Measure Your Degree of Influence

Knowing what your ROI is on the efforts that you put forth is important because it helps you gauge what’s working and what’s failing. Making subtle adjustments allows you to focus your energy in the right direction and it can produce amazing results. Measurement as it relates to social media is a tricky thing because there isn’t necessarily a direct relationship  between a gaining a new fan or follower and a specific monetary value that impacts a brand’s bottom line. So, instead of trying to equate each brand loyalist to a dollar sign, let’s look at measuring your degree of social media influence by examining other areas. 

Retweets

Twitter users know that retweet (RTs) are one of the most powerful methods of extending their social reach. When you create a tweet that has sticking and sharing power, other tweeps are more likely to pass it along to others in their own networks and those people will pass it on to theirs and so on and so on. In this manner, a RT has the power to exponentially to spread your message and drive traffic back to your profile and your site or blog if you’ve tweeted a link. 

Link

Speaking of links, they are an integral part of your social media presence. Links are easy to shorten and share with others and they’re very easy to look at the type of traffic they’re producing. If you use a link shortener like Bit.ly you review how many clicks a particular link has received. You can also set-up Google Analytics for a particular page via link to get a better understanding of bounce rates, visitor habits and a slew of other data. 

If you actively participate in leaving blog comments you can include a link, as long as it’s relevant to your comment, back to your site or blog post. External links carry more weight and influence in the eyes of Google and therefore will help boost your site’s exposure on the search engine’s results page. The more links you have, the more easily you can be found because you’re viewed as a credible resource. 

Pings

Without getting to technical, pings are essentially communication methods that are used by computer networks that send out alerts when something new occurs. Pings are an effective way to promote your site/blog and you measure site traffic related to a ping to estimate your the level of influence that you have.

What Story Does Your Campaign Tell? Common Newbie Social Media Mistakes

The biggest challenge that many social media beginners face is having a clear understanding on what a campaign actually is. Your campaign should understand exactly what your audience wants and needs, as well as where they gather. Dissemination of good, free material and monitoring results with measurable goals is also part of what a campaign is. A campaign should be wrapped with good messaging, a clear call-to-action and feature a simple way to share with others.

If you’ve read the above and feel like you’re read to take the next step into the social media spotlight, you’ll want to make sure that preserve the integrity of your campaign by avoiding some of these common mistakes.

1.  Dormant accounts. Opening social media accounts all over the place isn’t going to win you a ton of fans and followers. Each account that you have should be one that connects to your audience (i.e. where they frequent, where they like to connect). For each account that you have you’ll need to play an active role. If you haven’t sent a tweet in six months or posted fresh content, people will wonder where you’ve gone to and eventually move on.

2.  Self promotion. Although it’s exciting to start a campaign, it’s also important to remember that it’s not all about you. Tone down the ‘me-me-me’ and focus more on what you can do for others. People will appreciate that you’re using your expertise and skills to point them in the right direction instead of just shoving a sales message in their face. First build your flock and then share information and update about your brand.

3.  Tuning out. The whole point behind a social media campaign is to engage yourself in conversations with other people. Discuss what they think, what they want and what they know. The worst thing you can do is not listen to what’s being said. Don’t let conversations and exchanges fall on deaf ears. Take the time to reply and respond quickly. You’ll be amazed by the results you’ll get from such a simple action.

Social media takes time and it’s not for those lacking in patience. Slow and steady wins the race in this realm.

How Authors and Writers Can Use Twitter

Famous micro-blogging site Twitter is a social networking goldmine. Authors can easily connect with their audience and other key players like media contacts, literary agents and publishers to get the word out on their latest masterpiece. Like any social media tool, authors need to apply some strategy to their Twitter outreach in order to use it effectively.

Find Your Tweeps

Recent stats estimate that nearly 26 million people are using Twitter. Your job as an author is to try an find your niche within the mass. Search for other well-known authors and writers in your genre and follow them. More than likely you’ll begin to build a following of similar individuals who are interested in what you have to share.

Make Your Tweets Relevant

As you’re developing your follower base, make sure to stay on topic when you construct your tweets. Although it may be tempting to give a play-by-play on cooking scrambled eggs for breakfast you’re much better off sticking with book-related tweets. Save the personal aspects for later after you’ve built up a considerable following.

Use Hashtags

Hashtags are a fantastic way to organize and stream your tweets into a searchable category that people can find and read. Consider creating your own personalized hashtag or using some of the more popular ones like #book, #authors or #mysteries. Try not to use them for every single tweet that you send out so that you don’t appear to spammy. Use them sparingly and for tweets that you want to make a bigger impact with.

Twitter Requires Patience

Unless your last name is Kutcher or Spears, you’re not going to end up with millions of followers overnight. Slow and steady wins the race for the rest of us. Take the time to build relationships and engage in conversations with your followers. Tweeting takes time and dedication. If you’re only sending out a single tweet once every month then you’re not likely to see a rapid increase. Participate daily and stay on topic to reap the benefits of Twitter.

If Twitter is new for you, spend some time following others to get a sense of the flow of conversation and interaction. Once you’re ready, get ready for fun and launch your own account.

Twitter for Branding: follow the leaders

If you’re thumbs are getting sore from tweeting and searching for good tweeters, give ‘em a break. There are more than 75 million Twitter users according to data published by RJMetrics in January 2010. If you’re trying to find tweeters in a particular niche it can be a tad overwhelming. So we’ve sifted through the millions to uncover the best branding tweeters and thought we’d share them with you.

The tweeters below represent a small portion of branding focused Twitter users available, but what sets this group apart is their influence, ranking and follower base. Make sure to add them to follow them for excellent 140 character snippits to help you build your brand.

@pramitjnathan

Pramit J. Nathan has summarized himself as a marketing consultant, author and speaker that specializes in branding and perception management. With an astonishing 123,836 followers (growing daily), he’s the leader of the branding pack on Twitter.

Following Pramit will connect you to great strategies, suggestions and tips that are brand and marketing related. Definitely one of few tweeters with a ‘pure’ tweet stream, meaning you won’t find random pontification on abstract subjects (i.e. what type of coffee he likes to drink each a.m. or what he purchased for his brother’s birthday last year).

@thebrandbuilder

Olivier Blanchard is author of the Brand Builder Blog and a Frenchman with a penchant for cooking and good food. Not only does Olivier tweet about relevant branding topics, but his blog and website have an amazing arsenal of well-organized links to other helpful business strategists and influential branders.

Absolutely a resource worth following, plus his blog posts and tweets are highly original and entertaining. Don’t know too many people that can connect social media and Bette Davis together for a good read.

@danschawbel

If you’re not following Dan Schawbel, well, you’re just plain missing out. He’s the bestselling author of Me 2.0 and publisher of Personal Branding Magazine. Dan is a personal branding guru and if you’re seeking advice on how to start, where to start and what to do with branding, this is the go-to-guy.

@simonmainwaring

A native Australian, Simon Mainwaring has a fresh and creative approach to branding, which makes him an excellent follow and a fun one too. He specializes in brand triage, or a blend of creative and strategic solutions across traditional, digital and social media. Join the masses and follow to learn how Simon can help maximize your brand.

@landor_dot_com

True, this last tweeter appears to be a bit random and doesn’t have tens of thousands of followers like the others, but it is currently ranked as the number one most influential branding tweeter by a Twitter search directory. Landor Associates is one of those hidden gems in the branding mine. A continual stream of branding’s impact and branding tips can be found. All are encouraged to follow.

Hate 2.0 – Does Social Media Bring Us Together OR Tear Us Apart?

As I participate in Social Media, I watch people interact. I observe behavior, sometimes predictable, sometimes shocking and sometimes downright hilarious.

But the recent issues surrounding Facebooks policy on free speech made one thing clear – Social Media can be anti-social. It can be used to bring tribes together or tear people apart.

Teenage bullying on MySpace, antisemitism on Facebook, blogs promoting racism and other Hate 2.0 sites are proliferating. The Simon Wiesenthal Center released a report last week that says online terror and hate is on the rise, particularly on social-media sites. The number of sites they identified is around 8000, a 30% increase from last year. Caroline McCarthy reports “In addition to religious terror groups, the sites identified also pertain to anti-Semitic, racist, xenophobic, and various anti-religion and anti-government sentiments. And social media is a particular concern, with games, Facebook groups, and Second Life having been identified as potential communication and event-planning tools for terrorist and hate groups.”

All of this seems to point to a disturbing potential trend: the use of Social Media to encourage hate and ostracism, perhaps even violence. Instead of bringing people together based on beneficial common values, the promoted values are divisive, us vs. them. “You don’t believe what I believe so I will harass, bully, harangue, insult and degrade you or worse.”

But what happens when this Hate 2.0 leaves the virtual world and invades our street corners? Are we giving people who would preach anti-social messages an easy way to gather and communicate and proliferate? Are we giving them a better faster way to organize violent actions? Is Social Media becoming a tool of war?

Perhaps Social Media can do one great thing. It can help us see ourselves, our behavior, in a greater context. It can reflect our ability to accept and tolerate the differences while celebrating the commonalities. It can help us see ourselves in the context of the whole. True perspective is one of the greatest gifts you can receive.

Social Media may be a path to greater self governance. There is opportunity in debating opposing views.  It comes in the form of really having to listen to the view from “the other side” in order to make a poignant, effective argument. Debaters may find that they cannot change each others views, but they may develop respect for their opponent in the process. And a healthy dose of respect puts an end to violence – verbal, emotional, spiritual or physical.

Clearly, we as a society have found value in Social Media. The implications and ramifications of all the new interaction will unfold as time marches on. The question remains will Social Media change us? Will it drive new social behavior or simply reflect what we already are?

7 Best Twitter Blogs and Apps: How To Use Them to Boost Your Online Branding

Twitter is an important web tool for online brand management, where reputation is everything. The short term and long  term benefits should not be over looked, especially in a tough economy. There are many useful twitter blogs and twitter apps that help you use Twitter to streamline your online brand management. Here are a list of Twitter blogs and Twitter apps that you can effectively use to boost the brand of your online business during this recession:

FAVRD – Who’s Your Twitter Favorite?

What’s That? FAVRD is a website (read twitter blog) that aggregates Twitter posts based on the number of times they have been marked as favorites by Twitterers. Usually, the Twitter posts that find a place on FAVRD are funny, insightful or entertaining. Being one of the most popular twitter blogs on the Internet, FAVRD lays down a set of rules regarding what it considers filtered posts on Twitter.

How Does That Help Me? This massively popular Twitter tool helps you find the most filtered and favorite posts people tweet about. Hence, you can use this Twitter app as a platform for social media networking by writing interesting, insightful and thought-provoking tweets about your business activities. But, make sure your overall approach towards FAVRD should be interactive rather than promotional. FAVRD is no place for “web-strategy, social-media, and online-marketing webcocks” as mentioned in its guidelines.

TwiTip – Make Your Tweets Count

What’s That? TwiTip is a popular Twitter blog owned by Darren Rowse, the guy behind the famous blog – ProBlogger. With short, crisp and highly informative posts, Darren shares his thoughts and ideas on how to use Twitter efficiently and productively. The best part of TwiTip is that it allows you to contribute your innovative thoughts and ideas you have on how to better use and improve the experience on using Twitter.

How Does That Help Me? If Tweeting helps you manage your online brand image, TwiTip tells how you can do it the best way. While everybody is leveraging Twitter to nurture their online brand identity, few know how to make the right move. With many useful Twitter tips, you can surely find out ways to optimize your social media campaigns.

Tweetstats – Follow Your Own Tweets

What’s That? If you wish if there was anything like Google Analytics to help you keep tabs on your tweet counts, Tweetstats is the answer to your prayer. To say Tweetstats is a Twitter application is an understatement – it is a supercool twitter tool that graphs your tweeting habits blow by blow. With Tweetstats, you can figure out the number of Tweets per hour or month, Tweet timeline and even your reply statistics.

How Does That Help Me? Since Tweeting is one of the most effective ways of social networking and brand building online, it pays to know how your fellow Twitterers are using Twitter. With feature like Twitter Trending Stats which shows the Top 100 Trends  that are currently on Twitter, Tweetstats can be an effective tool for niche marketing.

TwitterSweet – What’s Up On Twitter?

What’s That? TwitterSweet is unofficial and independent tweeter blog that offers wealth of information including news, features, tips and highlights that can be very helpful for regular Twitterers. Created by Joe Grossberg, the founder of Joegrossberg.com, TwitterSweet aims at offering interesting news, features and tips on Twitter that can help you enhance your tweeting experience.

How Does That Help Me: What is the easiest and most private way to send direct message to someone on Twitter? Answers to questions like this can be found on TwitterSweet, which means you can stay updated on all the latest APIs and other similar news about Twitter.

Twittown – Join Hands with the Twitter Community

What’s That? If you have been looking for a Twitter community where you can talk about, share your ideas and meet like-minded people sharing similar hobbies and interests, Twittown is your ultimate destination. This is Twitter blog brings together all the Twitter fans who may be in different professions, but share a common passion, i.e tweeting. Twittown allows its community members to read news on the blogs, chat in the forums, apart from offering many useful Twitter tools and applications which are relevant to the Twitter communities.

How Does That Help Me? Twittown covers a wide range of social networks and their applications, widget platforms and mobile platforms such as iphone, blackberry and android. If you are a frequent traveler who tweets extensively and is tuned in to Twitter updates, Twittown can help you remain updated. Besides, there is no better way to foster your online network than using this wonderful twitter blog.

Twitter Blog – Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

What’s That? This is the official Twitter blog. It should be the first place you visit when you want to learn how to use Twitter effectively. It brings you a lot of news, stats and apps that are vital for a great experience on Twitter. Besides, this is the best place to get familiar with the Twitter lingo. Being the official Twitter blog, you need to visit this blog to update your TQ (Twitter Quotient).

How Does That Help Me? As the official Twitter blog, Twitter offers the most authentic and latest updates that are necessary for its users. Whether you’re new to Twitter or not, Twitter blog always offers you something new that helps you monetize Twitter.

Twitterholic – When Madness Counts

What’s That? Twitterholic offers ranking of the top twitterers in a list, which is updated quite frequently. Hence, you can find the most popular twitter users. It shows all the vital statistics of top twitterholics such as the location, number of followers, friends, updates, the date of joining and even the URL of twitterers.

How Does That Help Me? When you show up in the top 100 Twitterholics list, you increase your opportunity of being found easily. Although, it takes a ton of tweets and followers on Twitter everyday to access the “top one hundred”, you should make your tweets interesting, relevant and readable.

Twitter location: Google’s Latitude can stay put.

What are you doing?

Many are wondering if Twitter will begin to integrate geo-location like Google’s Latitude.

If they are, then they have missed the point of Twitter.

I don’t care where you are, I care what you are thinking.

The relevancy of Twitter comes directly from it’s ability to facilitate conversation. Smart business people use Twitter to network. They tweet strategically. They know they must present value to be “followed”.

Tweets telling me that you are on the George Washington Bridge are irrelevant unless you are late to meet up with me. It’s the equivalent of people who tweet what they had for breakfast. I don’t care. “Spam, spam and eggs, spam, spam, spam, hash and eggs” – Some people’s Twitter streams are like a Monty Python skit. The problem is unless you know these people intimately; their life’s details are, frankly, boring.

Their mistake starts with the assumption that the minutia will somehow foster closer relationships. Connecting over daily drudgery does not create long lasting bonds. Otherwise, you would be best friends with the cashier you see every time you go to the grocery. You might develop a polite banter, but you will hardly be best friends unless you go out of your way to do so.

Effort is required. Real relationships demand that, at times, you “go out of your way.” That’s what builds the value. So, if you want to develop a strong network via Twitter, tweet strategically. Here are a few guidelines for a solid Twitter Strategy:

1.      Focus on a subject area. Tweet about your industry. Tweet about your company.

2.      Show thought leadership. Pick topics that are controversial, informative, or relational.

3.      Tie related subjects together and create some interest. Tell people why they need to know about them. Why are they important?

4.      Retweet significant posts to your audience.

5.      Have a voice that shows your style. Are you funny, cynical, friendly, outlandish?

If you begin to lose “followers” ask yourself what value you present, then focus your tweets around it. Your Twitter strategy should save time, keeping miscellaneous tweets to a minimum. A last word of advice: before you press send, ask yourself if it’s RELEVANT to your audience.

After all, if you really need people to know where you are all the time, perhaps you should just invest in an ankle bracelet. Then local law enforcement can “follow” you.