What makes up social influence and how can you identify your industry’s influencers?
Building social influence can be extremely valuable. When people see you as a thought leader, your brand, personal and Social Equity all spike. But sometimes, leveraging other industry influencers can be just as powerful. But how can we identify social influence for a particular industry?
Though every definition of social influence might be unique – after all, influence is a pretty subjective concept – there are some criteria that, on social, are clear signs of an influencer. When determining the social influencers in your industry, keep a few of these aspects in mind.
1. Following
Virtually any marketer would tell you that it’s all about quality over quantity when it comes to an audience, and that, for the most part, is true. That said, quantity is important, too.
Your industry’s influencers will surely have a strong following. You don’t become an influencer when only a handful of people are interested in what you have to say. But keep in mind that black hat techniques are not all that penalized in the world of social (yet) as they are in search. So verify the quality of an apparent influencer’s large following by ensuring that audience members include other industry peers, and that engagement is consistent.
Speaking of which…
2. Engagement
People should be regularly sharing and talking about the content that an influencer posts. Keep in mind that engagement does not have to be measured in the tens of thousands of shares, tweets and comments. So long as engagement is consistent and relatively strong, you might just have an influencer on your hands.
Again, however, it is important to ensure that the quality of the engagement is positive as well. Note the audience members engaging with the content. Are they relevant to the conversation or industry? Are they employees of this ‘influencer’? If so, you might not be dealing with an individual as influential as they might want to be.
3. Message Consistency
True influence generally means thought leadership. Thought leadership often means that you start conversations that no one else has had and stick to your guns.
The message and rhetoric of an influencer should be consistent and sound. Going back and forth on a point is not a sign of a great thought leader. Sometimes an influencer might face criticism, and have to defend their point of view. That’s all well and good so long as they stick by the message that created the social influence they have.
4. Respect of Best Practices
True influence means understanding the platforms on which one is most active. This translates into a mutual respect for an audience and the adherence to a network or platform’s best practices.
If an ‘influencer’ on Facebook has a poorly designed page and shares nothing but spammy links, but happens to have generated a following, you might want to consider looking for thought leaders elsewhere. Best practices are in place because the industry has spoken and the majority has expressed their wants. True influencers understand that and abide by those guidelines.
5. Up-to-Date
When a major change, breakthrough, deal or update is announced in your industry, your influencers should be among the first to comment, discuss or simply bring up the news.
Having influence means keeping your ear to the ground and being first-to-market on social platforms when there is something important to discuss. This does not mean that an influencer should be breaking the news, but they should be aware of it and, depending on the industry, have an opinion or an analysis of what that means for the industry as a whole.
6. Practitioner of Own Advice
If you are reading an email marketing influencer’s blog and they tell you to keep your subject lines clear and concise, then proceed to send you emails with spammy, cryptic subject lines, you are likely not dealing with a thought leader.
Building influence means that you have done the leg work and found what works in your industry. Therefore, an influencer should be practicing what he or she preaches.
What criteria helps you determine social influence in your industry? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
4 Growth Opportunities You Might Have Overlooked
/by Corey PadveenGrowth opportunities exist all around us on social networks, and there is a good chance we have overlooked one or two.
We are always looking for growth opportunities on social media. After all, why does our business have a presence on these networks if not to expand? The social web is filled with these growth opportunities, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise to hear that we might have overlooked one or two.
These four growth opportunities are surefire ways to get your brand noticed in new communities and by potential customers across the social web.
Google+ Communities
Before the detractors attack Google+, keep in mind that it is a Google-owned product. That alone makes it important. What’s more important is that this year, according to SearchMetrics, Google+ +1s are the most important ranking factor for your content on Google (shown in the chart below).
Communities on Google+ are groups of individuals with similar interests. When you share content from your brand’s profile to these Communities and it generates shares, +1s and comments, that’s a powerful ranking factor for Google. It becomes even more important if you have influential users engaging with your content. All that to say is do not overlook the power of Google+ – and Communities in particular – when it comes to increasing your brand’s presence on search engines.
Quora
Sometimes all people want is an expert opinion without having to pay an expert for their opinion. Enter Quora.
If you are not familiar with Quora, it is a network where people ask questions and have them answered by others with the answers. Simple, and a great opportunity to showcase your expertise in a given field.
Create alerts for yourself to be notified of new questions that come up in your given field and make it a point to show people just how much you know by answering questions. It is important that these answers are detailed, on point and not self-promotional. You are there to be an expert, not to sell your services. That comes naturally when people see how qualified you are.
LinkedIn Groups
First of all, if you have not joined as many groups as you possibly can, do it now. There is no reason not to be engaging with your industry peers wherever possible. Moreover, this is a great way to increase your relationships on LinkedIn.
In these groups, you might have noticed an influencer rating on the right-hand side. Engaging and, more importantly, starting conversations in these groups (not just sharing your content, but maybe asking a question every once in a while) is a great way to build your influence. People take note of a top influencer in their groups and, a generally common reaction is to view their profile, maybe research their company, etc.
Groups aren’t all about finding interesting articles; they are a great way to generate new interest in your business and your expertise.
Bookmarking
Effectively bookmarking your blog posts, articles and guest blogs with proper tags is a great way to generate exposure. Take something like StumbleUpon, for example. You have people regularly clicking through content to find something that they might like, based on their preferences. By properly assigning your content to a category, you are more than likely to have someone interested in what you have to say landing on it.
Bookmarking is an excellent way to generate new exposure. Sites like Digg allow your network to see what you have archived and share it with their extended networks as well. Don’t overlook the value of simply clicking the icon and bookmarking your content (and ensuring that it is enabled on all of your pages, of course).
Are there any other subtle growth opportunities that have worked for you? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
Demographics of the Top Pinterest Influencers [INFOGRAPHIC]
/by Corey PadveenWhat are the key demographics of the top Pinterest influencers?
Influence is a powerful phenomenon in any industry, and that is particularly true on social media. The folks at HelloSociety have done some research to determine exactly what the demographic composition is of the top 100 Pinterest influencers.
Not surprisingly, they concluded that the majority of these tastemakers are women in major American markets with a higher education (much like the largest demographic of active Pinterest users). What is interesting, however, is that these Pinterest influencers are regularly active on the network, sharing several pieces of content per day and generating a ton of engagement.
Have a look and see if there are any surprises that catch your eye! Tell us about them in the comments below or on Twitter!
8 Important Facebook Mobile Stats and What They Mean for Your Business
/by Corey PadveenThe importance of Facebook mobile for business has grown considerably with the increasing popularity of the app.
One of the most fascinating realities of the digital marketing world is the rate at which it evolves. It wasn’t long ago that Facebook and MySpace were the only two ‘networks’ out there as we understand the term today. The idea of connecting on mobile devices was an afterthought at best. Today, Facebook mobile is becoming exceedingly important to business, and the proof is in the numbers. Below are a few of the most impressive (and shocking) statistics when it comes to Facebook mobile with some explanation as to how these numbers relate to your business.
1. There are 945 million monthly active users (MAU) on the Facebook mobile app.
That means that nearly every Facebook user is taking advantage of the network on-the-go. In today’s mobile business landscape, your brand cannot afford to be stagnant. You need to travel with your Facebook audience and appeal to them with mobile friendly content (i.e. responsive and short).
2. There are 8,400 Facebook advertisers on mobile.
This is a huge opportunity! There are over 25 million businesses with registered pages on Facebook and on the website, there are only a million advertisers. That’s roughly 4%. If you think that is a big opportunity, consider how few advertisers there are competing for attention on mobile!
3. There was an 89% increase in the usage of Facebook Messenger among teens (16-19) in 2013.
To anyone that tells you Facebook is losing its teen demographic, refer them to this statistic. The popularity of Facebook among teens still exists, it is just evolving as the nature of teen engagement does: moving to mobile.
4. 927 million hours are spent every month on Facebook apps and games by Facebook mobile users.
Are you a game or app developer, or are you considering gamification for your brand? Then you should probably consider spending some time focusing solely on Facebook mobile apps. Why? Because people are spending over an hour per month, on average, playing games on Facebook mobile. In an age where it is hard to keep someone’s attention for more than eight seconds that’s quite an achievement.
5. There are 556 million daily active users (DAU) on Facebook mobile.
Consider this: if you have a mobile ready blog that you share across your social networks every day, there are 556 million people that can be targeted through social ads on Facebook mobile to read your article.
6. Your content is twice as likely to be shared or clicked on a mobile device than it is on a desktop.
The world is full of distractions and perhaps the greatest distraction of all is in the palm of your hand. Think about your daily activity on your mobile device; you are probably liking pictures on Instagram, liking status updates and re-tweeting great content on Twitter. Well, when you share content to Facebook mobile, users are, as with anything on mobile, twice as likely to engage with it than they are on a desktop.
7. 60.3% of social sharing on mobile devices can be attributed to Facebook.
Massive engagement is generated from Facebook mobile. Of all the social networks on which people can share content, Facebook is the most active. If you are trying to reach a broader audience and expand your mobile presence on social media, there are few options better than Facebook.
8. 45% of social logins are through Facebook.
If you require a login on your mobile site or app, make sure there is an option for social logins. People simply want to press a button and have their Facebook account connected to an app as opposed to creating an account. This is also beneficial when it comes to targeting your content strategy, as you will have far more insight into your engaged audience (through Facebook).
How do you leverage the power of Facebook mobile for your branding and content strategy? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter! (Stats courtesy of ShareThis, TechInAsia, Facebook, Venture Beat, AllFacebook)
Super Targeting Your Social Ads: Reaching the Right Audience
/by Corey PadveenWhen it comes to targeting your social ads, what should you consider in order to find the perfect audience?
Perhaps the greatest evolutionary feature that has resulted from the recent history of advertising is the specificity with which you can be targeting your social ads. By properly targeting your social ads, you can significantly increase your reach and decrease your cost-per-acquisition, whether that is new followers, clicks or something else.
But so few publishers are taking advantage of these advanced targeting capabilities and it is hard to understand why. After all, one of the greatest benefits of running a social business is increasing efficiencies, and this is one of the ways in which that can be done.
So next time you decide to run a social advertising campaign, keep a few of these important criteria in mind for targeting your audience.
Interests
This seems like an obvious one, but it is so rarely used. Instead of A/B testing ads on social media to find the right audience, most brands simply throw out a net and hope to catch something.
The ability to target users by interest is extremely valuable. You can craft ads around these targeted interests in the hopes of finding higher engagement (often achieving that goal). People are out there telling you what they like; why not listen?
Age
People of different ages have different priorities. More importantly, your key demographic of customers might fall into a particular age bracket.
The ability to target by age means that you can specify whether you want your ads to reach an already engaged audience, or try to penetrate a new age demographic. Again, targeting by age allows you to test different copy to see what kind of rhetoric resonates with a young or older audience.
Job Description/Title
While this is a feature unique to LinkedIn, it is extremely valuable when trying to reach decision makers.
Often, we do not have control over whether or not the people seeing our ads are decision makers at their respective companies. We simply have to hope. On LinkedIn, however, we can not only see the job level of our engaged audience, but target an audience by seniority. This makes it much easier to reach decision makers and get your message out to the right people.
Location
Again, this is a demographic that seems obvious, yet publishers are not using it in the most effective ways.
As with age, people in different locations (even within the same country) have different priorities. If you sell skiing equipment, you won’t want to target people in South Florida. (In fairness, that’s an oversimplification of the issue, but the easiest way to convey the message.) Craft your ads according to the priorities of the people in specific locations and change the message for others.
Commonalities
One of the most valuable features of Twitter and Facebook advertising is the ability to target users who follow or like similar brands on the network.
When someone likes other brands in your industry, they are all the more likely to be interested in your brand. By targeting your ads and sponsored messages to these users, you can be sure to see your clicks and conversions rise.
Remember, even if your super targeted social audience is small, it is a group of people that are more likely to engage with the content you are sharing. Would you rather have ten million impressions, or an engagement rate ten times the industry average with a sensationally low CPA?
What are some of the target audiences you hope to reach with your social advertising strategy? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
6 Criteria for Identifying Social Influence
/by Corey PadveenWhat makes up social influence and how can you identify your industry’s influencers?
Building social influence can be extremely valuable. When people see you as a thought leader, your brand, personal and Social Equity all spike. But sometimes, leveraging other industry influencers can be just as powerful. But how can we identify social influence for a particular industry?
Though every definition of social influence might be unique – after all, influence is a pretty subjective concept – there are some criteria that, on social, are clear signs of an influencer. When determining the social influencers in your industry, keep a few of these aspects in mind.
1. Following
Virtually any marketer would tell you that it’s all about quality over quantity when it comes to an audience, and that, for the most part, is true. That said, quantity is important, too.
Your industry’s influencers will surely have a strong following. You don’t become an influencer when only a handful of people are interested in what you have to say. But keep in mind that black hat techniques are not all that penalized in the world of social (yet) as they are in search. So verify the quality of an apparent influencer’s large following by ensuring that audience members include other industry peers, and that engagement is consistent.
Speaking of which…
2. Engagement
People should be regularly sharing and talking about the content that an influencer posts. Keep in mind that engagement does not have to be measured in the tens of thousands of shares, tweets and comments. So long as engagement is consistent and relatively strong, you might just have an influencer on your hands.
Again, however, it is important to ensure that the quality of the engagement is positive as well. Note the audience members engaging with the content. Are they relevant to the conversation or industry? Are they employees of this ‘influencer’? If so, you might not be dealing with an individual as influential as they might want to be.
3. Message Consistency
True influence generally means thought leadership. Thought leadership often means that you start conversations that no one else has had and stick to your guns.
The message and rhetoric of an influencer should be consistent and sound. Going back and forth on a point is not a sign of a great thought leader. Sometimes an influencer might face criticism, and have to defend their point of view. That’s all well and good so long as they stick by the message that created the social influence they have.
4. Respect of Best Practices
True influence means understanding the platforms on which one is most active. This translates into a mutual respect for an audience and the adherence to a network or platform’s best practices.
If an ‘influencer’ on Facebook has a poorly designed page and shares nothing but spammy links, but happens to have generated a following, you might want to consider looking for thought leaders elsewhere. Best practices are in place because the industry has spoken and the majority has expressed their wants. True influencers understand that and abide by those guidelines.
5. Up-to-Date
When a major change, breakthrough, deal or update is announced in your industry, your influencers should be among the first to comment, discuss or simply bring up the news.
Having influence means keeping your ear to the ground and being first-to-market on social platforms when there is something important to discuss. This does not mean that an influencer should be breaking the news, but they should be aware of it and, depending on the industry, have an opinion or an analysis of what that means for the industry as a whole.
6. Practitioner of Own Advice
If you are reading an email marketing influencer’s blog and they tell you to keep your subject lines clear and concise, then proceed to send you emails with spammy, cryptic subject lines, you are likely not dealing with a thought leader.
Building influence means that you have done the leg work and found what works in your industry. Therefore, an influencer should be practicing what he or she preaches.
What criteria helps you determine social influence in your industry? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
15 Social Media Fun Facts (in Pictures!)
/by Corey PadveenThese social media fun facts are sure to impress even the biggest skeptics.
Considering the whirlwind of news that has been floating around the socialsphere lately (particularly a story involving two companies you might have heard of, Facebook and WhatsApp) it seems appropriate to share some social media fun facts that would wow anyone. And what better way to wow a crowd than with some fancy pictures with impressive numbers!
Have a look at some of these new stats and figures and see if there is something interesting you can bring to the next board meeting.
BONUS:
Which of these do you find most interesting? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
(Stats courtesy of Pew, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Media Today, Jeff Bullas, Search Engine Journal, Forbes)
7 Ways to Turn a Boring White Paper Into Great Content
/by Corey PadveenA corporate white paper can be turned into a ton of great, highly engaging content for your social audience.
Share your latest, lengthiest white paper on social media, and you’ll be lucky if it gets any clicks. If it does, you’ll be lucky if people stick around to read it. The fact is simply that people are not all that interested in sifting through page after page of boring facts and figures. The irony is that they are, all the while, very interested in all of those facts and figures.
Some of the most engaging, highly shared content on social media (depending on the industry) relates to content that can be found in many white papers. Studies, findings, best practices and other white paper-friendly content has been converted into flashy, fun content on social and generated a ton of interest from audiences in several industries. So how can you do the same with your latest white paper?
These seven methods of turning boring content into engaging posts are just a few of the great ways you can take a white paper and turn it into loads of wonderful content to share with your social audience.
Infographics
People love infogrpahics. They are fun to read through, fun to share and generate a ton of engagement. A branded infographic is a great way to turn the data you have into an engagement feeding frenzy. Think about it for a second: aren’t infographics just studies published in colorful form? Consider creating one with the stats you have in front of you.
Images
In the same vein as infographics (but not as lengthy) images with a simple stat or finding can generate a lot of success on social. We have long known that images perform well with social audiences. Optimize them for size and appearance and watch your content reach broad audiences.
Blog
If you have a 10,000-word white paper, you have 10 1,000-word blog posts (or 20 500-word posts, or 50…well, you get the idea). Take the segments of your white paper and turn them into short, informative blog posts that relate to your subscribers. If the data is universal, create examples that are relevant to your industry.
Video Blog
Videos are another great way to generate engagement with a social audience, and a great way to showcase fun facts. People might not want to read about your findings, but that does not mean they don’t want to be told what you found. TED Talks are a great example of content that the average person might not want to read about in a textbook, but loves hearing about from an expert.
And speaking of TED Talks…
Webinars
How many times have you been on a webinar and heard from an expert quoting expert sources. You have one of those sources at your fingertips! Running webinars and sharing your findings is a great way to get the information out to the industry and promote your work.
eBooks
Again, a lengthy, dull and aesthetically subdued white paper can quickly be transformed into one or several flashy eBooks. People love short, informative eBooks and no one seems to recognize that, with the exception of the graphical elements, they are (or often can be) essentially white papers. Turning your white paper into an eBook can be a very wise investment.
Teasers
Have you ever landed on a website, seen a newsletter popup or a great piece of information that enticed you to sign up for said newsletter? You can use some of the great information within your white paper as teasers to generate new blog or newsletter subscribers. Something like, “Did you know [FUN FACT]? Find out more by subscribing to our newsletter.” can work wonder for your subscription rates.
These are a just a few of the ways your white papers can be turned into highly engaging, highly lucrative social content.
How do you leverage the content from white papers on social media? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
State of Content Marketing 2014 [INFOGRAPHIC]
/by Corey PadveenWe can expect to see a lot coming from the realm of content marketing in 2014.
Content marketing, simply put, is huge. We have seen plenty of brands – both big and small – experiment with the phenomenon, some great success and some with equally great failures. All that said, there is no denying that content marketing is a trend that is here to stay, and we can expect to see a lot of movement in that field in the coming year.
This great infographic from Eloqua and Oracle and Lookbook showcases exactly what marketers can expect to see in the world of content marketing in the next twelve months. One of the more interesting trends we are seeing when it comes to content marketing is the repurposing of content.
Say, for example, you have a white paper that is long, full of numbers and simply not something people want to read. Smart marketers are realizing that this is a goldmine of content and creating several pieces of social-friendly content that can be shared to several networks, several times.
What are you doing when it comes to being innovative with your content strategy and content marketing? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
The Difference Between Paid, Owned and Earned Media [VIDEO]
/by Corey PadveenThere are plenty of media types out there, but they all fall into one of three categories: paid, owned or earned media.
So what are the differences between paid, owned and earned media? We hear about them often enough. Every one of us uses them whether we think we do or not. But not too many of us have taken the time to really understand what the differences between these media types really are.
The video below makes it pretty clear what the specifics are when it comes to paid, owned and earned media. For a more detailed account, you can refer to this article. Otherwise, enjoy the visuals!
How to Leverage Social Insights for an Optimized Content Strategy
/by Corey PadveenWhen brands find themselves becoming involved in social, they need to answer a simple question: why?
Why are people interested in what you have to say? Why will they bother clicking on your links, liking your pages or posts or sharing your content to broader networks? The answer to this question rests in the content strategy you have created for your brand, and there is no better way to find that answer than by leveraging your social insights.
Where can I find these insights?
Within several networks, there is a world of insights available about your audience. Find out what types of content your audience shares most by looking at the ‘Posts’ section of your Facebook insights. Learn about your audience’s interests in the ‘Followers’ section of your Twitter Analytics. But to really take advantage of social insights about not only your audience, but your industry’s audience, you’ll want to use a higher end social listening tool.
Data gathering tools like Radian6, Sysomos and Crimson Hexagon provide you with actionable reports with data pulled from hundreds of millions of sources across the web; essentially, if people are talking about your industry, you’ll know about it.
Look at where and when conversations take place, what topics people talk about most in your industry and the sentiment around those topics to know where to insert your brand in a positive way.
What do I do once I have collected the data?
Creating your content strategy is all about sharing content that is going to resonate with your audience. This data is going to be the starting point to helping you do that and enter your brand in the industry conversation.
Based on what you have collected, determine the tastes and preferences of your audience by what they are actively discussing.What matters most to them? More important, from a business standpoint, how are you going to position your brand in this conversation in order to appeal to this target demographic?
There is going to be some significant testing involved. You will want to try different types of content and approach the discussion from a number of different angles. Ultimately, your goal is to share content with which your audience can empathize. Then they partake in conversation, share your brand’s message and help expand your reach.
Can you give an example?
Let’s say, for example, you run an office products retailer and one of your key services is that you offer your clients a free return of used ink cartridges for proper recycling. You know that this is a noble cause and a valuable asset in terms of marketing to eco-friendly businesses. Your data collection is going to be all about where people are talking about the benefits of recycling and, perhaps, why businesses should have green initiatives.
From the data you collect, you will want to begin sharing content within these conversations that relates to what is being discussed as well as the service you offer. Once you have caught the attention of your audience, it is time to employ some marketing initiatives in order to boost sales as a result of your content strategy (i.e. content marketing).
It’s a time-consuming process, but it is certainly worth the effort. The value of a well-developed, data-oriented content strategy should never be underestimated.
How are you leveraging social data in order to develop a successful content strategy? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
Also, have a happy Valentine’s Day!