“One of the biggest problems with ‘social influence’ is that it is dismissed as folly or just completely misunderstood,” Todd Wilms of SAP wrote in Forbes AdVoice recently. “However, influence is at the very heart of where social society is heading.”
Like them or loathe them, social scoring systems like Klout and Kred are here to stay. And social influence is real.
But scoring systems are far from perfect. And many people are focused only on their scores, without looking more deeply into how social influence works.
A new book by Mark Schaefer, Return on Influence: The Revolutionary Power of Klout, Social Scoring and Influence Marketing, goes into the topic in depth. Mark kindly agreed to a Q and A to help clarify some of the things that are being ‘misunderstood’.
The whole area of social influence can be confusing if you are quite new to social media. Can you give us a brief and simple guide to who measures our influence?
Power and influence can be accrued in several ways in the offline world. My book explores the differences between influence in the real world and the online world and believe me, the differences are vast!
But there is also a unique opportunity now that we have access to high-speed Internet and easy-to-use-publishing tools like Twitter and blogging.
We can create influence through our content if it moves through the network and creates a reaction. This is historically important.
Why should people care about Klout etc?
They are important because they are taking a step toward quantifying influence on a mass scale. We’re still in the early stages – the silent movie stage really – but the trend is real and the progress is rapid.
What are the differences between scoring systems?
There are dozens of companies in this space and there are two broad categories of influence measurement. Basically Kred, Klout, and PeerIndex are a variation on this theme of measuring your ability to create content in a manner that creates a reaction. A second category measures influence in context of sentiment. Appinions is the leader in that field.
Should brands, individuals, nonprofits and any other category take the same approach to gaining social influence?
Essentially, yes. My book describes in great detail the 3 steps any one should take to improve their social media effectiveness. I think that strategy translates pretty well across any type of person or business.
- First surround yourself with people who are interested enough in you to share your content. Content alone is no good unless it ignites!
- Next, you have to create or aggregate relevant, interesting, timely and entertaining content.
- And finally, you need to engage with your audience in a human and authentically helpful way.
Are social influence scores going to become more important, or less? What trends do you see?
Every company in the social space is gathering information about us, compiling profiles and using this information to monetize through advertising. So it has been going on for some time.
The only difference is that these new sites give some transparency to the process. We’re just in the beginning of this trend. The next big step I think is mobile. These Klout Perks and influence rewards will follow us around wherever we go.
Tell us a little about how you researched the book.
It’s the first one written on this subject. The trend is so totally new there is not much to refer to other than some blog posts.
I had an insider’s view of these companies and their customers and I was able to get exclusive insights and case studies that serve as an excellent primer on the topic.
How much store do you put by your own Klout score?
I realize that the social proof that comes with a high Klout score or a lot of Twitter followers has some weight with some people on the web.
I know this is going to sound funny but I really don’t pay much attention to it for myself. If I surround myself with a relevant tribe, do good work and be helpful, I think the influence will take care of itself.
Here’s an extract from the book where Mark explains how social influence has worked for him:
I recently received an invitation to speak at a prestigious government conference and influence 700 people in real life because of one popular blog post I had written.
Another blog post I wrote showed up in the search results of a New York Times reporter who was researching a social media topic: social scoring. She interviewed me, and the article appeared in the Sunday edition of my favorite newspaper. The article—with my name in it—was picked up by newspapers around the world, including the Daily Mail in London.
Consulting work for the British government, my teaching position at Rutgers University, and even the opportunity to write this book came through connections in my social media network inspired by my content.
None of this could have happened 10 years ago. Without the social web reaching critical mass, I’d probably be toiling in obscurity in a cubicle somewhere. This is my time to be a person of influence. This is your time to be a person of influence.”
More about Mark
Mark is Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, and among the most acclaimed marketing consultants in the US. He is one of the Forbes’s Power 50 social influencers, an AdAge magazine Power 150 marketing blogger, and writes the {grow} blog.
A renowned business writer, university lecturer, and innovator, he has seven international patents for new product ideas with Fortune 100 companies. He is a marketing faculty member at Rutgers University and has been a keynote speaker at major conferences. Full bio.
If you want to delve deeper into the topic, you can read an excerpt from Chapter 6 of Return on Influence on the book website.
Download Chapter 1 (email registration required)
Here’s a great video interview with Mark by Mike Stelzner, founder of Social Media Examiner
How important is social influence to you? Is it important at all? Why? Or why don’t you care? Tell us what you think and why.
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