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.

Dear Google: A Petition To Improve Circle Sharing

Circle sharing is getting has a bad rep - and it is only going to get worse; but it doesn't have to be this way. I would never bring a problem to your attention without offering a solution; so here is the problem as I see it, as well as a proposed solution.

Adding shared circles are one of the ways users find people to follow on Google Plus; therefore, it stands to reason that many of those who wish to gain a following would want to be included in shared circles in the hopes of increasing their following when the circles are added. As someone who has had success sharing circles, I know that getting a circle shared outside my community by as many people as possible is the key to reaching new people who are currently not following me.

Those who have 'mastered' circle sharing are generally the ones who strongly encourage or even require sharing in order to stay in - or get in - the next circle. This can promote a circle sharing frenzy by those included, as well as attract spammers attempting to get into subsequent shares. The frenzy surrounding these circles, and the fear of being spammed, causes many seasoned Google Plussers to be leery of sharing or adding circles at all. On the other hand, the frenzy entices those who are new to circle sharing - the newbies who have no clue what they are doing and often add and share every circle they are included in before finding themselves with streams filled with junk, notifications that are out of control, and circles that are a mess.

It takes time to vet a circle so it is easy to see why shortcuts are taken in order to get the next share published; many of the larger shared circles are not properly vetted and are often filled with people that even the circle creator does not know. Some of these people might not wish to be included in public circle shares, especially the ones filled with spammers, but there isn't a way to "optout" short of blocking those that include you - after you have already been included.

Even worse than taking shortcuts, some circle "creators" have built a following routinely adding circles (many will follow them back), sharing these circles as new circles with themselves included (so others will add them) and then immediately deleting the circles (so they aren't following anyone back and can continue the process without hitting their 5K limit). This is in essence flooding Google Plus with their circles, circles of people that they never "really" circled in the first place, circles of people that didn't have them circled, and that they likely never interacted with at all.

So what is the solution?

The solution is very simple. Rather than allowing a circle creator to share a circle of people they are following, only allow them to share circles of people that they are following who are also following them back. I have followed this practice of only including those who are following me rather consistently and believe this is one of the reasons I have been looked to as someone with "decent" circle shares. Don't get me wrong, there are still many who frown upon my circles, because as I said, circle sharing has a bad rep on Google Plus.

While this solution will not eliminate the circle sharing frenzy, it would certainly give people more control over who is allowed to include them in a circle share. Furthermore, limiting the pool that the circle creator has available to only those that are following them back would go a long way toward preventing spammers from creating their own circle shares; after all, if no one was following them, they wouldn't have anyone to share.

Sincerely,
+Christine DeGraff

Do you agree with this solution? 
If so, please sign the 'petition' below by saying "I agree" in the comments below or offer a better solution if you have one. If you do not think there is a problem, you are welcome to state your case.

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)