The New Information Superhighway
The other day while driving in my car it occurred to me that “the information superhighway” is such an appropriate term for this wonderful thing we call “The Internet,” although for a completely different reason than originally intended. In the 1990′s, as the Internet first started reaching critical mass, the ability to navigate through millions of web pages was very similar to a crowded highway. While it has only gotten more crowded, the superhighway now takes on a new meaning around social media influence.
One of the first things I learned in driver’s education class was that on the road, everyone is equal. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a Ferrari or a Chevy Nova, your essentially barreling down the highway in a giant instrument of destruction. This is no different with computers; no matter how one accesses the Internet, whether it be a fancy new MacBook Pro or a seven-year-old Compaq, we’re all the same. There are many companies out there trying to tell you otherwise by placing arbitrary influence scores on you, but at the end of the day, it all means nothing.
The power of social media is that it’s the great equalizer. If you have a connection to the web and something to share, you can literally change the world. Those that risked their lives in Egypt to share their revolution with the world were not allowed to do so only if their Klout score was higher than 40. If you can share it and people can search it, your words, images and videos are just as powerful as someone with 1,000 times the followers or “influence score.” Sure, just like the shiny Ferrari, those with the larger networks may have a faster ride to their destination, but don’t ever think that what you have to say isn’t as valuable as any “social media guru” or “Internet celebrity,” because in the end, getting hit head-on by a Chevy Nova at 70 MPH is going to hurt just as much as it would if it was the Ferrari.
Embracing Egotism
The other day it occurred to me that we place way too much negativity around egotism.
While basking in the joy that most of America felt this week when LeBron James and company failed to bring home an NBA title, some in the media were referring to James as a egotist. I don’t think that’s fair, and not because I think they’re being too harsh on “King James,” but because I think egotism is thrown around with too much negative connotation.
As humans, we are all egotistic creatures. It’s engrained within our DNA – we all want to be heard, enjoyed, appreciated, praised and respected. Sure, some show the trait more than others, but egotism drives just about every aspect of our society. It’s the reason that we have whistle blowers, fame whores, rock stars, politicians and…social media!
Nowhere is egotism more on display than on the internet. Social networking, which has been around for decades, is now a household term and just about everyone reading this has some sort of presence there. Yes, it really exploded in popularity the past several years with the advent of Blogs, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and a bevy of other networks, but this is not because of a cultural change in “over-sharing,” it’s because the tools that facilitate this sharing were no longer restricted to the “computer geeks.” Anyone with an internet connection can share information, and nowhere is this more apparent than with the younger genration.
I think we need to stop using egotistic behavior as something we look down on and start appreciating it for all that it provides us, most notably the vast amount of information that makes up the world wide web. If it was in our nature to be private, reserved creatures, society would not be progressing forward as quickly as it does in its current form.
As far as LeBron is concerned, he’s not any more egotistical than you or me, he’s just an immature prima donna. 
Social Media Is Not a Swiss Army Knife
Social media is a wonderful tool that brands and organizations can use to tap into a vast pool of individuals receptive to their messaging. Unfortunately, a misconception exists by too many that have yet to establish a presence that as soon as they jump in, they will see an immense return. Just like any carpenter can tell you, one tool cannot build a house; social media is simply one tool on the belt that builds a successful marketing strategy.
The fact is, there exists only a handful of brands that can expect to create a Twitter or Facebook account and see a mass exodus of people follow right away. For the other 99.999% of the companies not named Apple, the “if you build it, they will come” mentality is completely false. Unfortunately, many organizations interpret this to mean they don’t belong in the game of social networking and abandon all their efforts before they have a chance to ramp up.
Any group can find success utilizing social media with the right strategy as long as the metrics of success are correctly defined. Those metrics vary depending on the brand, which is why the very first step prior to proactive engagement should be due diligence. Understanding where one’s online audience exists will define the appropriate venues they should be engaging in. For example, if a brand’s research finds most of its target audience is engaging on niche message boards, it only makes sense that the brand insert itself into those conversations. From there, the brand can build relationships that will then begin to populate their Facebook page or own official message board.
It’s also important to stress that social media is not free. Sure, creating an account on a social network has no monetary cost, but the time it takes to properly utilize that account comes with a cost, as does the most often overlooked area of constructing a presence: advertising. Sure, one can always take the organic-only approach of building up a base of followers, but I’ve yet to find any medium-to-large organization that has the patience it takes to build a following of dedicated brand ambassadors this way, which is why social advertising such as through Facebook ads is so important in informing people that you’re “in the game.” The smaller or more niche a brand is, the more important a role advertising plays in growing one’s following.
I also find a large amount of organizations that have decided to connect with their audience through social media making the same mistake of not fully integrating it into their marketing mix. It’s simple really – if you want people to believe that your social networks are important, you need to show your audience that they are important. This includes placing links to your social profiles on your website, advertisements, email signatures and any other communications with your audience. It also means sending out a blast to your email list with a link to your profiles. Trust me, this is not spamming your list – if we care enough to sign up for your email list, we’re very likely to follow you on Twitter or “like” you on Facebook.
Social media does not and cannot function in a silo, and this must be understood if it’s to be properly utilized. Many customers will want to connect with an organization to simply stay current on news and announcement while many will wish to use it for customer service. Some may even wish to use it for investor relations purposes. The fact is, the users will try to define how a brand’s social presence is utilized and if the brand is not prepared to meet those needs, it’s going to have a very hard time of making meaningful connections that allow them to truly tap into the power of social media.
Four Simple Ways To Not Suck at Twitter
I don’t mean to get all preachy with what I’m about to say because I do truly believe there are different ways to use Twitter. I also don’t buy into the “you’re doing it wrong” argument because unless you’re breaking Twitter’s terms of service, you’re not really technically doing anything wrong.
That being said, I do think there are a few points of etiquette that everyone should follow, even if they’re not violations of Twitter’s ToS.
1. No Auto DMs
Auto DMs are the work of the devil. Auto DMs are Twitter equivalent of the “first” post in a comments section. If I decide to follow you, I don’t need an automatically generated direct message sent back to me thanking me for the follow and giving me more ways to get in touch with you. This is why Twitter created the “bio” section – tell me about yourself there and show me who you are with the content you post in your timeline. Auto DMs should be a violation of Twitter as it’s spam in my eyes, and if I receive an auto DM from you, you get instantly unfollowed.
2. Don’t Retweet Every Response
The beauty of the “@ reply” is that I don’t have to read it if I’m not following the other person you’re talking to. This was done to prevent people from being exposed to useless conversations that won’t provide any value to them. I can’t tell you how many times I will see something along these lines:
Offender: The red one RT @OffendersFriend What dress are you wearing tonight?
Nobody outside of @Offender and @OffendersFriend cares about this discussion, so please, do us all a favor and get your finger away from the retweet button and move it over to the @ reply. There are instances where it’s perfectly acceptable to do a conversational retweet, but more often that not, it’s from someone with an enormous amount of followers and is asked the same question multiple times (AKA, not you). I hardly think the color of your dress is going to end up in a FAQ somewhere.
3. Don’t Follow for Follow
It’s comical the amount of people that do this. Every day I get about 10 or 20 new followers, and three days later they almost all unfollow me because I didn’t reciprocate the follow (aka “Follow Back”). The topic of “quality vs. quantity” in regards to Twitter followers has been beaten to death, but let’s face it…people like numbers and want to feel like they are better than others with enormous Twitter followers, even if they don’t care at all about you and what you say. Twitter followers are not Garbage Pail Kids cards – you don’t need to collect them all. If you are following me, please do so because you want to read what I say, not add me to your collection. Oh, and if you want me to follow you back, you should probably read this first.
4. Don’t Celebrate Follower Milestones
Big deal – you’re reaching you’re 1,000th follower. Nobody gives a crap except for you, so please don’t make any thinly veiled attempts of showing appreciation when we all know you’re tweet of “Only 6 more followers to 1,000 – I love you all” is just a ploy to get you more followers for your collection.
Did I miss any? If so, you know what to do. (hint: look below…see that comment box?)
Klout Sucks and Why You Should Use It
The Twitter influence measurement service Klout was a huge topic of debate at this year’s SXSW conference. Its founder Joe Fernandez was on various panels touting how wonderful it is that the startup has found a way to automate the influence measurement process – something many feel is the “holy grail” of social media marketing. Mr. Fernandez also discussed “Klout Perks” – a service that allows brands to target influencers by sending them tangible items in hopes they will talk about them throughout their social circles leading to increased sales. Unfortunately, Klout is nothing but snake oil when it comes to determining influence. That said, it’s an immensiely valuable service that should be incorporated into your reporting mix. Confused? Let me explain.
No matter what Joe Fernandez says, there is currently no tool that can accurately automate the process of identifying influencers on specific topics throughout Twitter. The only way to do this is to immerse yourself into the conversational context data manually. In fact, my own Klout profile says I’m most influential on the topics of “Social Media,” “Marketing,” “New York Yankees,” “Media,” “Family,” and “Public Relations.” Now I can see where some of those terms may come in to play as I do social media and digital marketing for a living, but I rarely ever tweet about topics related to my family or families in general. Perhaps a better example is a friend of mine that ranks as an influencer in “football” when in fact she probably can’t even name more than five teams in the NFL!
Now Klout claims they get their content analysis data on influencers from semantically analyzing tweets for engagement and reach to see which topics one is most influential in, but clearly this is a flawed method. I’m not saying it’s 100% inaccurate, but there is bad data coming back here. In fact, I recently spoke to a Klout employee on how I was personally targeted for two of their perks, one for Disney’s “Tangled” film and the other for an NBA promotion; these are two topics that I really couldn’t care less about, yet somehow I received invitations for their swag. When I mentioned this to the employee, I was told “sometimes people slip through the cracks” as if that’s an acceptable answer. If I was a brand paying good money to target influencers and there were people slipping through the cracks, I’d be very upset, especially with the value of some of these perks brands are sending out.
I also asked Joe Fernandez how Klout measures ROI on their perk program after he made the statement that some brands were so thrilled with the results that they came back for another go and was given no clear answer. It appears, from my take on his reply, that brands are using this money as “experimental marketing” and waiting to see if there’s any long tail effect. With no required action by those who receive perks, it’s impossible to measure any sort of ROI. (Klout users that receive perks are not required to say or do anything. The hope is that they will enjoy the perk so much they talk about it on their own.)
All this being said, I find there is value to be had in using the Klout score in social media monitoring as it aids in identifying those Twitter users that “get it” versus those that are speaking to a disengaged audience. While I firmly believe that brands should listen to and treat all customers throughout social media as if they have 100 Klout, I’m a realist and know that sometimes that’s impossible, especially if you’re a brand with thousands of mentions per day. When it comes down to reputation management and someone with a Klout of 50 is talking about how much they hate your brand, you’re going to want to put them on a higher priority list than someone with a Klout of 8. This score gives marketers some data to go back to CMOs with that satiates their need for numbers and data clustering.
I don’t want to come off like a Klout hater – I’d love to see the service thrive, but only if it’s doing it right. I had many conversations around this topic this week and can say that there are many out there that loathe Klout and everything it stands for. I just want any tool out there that can help me make my job easier. I don’t think we’re anywhere close to finding a way to automate the influencer identification process as there are too many variables that go into what makes one influential, but of everything out there, Klout at least seems to be heading down the right path, even if that path is thousands of miles long.
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