Social influence.  While the latest episode of #451HeatTV delves deep into this subject, we’d like to give you a few key pointers on this increasingly important topic within the social media world.  To be exact, social influence is the “implicit or explicit affect of one thing or person on another.”  In social media terms, it’s simply the influence you wield within social media spaces like Twitter and Facebook.  Social influence is becoming an important factor because as more brands and people engage in social media, they are eager to measure the influence and effectiveness in social media spaces.

How is social influence measured?  Even though it’s a budding technology, there are many tools available to help you analyze your social influence.  Most of these services measure three main things: true reach, amplification, and network influence, along with a number of followers, likes, retweets, mentions, and other interactions.  Here are a few great tools:

  • BackType:  Just purchased by Twitter and similar to Klout, this tool analyzes what you tweet, your followers and overall activity and determines your Twitter influence with a rating from 1-100.
  • TwentyFeet:  This chart-heavy tool maps changes in your social media profiles (such as follower growth) and predicts your future activity.
  • My Web Career:  This tool tracks career score rather than just social media profiles, using LinkedIn to gauge your influence in the professional world.
  • Klout: Easily the most popular of all tools, Klout measures your influence on a rating from 1-100 and allows you to easily share your rating with others.

While no tool or service is perfect, together they help define your influence within the social media space and offer suggestions to improve your reach and influence.

Why should we care about social influence?  Everyone has Klout, from your next door neighbor to Justin Bieber.  The way you use such tools and scores is what separates you from the rest. Here are some tips to get the most out of your social influence:

  • Learn from your scores and use them to your advantage.  Klout highlights the people and topics you hold the most influence over.  If it determines you’re influential over “cupcakes” and you own a car dealership, consider changing your messaging to better reflect your brand image and increase your reach.
  • Look beyond a brand’s Klout score.  If you’re interested in doing business with a certain brand, agency or company, check out the influence of the individuals working with the brand.  Their social influence can give you a hint at the true social influence of the company.
  • Locate other influencers that can help you.  Use Klout scores to identify who’s influential in the spaces you want to influence.  If you own a new restaurant, use Klout to determine influential foodies in your city and offer them special deals or partnerships.

 

To learn more about social influence, watch the latest episode of #451HeatTV with @JoselinMane and @maxesilver.

-Erica Petersen, 451 Marketing Intern