#TNTBootcamp - Series Kickoff Review

Last week +Ronnie Bincer and I launched a new series Influence Marketing Tools N' Techniques aka #TNTBootcamp, which airs on the 1st & 3rd Mondays each month at 11:30am PST / 2:30pm EST in a live hangout on air on Google Plus. #TNTBootcamp will help you learn to identify and engage with key influencers in your industry and to understand how to "get on the radar" and become influential yourself. Here's a recap of our first show.

Audience member, +Robyn Adams, shares her thoughts on the show:

Measuring Influence: Don't take common sense out of the equation

I believe we are on the verge of a very interesting phenomenon where we will begin to see savvy Internet marketers using tactics that allow them to quickly surpass established social influencers and thought leaders in terms of both follower count and engagement levels. This is happening during a time when both influencers and brands still see follower counts and engagement levels as a primary measure of influence (see chart below).

Measuring Influence: Follower Count Still Matters

Like it or not, Facebook likes and Twitter follower count have been and continue to be a measure of influence, even among influencers. TechnoratiMedia's 2013 Digital Influence Report found that when it comes to how influencers measure success, both for themselves and their peers, the number of Facebook likes and Twitter followers are ranked highly as a social metric, second only to blog traffic; the top metrics brands used to identify and select influencers were comScore/Nielson, closely followed by the number of Twitter followers and Facebook friends.

With this information in hand, is it any wonder that increasing follower count by any means necessary and targeting high engagement rates by posting content that appeals to the masses, such as cat memes, inspirational quotes and landscape photos, seems to be the main goal for so many marketers and brands? 

And... is there anything wrong with that?

The Core Influence Principles Make It Easy for People to Say YES!

Do you want to know how to dramatically increase the chances of having someone say 'yes' to your requests? If so, read this post from top to bottom as you are about to learn how you can use six core influence principles to make it easy for people to say 'YES!'

How Influence Works

We all like to think that people make decisions based purely on logic ... but nothing could be further from the truth! The reality is that we have so many decisions to make every day that this process is built into our DNA. In other words, there are principles within us that rule our decision making processes.

People who are skilled at influencing others, sometimes referred to as "professionals of compliance" - sales people, marketers, advertisers, recruiters, etc. - have long discovered these principles - the principles that make us more susceptible to saying 'yes' - and understanding the decision making process is vital in order to succeed in ANY business.

You are about to discover six core principles of influence that you can apply in your marketing efforts to help persuade others to say 'yes' to your requests.

After you've watched the video below, we'll go into more depth on how you can use these principles in your blog, social media profiles and overall marketing approach.

My First Triberr Campaign: #CatalystCTRStudy

I have been selected to participate in an SEO Peer Review of a recent study about Google click-through rates prepared by Catalyst. I will be participating as a member of a Triberr team and this will be my first influence marketing campaign through Triberr. My blog post for this campaign is due next week; check back to learn whether I agree or disagree and why.

Leagues of Influence: Is this the new Klout?

Webfluential is hoping to become a leader at connecting advertisers with "influencers" by helping brands identify influential users that are best matched for the requirements of a particular campaign. Once selected and invited to participate in a campaign, influencers have the opportunity to earn money by blogging, tweeting and promoting the brand on their blogs and social media profiles.

The algorithms used by Webfluential are able to distinguish real followers from fake ones, factoring in web statistics and other metrics to identify each influencer's true influence per network; this is then compared to the results of others on the platform in order to classify users into dynamic "leagues of influence" which advertisers can then select from based on their budgets and campaign goals. Influencers are measured by the reach, resonance and relevance that each has on the networks and then placed in leagues with similar influencers and ranked accordingly.

Reach measures the size of an influencer's audience (following) per social media network and is relative to the most influential person listed on Webfluential for that particular network.

Resonance is a measure of how widely the content that an influencer shares reaches outside of their own community; again, this is relative to others on the platform.

Relevance is a measure of the response from the influencer's community in the form of likes, comments, retweets, etc. and is used to calculate a score for each network.

Influencers can create multiple profiles in their account; each profile consists of a blog and several social profiles (currently YouTube, Twitter and Instagram) and data is gathered for each (see below) which is then run through the algorithm to place them into leagues.

As an influencer's score approaches 100, it implies that they are nearing the top of their league. Higher leagues contain fewer but more influential people; influencers move into higher leagues by increasing their reach, resonance and relevance of their networks.

Influencers must meet Webfluential's minimum requirements to join, which includes a minimum of 1,000 legitimate Twitter followers. Webfluential offers suggested prices per blog post, tweet, photo upload, etc. based on what others with similar influence are charging; however, the ultimate price is set by the influencer.

Invite a #socialmedia #influencer to join @webfluenti_al: https://t.co/cWl7v4W4DP
— Christine DeGraff (@ChrisDeGraff) November 5, 2013

Advertisers and PR agencies are provided with access to listings of social influencers and can search by location, audience, platform, and topics to find influencers for their campaign.

Webfluential anticipates job offers going live on November 16th and opportunities for influencers in the US will be launched in the coming months. Visit http://webfluenti.al to learn more about Webfluential.

Data Gathered by Webfluential

Statistics for blogs include the number of visits, new visits, page views and time on site each month as well as averages for the prior month and a graph to track average visits, page views and time spent on the blog during the previous 6 months.

Twitter statistics show the number of followers/following, the number of tweets and account age, the number of people who retweeted and favorited and the rates for each. For example, "1 tweet gets retweeted for every 3.387 tweets posted." Month to month statistics are also tracked.

Instagram statistics include the number of followers, and an aggregate of the number of photos posted, likes and comments each month.

YouTube statistics include the number of videos uploaded, the number of subscribers, total views, total likes/dislikes, comments and favorites for the channel as well as the number of views, likes/dislikes, favorites and comments per video.

30 Day Brand Ambassador Campaign Results

I just completed a 30 day brand ambassador campaign for +SEND A TEDDY  (www.SendATeddy.net) with a specific goal of increasing engagement on Google Plus. 

Acting as a spokesperson for +SEND A TEDDY, I helped establish new relationships and strengthen existing relationships within Google Plus by introducing their product to my 30,000 followers as well as including their "Tatty Teddy" on several live hangout on air; by proactively engaging +SEND A TEDDY's community by sending them "Teddy Bear Bombs" and encouraging participation on a series of posts over the past month; by starting a "Teddy Bear & Friends" community as a way to interact with fans; by launching a thank you circle of Teddy Bear Friends which was reshared 118 times; and by using a "tagging game" in a post to promote their monthly contest.   

The results of the 30 day campaign (see graphs below) were as follows:

• 75% increase in followers
• 104% increase in page plusses
• Comments increased from an average of 0 to 41 comments per post
• Reshares increased from an average of 1 to 11 per post
• +1's increased from an average of 5 to 35 per post

+Madeleine Nicholls, owner of +SEND A TEDDY, is very pleased with the results saying it is an "awesome improvement." 

The monthly #SendATeddy contest offers visitors a chance to #WinATeddy for a friend and encourages the entrant to write a note as to why their friend should receive a free teddy. Madeleine noted that the contest entries she received so far this month as opposed to prior months are "different this time" and that she "gets goosebumps every time I read one" as the notes are much longer than usual and filled with "so much love." To enter this month's contest, visit http://www.sendateddy.net/contest.php.  

(averages over 4 week period)

The New MySpace :: How to Become a "Top Fan"

Become a Top Fan in Five Minutes or Less

I never used the "Old" MySpace, so I can't really compare, but I think the New MySpace is pretty cool. I have always been a music fan and I like the look and feel of it - and I am definitely into social media, so the ability to connect with people that like the same music as me is fun.

In a nutshell, people that are connected to you can see what artists, albums, photos, songs, etc. that you are connected to and can then connect as well. The New MySpace also has a "Top Fans" feature. Still in Beta, Top Fans are "people who have interacted the most with an artist and their content."

Being a "Top Fan" will eventually (supposedly) give you access to exclusive content from the artist (tickets? autographs?)... so imagine my excitement when I realized I was one of the Top 10 fans for Metallica - possibly my all time favorite band! I bet I started listening to their songs twice as much - and then I was #2.

As silly as it may seem for a 44 year old, I was very excited and proud of my "accomplishment"... 

Become a Top Fan of Your Favorite Artist (or any artist) on the New MySpace... in 3 steps and in less than 5 minutes

I checked my rank on some of my other favorites... and discovered that I was in the top of quite a few. I do tend to be a little OCD and listen to the same bands a lot, so I guess that isn't TOO surprising... but it did make me curious about just how easy it might be to become a top fan of other artists. To get to the point, I figured out (I believe I am the first, or at least the first to write about it) that actually playing or listening to the music has very little or nothing to do with how a "Top Fan" is calculated on the New MySpace.

I am writing this in order to tell others how they can get to the top of the Top Fans list for their favorite artist in the hopes that once the "secret" is out, it will get corrected so we can truly see an artists' Top Fans, rather than who is good at the social media game. Think about it - as soon as there are rewards involved, it will just become another social media numbers game of who can connect the fastest.