know what they are about.

Here’s some additional feedback:

@MatthewRusso: A SoMe Influencer iuses their active audience to distribute timely, useful content and messages to make a difference.  Quantity breeds quality. You have to put SOMETHING out to start engaging. Without access, no opportunity for a connection.  Finding SoMe influences depends on the goals of a campaign. Targeted niches might be best, but sheer volume may also work.  You never know what will work until you try it first. Then you can refine/adjust based on feedback.  My local presence has grown due to the in-person meetups I mentioned earlier. Connecting offline has been key.

@nxtconcepts: An Influencer is someone who identifies their advocates and recognizes them for their value and contributions.  We try to keep in mind that we need Social Media Influencers help, more than they need ours.

@tonnishaenglish: I would measure their influence by the ppl they attract & the way they make a difference. I would rather ONE follower I am engaged with & making a difference for than have ONE MILLION & do nothing.  Also, if you don’t know who/what your target is, how can you aim for/at anything? That could lead to mistake #1.

Social Media Measurement. Let’s Talk Tangibles.

Social Media Measurement.  We hear a lot about it.  I constantly see people touting that it should be, and can be done.  But, when you get right down to it, I have a hard time finding people that provide concrete examples of how they are doing it.

Sure, I’ve seen quite a few articles and presentations where people say measurement is about:
“Focusing on listening”
“Facilitating conversions”
“Leveraging relationships”

Let’s be honest, that tells me absolutely nothing.  And instead conjures pictures in my mind of trapping people in a room and telling them the only way out is to say “the magic words”.  Even then, I bet there still would be people that wouldn’t listen.

Social media measurement is a tricky subject, there are quite a few intangibles.  Not everything can or should be measured.  And, getting data is a bit more challenging since the focus is on relationships and value exchange.  Not to mention the limitations within the networks themselves.  In any case, no matter how large or small your business, the first thing you need to do as a social marketer is answer the question, “why are we doing social media”.  The answers you get, will help you determine what to measure.

For example.  At nxtConcepts, we tackled  “why are we doing social media” with a few of the following answers:
1. To learn.
2. To demonstrate in a live scenario the work we can do for clients.
3. Affordable national brand awareness.

Once we wrote that down, it started to make the intangible, tangible and measurement possible.  (Without locking anyone in a room.)

Answer 1. To learn.
Measurement-Engagement (# of comments, retweets, Likes, Photo or video uploads, event participation, poll usage, bookmarks, downloads and discussions)

Answer 2. To demonstrate in a live scenario the work we can do for clients.
Measurement--Application usage (games, landing pages, media players, sign-ups, Foursquare type interactions, plug-in’s that extend social media to an organization’s website)

Answer 3. Affordable national brand awareness.
Measurement--Awareness (# of Fans and followers over time and how it compares to others in the industry, social media sharing)
Measurement--Analytics (profile data, conversions, demographics, page/media views, churn)

What are some ways your organization answers the question, “why are we doing social media”?

10 Most Popular Tweets of 2009

2009 has been an interesting year for marketing.  Social media seems to have quickly created a place for itself, even while marketers are still trying to figure it out.  That’s why I thought it would be interesting to track just what topics received the most attention from my Twitter postings at http://www.twitter.com/srufo . Personally, I still love the “Martini Marketing” article.

Top 10 news stories clicked by Twitter readers in the past year.

1. Social media emerging as key to ski-industry marketing according to Mountain Travel Symposium. http://ow.ly/25Vs
2. MUST READ. MySpace becomes social-media “ghetto” http://ow.ly/uSJ5
3. Social media challenges social rules. Old social rules don’t seem to work online http://ow.ly/BTle
4. Can your loyalty be bought? Microsoft wants to pay publishers to leave Google. http://ow.ly/FeeX
5. Vail Resorts’ Top Exec Acknowledges Huge Decline in Ski Season. Retail & Ski School hardest hit. http://ow.ly/21mh
6. Martini Marketing. Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of this? http://ow.ly/4i0b
7. What do spa guests want in these uncertain economic times? Over 1,300 active spa-goers responded to this poll. http://ow.ly/FdHr
8. Good reminder. How to Not Go Out of Business – from BusinessWeek http://ow.ly/EjL1
9. VIDEO: Tapping marketing potential of your site’s press page http://ow.ly/4Deu
10. Did social networks kill Second Life? Anyone still using SL? http://ow.ly/HtQE

Why Twitter?

I was asked a simple question last night, “why are you using Twitter?”.  I thought about it for a little while. Note-Twitter is a “microblogging” service that invites you to share what you’re doing with the world in 140 characters or less.

Here’s my top reasons:

Cutting-Edge: I personally try to stay up-to-date on new cutting-edge marketing opportunities.  I am constantly out searching and trying-out new programs that our clients might be interested in now or in the future.  Twitter is something new, so I will give it a try.

Little commitment: It’s so easy.  Unlike mySpace where you really have to work to create a design, a following, and 15 other things which could take up your entire day, Twitter needs only a few minutes each day (thanks to Tweetdeck) to read what others have twittered and post my own tweets.  And, I can twitter from my computer or cell phone.

Response: In a short period of time (about 30 days) I have been able to build a network of “followers” that I can ask questions, post recommendations, and search comments.  What I find different about twitter compared to LinkedIn, or other social sites is the real time answers.  On my other social networking sites it seems to take a day or two to get responses from people.  In Twitter, it takes minutes.  That kind of network building and personal response amazes and thrills me.  I am an instant gratification kind of person!

Branding: Ok, I’ll admit it.  One of my goals is to help people/businesses realize we exist.  It is a free marketing channel that costs me some work time.  It’s a new form of PR that I am happy to add to our overall marketing mix if it shows promise.  Which so far, it has.

So, now I ask you, “why do you use Twitter”?