#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.

Google Helpouts Launch Seems Imminent

Update 10.29.2013 - Google Helpouts Launch Date Leaked
According to +Android Police sources launch date is set for Tuesday, November 5th
http://androidpolice.com/2013/10/29/google-helpouts-will-reportedly-launch-tuesday-november-5th/

Tomorrow's Live Hangout on Air "A Morning with Google+" during which time "the Google+ team will be sharing a few updates" seems like the perfect venue for the unveiling of Helpouts by Google. After only 5 hours, the event already has close to 8,000 "yes" responses and Google Plus communities are buzzing with rumors and speculation about what will be revealed during the broadcast.

Helpouts is a new way to connect people who need help with people who can give help, over live video, anytime, anywhere. I received an invitation code in early October and completed my listings and interview with Google just last week. My listings are still in a "Pending review" status (see screenshot below) but I have been told by several people, who were also pending just days ago, that their listings are now approved.

Although Helpouts is not yet open to the public, launch is obviously imminent. I had my first "Helpout" this past Friday, an interview with a representative from Google to review my listings, and he said "very very soon" when I inquired when the site would launch. Helpouts are really a lot like Hangouts and I expect that if you are familiar with Hangouts, you will have no problem getting used to Helpouts.  

In one of the Google communities I belong to, one of the members who has already been approved for Helpouts posted a few screenshots of the new Helpouts. He said that there were about 400 of so listings already approved and that the Helpouts homepage was automatically scrolling through the various categories and showed the top listing in each. He also reported that next to each listing is a share button that allows people to share the listing via G+, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as well as the ability to link and embed listings. I just checked my listings and I now have the "Promote" button as well (see screenshot above).

Categories for the rollout include: Art & Music, Computers & Electronics, Cooking, Education, Fashion & Beauty, Fitness & Nutrition, Health & Counseling, Home & Garden and Other. 

If you are interested in making money online by sharing your skills and knowledge via Helpouts, apply for your invitation code at https://helpouts.google.com/welcome. You might also want to follow +Helpouts on Google+ to learn more.

Have you been approved as a Helpout provider on Google Plus? If so, feel free to add your name to the list below which will be updated once Helpouts has officially launched. 

Helpouts on Google Plus

View more lists from Christine DeGraff

Mastering Circles: The Key to Success on Google+

Updated: August 9th, 2014

Understanding Google+ circles and how to use them to begin building an active, engaged audience continues to be the holy grail that new users, especially businesses, are trying to achieve. Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about circles as well as additional resources with more information to help you learn to master Google Plus circles.

1) What are Google+ circles?
Circles are the way you group the people you follow on Google+. The default circles for profiles are "Friends, Family, Acquaintances and Following," and the default circles for pages are "Following, Customers, VIPs and Team members," but you can delete them or rename them if you prefer, and you can add additional circles and name them as you see fit. There is no right or wrong way to set up your circles, so the best way is the way that works best for you.

Example of how I have one of my pages circles set up.

Hint: Determining your main goals for your Google+ profile or page(s) is a good strategy to help you organize your circles. Ex: Create prospects, leads and customers circles for your business page.

2) What happens when you "circle" someone?
Similar to following people on Twitter, you follow people on G+ by adding them to your circles. When you add someone to your circles, you will see the content they choose to share with you. If someone adds you to their circles, they will see the content you choose to share with them. The diagrams below depict an overly simplified version of what content is seen when you follow someone that does not follow you back; when someone follows you when you don't follow back; and when you follow someone that is also following you.

"Amber" follows "Bob" but Bob doesn't follow Amber.

The posts that Bob chooses to share publicly will appear in Amber's stream.*

Bob will not see Amber's public posts unless he visits her profile page.**

Bob follows Amber but Amber doesn't follow Bob.

The posts that Amber chooses to share publicly will appear in Bob's home stream.*

Amber will not see Bob's public posts unless she visits his profile page.**

Amber and Bob both follow each other.

Amber's public posts will appear in Bob's home stream.*

Bob's public posts will appear in Amber's home stream.*

*Note that settings can be adjusted per circle to turn off posts to home stream. In that case, the way to see them is to view the circle.

**Note that if someone shares to extended circles or if someone in your circle has recommended a post by giving it a +1, you may see someone's post in your streams even if you do not have them circled.

A lot of people who are new to G+ tend to think that they need to "follow back" everyone that circles them; however, since the limit on the number of people you can circle is 5,000, you may as well forget that strategy as it can only work until you reach that limit. The best advice I can give you is to circle people that you want to follow and don't play the follow/unfollow game or you will likely end up with lots of followers, but little engagement.

3) How do I find people to circle?
There are several ways to find people to circle on Google+. You can follow people that are on the SUL (suggested users list); you can add shared public circles; you can perform searches and find people based on the results; you can click hashtags to see others who have used them; you can join communities to meet people with similar interests; you can find people through post comments; you can find people who attend events/hangouts on air, etc. You can also use +NOD3x (www.NOD3x.com) to find popular posts in your niche. There is no wrong way to find people to circle; however, if you are business, you will likely want to try to target those that are most likely to be interested in your product or service.

4) How do people find me on Google+?
While it is not hard to find people to circle, getting found by others is a little more difficult! First of all, you are likely not going to be on the SUL at first (in fact, the majority of users will never be on the SUL) so that takes away that option. You are probably not going to be included in very many shared public circles at first... another option gone. That means you are basically relying on getting found by people searching (and showing up high in the results) and getting added by people you engage with in communities and on posts - and that can take time - a LONG time!

There is another option to grow your following and that is to proactively add people to your circles that are likely to add you back. You can do this by adding people one at a time on a case-by-case basis; by adding shared public circles on a regular basis; or by adding people in bulk using +Circloscope. Remember that whenever you add people to your circles, you will want to take the time to "vet" your circles to decide who to move into more permanent circles and who to remove. Vetting a circle basically means viewing the stream to look for people you might be interested in getting to know (read their about us, look over their posts, etc.) and then moving them to one of your "keep" circles and eventually deleting the rest. The key is that not only does this help you find people, it will allow people to "discover" you because (see #2) - many people will follow you back.

You will also help people find you by engaging on other people's posts, being active in communities, displaying your Google+ badge or link on your blog, website, etc. AND of course by posting good quality content. That all goes without saying; however, it is not the focus of this post.

5) Isn't what you just described, adding circles, keeping a few and then deleting the rest the same thing as the follow/unfollow game - like on Twitter?
No, I don't think it is. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to decide who to follow without viewing someone's stream, which may or may not be shown to the public (and there aren't any "circle viewers" at the current moment - hint hint +CircleCount - we need to talk) so the only way to really decide whose content interests you when you add a shared circle is to view the stream. I recommend giving it a few days or even a week before you delete the circle to give people a chance - just because someone posts a #caturday post once a week (or #goaturday - shout out to +Michael Chase) doesn't mean that they don't share anything that might interest you the rest of the week.

6) What can I do to make myself more likely to get followed?
Here are just a few suggestions to make yourself more likely to get circled by others on Google+.

• Upload a profile photo - people do not like to circle "blueheads." I will not even consider following someone who does not have a profile photo and would never put them in a shared circle... with one exception... 
• Complete and optimize your "about" section; using keywords can help you get found in searches and many people do read your bio before adding you to their circles. Hovering over someone's name will bring up their "hovercard" and although there is very limited information available, it is important that you have a cover photo and have set your location. In fact, +Stephan Hovnanian has an awesome post showing 19 (and counting) places that display your hovercard across Google - go ahead, hover over him and then circle him!
• Create a free profile (or update yours if it is already indexed) on www.circlecount.com and add some tags (keywords) as well. +CircleCount is free and provides stats to help you better understand Google+. This is also where you can see whether or not you have been included in any shared circles.

7) What are "shared" circles?
A shared circle is simply a circle that is shared. If you share the circle publicly to your stream, anyone who comes across it can add it. Anyone can share a circle on Google+; however, if no one adds these circles, they won't do the people included much good - and the way to reach more people to add the circles is by encouraging those included to share it.

In my opinion, there are "levels" of shared circles and I think it is important to understand the difference:

1. The first is a small, curated ("cherry picked") circle share - a very desirable circle to be included in; although it may not get many shares, it will likely be added by many of the person's followers and can bring those included some very targeted connections. Being included in a circle like this is basically being recommended as someone to follow. These circles can usually be added without much "vetting" as they have already been selected and are people known to the person sharing.
2. The second is a niche circle that is likely larger and less carefully curated that could be shared by anyone, but would likely be shared by someone in the niche. Doing a search for "real estate circle" or "lawyers circle" for example might bring up a few of these types of circles. When you add these circles, you would expect that many of the posts in the stream will be ones that someone in the niche would be interested in reading.
3. The third is an interest based circle - such as a photography circle. These circles are usually larger and get more shares. You would generally want to "vet" these by adding them to a "sort" circle and looking through the stream.
4. The fourth is what +Dustin W. Stout has coined a "chain letter" circle. Basically, it is a circle that strongly encourages sharing or even requires it. While these circles usually get the most shares and lots of adds, they are frowned upon (hated) by many here on Google+. They are usually "all types of people" rather than niche or interest based. One thing I would like to point out is that one of the reasons that circle curators use the "you must share" requirement is because many who build these circles use +Circloscope to help build them and the only way someone will be detected if building a circle of sharers is if they have shared the circle. 

The bottom line is that whether the person creating a large shared circle tried to create a "good" circle or not, these circles really contain all kinds of people and need to be vetted. If you add these by creating new circles and naming them with the name of the person who created the circle, you will soon figure out which ones made the effort and which ones did not. I have added dozens of these circles by people that I consider "good" circle creators - the only ones that you will see me share - and I have met tons of great people and get incredible engagement.

You can also use +Circloscope to combine shared circles and filter them to remove those that are inactive (haven't posted in awhile), that do not have profile photos, that are already following you, etc. Watch the video below to learn more.

8) You have over 80,000 people in your circles - how do you manage that many followers?
Actually, I have less than 5,000 IN my circle, just like everyone else; 80,000 people have me in their circles. There is a big difference though between having 500 people in your circles and 5000, so be sure to understand how to control your notifications and "adjust the volume" before adding too many or you will be in notification hell. I am still tweaking mine. As far as managing circles, such as un-following people that I have not engaged with or that become inactive, I use +Circloscope.

If you are new to Google+, come visit me and say hi at http://gplus.to/chrisdegraff. Don't be afraid to leave comments on my posts - and let me know that you are "new" to Google Plus so I can help point you in the right direction!

To truly master the art and science of circles on Google+, I highly recommend that you circle +martin shervington and watch his video tutorials. You can learn more on his website www.martinshervington.com.

Disclaimer: I am now one of the co-founders at +Circloscope. 

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.

The 3 Keys of Online Marketing :: Acquisition

Acquisition, Conversion, Retention

In my previous post in this series "The 3 Keys of Online Marketing," I talked about the importance of correcting any conversion problems you might be having before wasting time trying to acquire new or more traffic. Assuming you have done so and are ready to continue, let's talk about "acquisition."

Acquisition: Driving or acquiring traffic to your website.

Traffic to your website is basically going to come from 3 major sources:

Search—Google, Bing, Yahoo, MSN and others provide an excellent source of traffic for many websites. This type of traffic will be either be free ("Organic") or paid ("PPC"). Getting highly ranked in the organic search engine results pages ("SERP") depends upon whether or not your "score well" in the search engines' algorithms, which attempt to determine whether or not your content is relevant to the user's search query.

Referring Sites—When someone visits your site by clicking a link or banner ad from another site or by clicking a link in an email*, this is known as a "referring site." Building links from quality referring sites can also improve SERP as many search engines use this as one of the ways to measure the importance of your site ("PageRank").

*Direct—These are the visitors who are demonstrating brand awareness by typing your website address into their browser... but direct traffic can also be any traffic that is not recognized as coming from search or from a referring site.

The 3 Keys of Online Marketing :: Conversion

Acquisition, Conversion, Retention

This post is the first in my series "The 3 Keys of Online Marketing" and will begin by covering the topic "conversion"—getting your visitors to take a desired action. 

I have found that many businesses tend to focus first on getting traffic to their website only to later discover that they have problems with conversion. In my opinion, there is no point in discussing ways to acquire more traffic to your web, blog or social media sites until you have corrected your conversion problems and optimized the conversion process.

Extend the Shelf Life of Your Content

Avoid "dating" your marketing materials 

A few years ago, I joined the fall festival committee in my town and was charged with developing a website and handling online marketing for the event. The fall festival is an annual event and highly anticipated by the townies and tourists alike and I was honored to have been given the opportunity. 

I didn't notice at first, but after a year or two, I realized that the committee needed to order new banners each year in order to change the date. After the first year, I stopped using the date on the website and Facebook page in favor of the "Last Saturday in September" (since that does not change and as a coder, I am rather lazy when it comes to things like that) and suggested that they use that as well. This saves both time and money as our banners and other materials do not need to be repurchased each year and our website and Facebook covers are always up-to-date.

Another local group needed lawn signs to promote their regularly occurring breakfast fundraiser. Since they always plan it for a Sunday, but not on the same month or date necessarily, I advised them to purchase a sign that reads "Breakfast This Sunday" to put up at the beginning of the week and "Breakfast Today" to put up on the day of the event. This has allowed them to use the same signs for the past 4 years.

One of my clients uses videos to promote their annual summer "sport vacations". I watched the video and the voice at the end said "2012 teams are forming now." They are still using the video to advertise this summer, but for future reference, just saying "teams are forming now" or "summer teams are forming now" would have been just as good and kept the video fresh.

While websites generally can be changed quickly and at a relatively low or no cost, printed materials, videos and other marketing materials generally have to be ordered, reprinted, re-shot or repurchased and can be quite expensive. With a little creative thinking and planning ahead, you can save money and time by maximizing the "shelf life" of your marketing materials.