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What’s your online influencer score?

In this episode, you’ll find out why your influencer score matters and what you can do to increase it.

Klout was one of the first company's to use social signals to improve upon Google’s Page Rank algorithm as a way of measuring influence.  

Klout’s API had 2 billion calls last month and is working with over 3,000 partners and brands.

The service began by attempting to measure the influence of users on Twitter, and has evolved to include activity on Foursquare, and last week added Blogger, Tumblr, Flickr, Instagram and Last.fm.

Our guest Megan Berry (@meganberry), marketing manager at Klout, Blogger, social media junkie and Stanford grad, talks about how your online influencer score is surmised.

She also shares tips on how to increase your online influencer score and why it’s in your best interest to have the highest Klout score you can.

Megan had a Klout score of 71, which put her ahead of previous guests of this podcast.

Kara Swisher, the co-editor of All Things D (https://klout.com/karaswisher) at 70, Natalie Petuhoff (https://klout.com/drnatalie) had a 54 and yours truly hasd a 56.

Online Influencer Scoring Topics Discussed:

How Klout establishes online influenceThe Klout Perks programOvercoming the shortcomings of semantic analysisMeasuring popularity vs. influenceKlout’s value proposition to marketers and individualsMeasuring individuals vs. measuring mediaEthics of establishing influence based on ReTweets+K feature which allows you to give influence to others

Photo by Athena Kavis on Unsplash

If you’re interested in tech news, you’re going to find this very interesting.

If you’re a media relations professional who works in tech, you’ve just hit the mother lode.

In this podcast, Cathy Brooks (@cathybrooks), who currently handles marketing for Draper Fisher Jurvetson backed Israeli mobile search app provider DoAT interviews All Things D co-editor Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) about her tech blog’s personality, the hamsterization of journalism, balancing accuracy against speed in the quest to be first and what makes All Things D different from other tech news outlets.

Kara splits her responsibilities overseeing the coverage of All Things D with Walt Mossberg. 

Kara also discusses:

The scandal at News Corp’s recently shuttered News of the WorldRupert Murdoch’s depth of knowledge over his business units and All Things D,Her plans to expand their coverage to include gadget, game and app news and reviews and add another industry conferenceArianna Huffington’s shill for higher standards in journalism while excluding AOL employee Michael Arrington from their corporate policy that bloggers not invest in companies they cover New York Times consumer technology reporter David Pogue  getting reprimanded for speaking at a PR conference, which I personally think was a hypocritical comment to make while discussing how to pitch All Things D at a PR conference.  Pogue never “advised” PR professionals.  Reporters speak at PR conferences all the time.  I’ve moderated panels of reporters for the Public Relations Society of America and can’t see how any of those sessions compromised anyone’s journalistic integrity. 

By enlightening PR people about how to pitch, journalists are improving the quality of the information that flows their way, and that’s a good thing.  It means they’ll get better, more impartial content from companies. 

Whether they’re compensated or not, reporters are under no obligation to provide coverage.  Is an expert witness less credible because they’re compensated?  What’s wrong with being paid to provide expert testimony? 

This interview was recorded at the PR Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 28, 2011. 

I keynoted the conference later in the day, after this interview concluded. 

The PR Summit Conference SF was produced by Shaun Sanders of Berkeley-based Grafitti PR. 

While this interview was in no way offensive, lewd or obscene, there was some profanity used so please be advised.

How to share social media is a question asked widely by businesses and consumers. Does your corporation or business know how market on Facebook or how to tweet and how to retweet compelling shares?

 

Are you writing the best Facebook wall posts? Do you know how to use Twitter for business? Do you find yourself asking the question why use Google+ when you’re still getting the hang of Facebook and Twitter? And how on earth do you please managers and clients who want to control the message and earn the trust of the online community at the same time?

 

Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan), best-selling author and renowned blogger, discusses how to share new media content from a business perspective, the benefits of Google+, and his experience as a thought leader in the rapidly changing world of social media.

 

With social media on the top of business minds everywhere, many are confused by how to share engagingly. Chris discusses why public relations professionals need to show their bosses that it’s better to be authentic and why the best Facebook wall posts could be those that reference your competitor instead of yourself.

 

How to share social media is becoming even more prominent in our lives and it’s time for people and businesses to start embracing and engaging with others, says Chris. With new social networking channels arising, people find themselves asking questions like, why use Google+ when I already have Twitter and Facebook accounts? This podcast skims the surface of that question, and goes deeper into the concept of how to share social media content.

 

Chris Brogan is President of Human Business Works; Co-Founder of PodCamp; New York Time’s Best-Selling author of Trust Agents and is this year’s keynote presenter at the PRSA 2011 International Conference in Orlando this October.

 

 

2:11 Trust agents are the voices or faces of businesses, but they aren’t at the CEO level, Brogan explains and shares an example of how this is happening at Google. The trust agent knows how to share twitter messages and posts and stays engaged on social networking sites. A lot of companies are using the social networking websites for business networking and to help humanize their brands.

 

4:21 We have to learn we’re never right all of the time online and must show our managers and clients that one of the parts of how to share social media content correctly is using the Three A’s: Acknowledge, Apologize and Act. In PR, professionals are sometimes compelled by managers to try and spin a silver lining around even the worst news, but that isn’t working anymore. On online social networks like Linkedin, Facebook, Twiiter and now G+, people talk whether you like it or not, says Brogan.  

 

6:04 How to share social media as an organization authentically, understanding what legally what you can and cannot be said, acknowledging without endorsing negative status updates, wall posts, tweets, RTs, comments, likes and shares.

 

7:02 When sharing via social media, is there a danger of being too available? It is important for PR professionals to social media train their clients to tweet and share on Facebook effectively?  Some people are avoiding their “handlers” and taking care of it themselves, like Kanye West who demonstrated how to share Twitter posts that reflect you in a better light.

 

8:00 The role of a PR professional is to educate clients or managers on how to handle things themselves by giving them social media training. There is a risk of people or companies being overexposed and it’s important to be able to explain the pluses and minuses to the client or manager and be able to handle the situation if that does happen.

 

8:50 What makes the best Facebook wall post? Joe Ciarallo (@joeciarallo) of Buddy Media discussed a study his company did on what makes an effective wall post and found that promotional language is usually the kiss of death. Brogan agrees with Ciarallo’s statement by saying that always promoting your own brand is not necessarily the best option. When in doubt use the 12 to 1 rule, promote other people’s or companies things 12 times more than your own, this is the best way to build and earn relationships.

 

9:19 Frank Eliason (@FrankEliason) of CitiBank has said that you can earn the right to sell once people know you. Because today is such an opt-in world with Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and all of the social networking sites, you have to earn the right by building relationships first.

 

9:58 The best Facebook wall posts or the best twitter posts are sometimes those where you recommend your competitor because your product isn’t the right product. When a company or person can do that it’s a huge opportunity to win the trust of the community and become an influencer.

 

10:45 What if your company is so large that there isn’t a lot of choice on the consumer side, does social media even matter? What if the company is essentially too big to fail? You have to take a different approach on how to post tweets or how to share Facebook wall posts in general. You don’t necessarily need to build relationships but you can use it to build future credibility and get positive press. Brogan points out Comcast as an example of this.

 

14:25 In social media, it’s not just about how to share new media content but who you are sharing it with. The problem of one-way intimacy arises for people who are successful on social media sites. You may follow someone on Twitter but they may not follow you back. It’s hard for people to keep up with everyone but there are some celebrities who find the time to get back to people, which in turn gives them a big payoff and helps improve their credibility online.

 

17:18 How to share social media without oversharing can be a problem.  Exclusivity increases desirability.  Many people don’t know what is ok to share and what isn’t. A lot of it depends on your business. If you work for a financial company or pharmaceutical company for instance, you have to work with your legal team to know exactly you can and can’t divulge.  That happens by accelerating digital literacy by setting boundaries.

 

18:44 The most value in sharing comes in customization. If you give away as much as possible you will get the longer win. PR people should start...

How to master social media engagement is a question asked widely by businesses and consumers.

Does your corporation or business know how market on Facebook or how to tweet and how to retweet compelling shares? 

Are you writing the best Facebook wall posts?

Do you know how to use Twitter for business?

Do you find yourself asking the question why use new tools when you’re still getting the hang of Facebook and Twitter? And how on earth do you please managers and clients who want to control the message and earn the trust of the online community at the same time? 

Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan), best-selling author and renowned blogger, discusses how to author and share social media content from a business perspective and his experience as a thought leader in the rapidly changing world of digital marketing. 

With social media on the top of business minds everywhere, many are confused by how to share engagingly.

Chris discusses why public relations professionals need to show their bosses that it’s better to be authentic and why the best Facebook wall posts could be those that reference your competitor instead of yourself. 

How to share social media is becoming even more prominent in our lives and it’s time for people and businesses to start embracing and engaging with others, says Chris.

With new social networking channels arising, people find themselves asking questions like, why use Google+ when I already have Twitter and Facebook accounts? This podcast skims the surface of that question, and goes deeper into the concept of how to share social media content. 

Chris Brogan is President of Human Business Works; Co-Founder of PodCamp; New York Time’s Best-Selling author of Trust Agents and is this year’s keynote presenter at the PRSA International Conference in Orlando this October. 

Mastering Social Media Engagement: 

2:11 Trust agents are the voices or faces of businesses, but they aren’t at the CEO level, Brogan explains and shares an example of how this is happening at Google. The trust agent knows how to share twitter messages and posts and stays engaged on social networking sites. A lot of companies are using the social networking websites for business networking and to help humanize their brands. 

4:21 We have to learn we’re never right all of the time online and must show our managers and clients that one of the parts of how to share social media content correctly is using the Three A’s: Acknowledge, Apologize and Act. In PR, professionals are sometimes compelled by managers to try and spin a silver lining around even the worst news, but that isn’t working anymore. On social networks like Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter, people talk whether you like it or not, says Brogan.   

6:04 How to share social media as an organization authentically, understanding what legally what you can and cannot be said, acknowledging without endorsing negative status updates, wall posts, tweets, RTs, comments, likes and shares. 

7:02 When sharing via social media, is there a danger of being too available? It is important for PR professionals to social media train their clients to tweet and share on Facebook effectively?  Some people are avoiding their “handlers” and taking care of it themselves, like Kanye West who demonstrated how to share Twitter posts that reflect you in a better light. 

8:00 The role of a PR professional is to educate clients or managers on how to handle things themselves by giving them social media training. There is a risk of people or companies being overexposed and it’s important to be able to ...

Why use Google+ when there’s always a new social network? What are the benefits of using Google Plus?  What are the advantages of using G+?  And how, if at all, will Google+ impact Google search, if it’s successful?

 

Think about it.  Over the last 7 years, online conversations have moved from blogs to social networks. The most engaging status updates, tweets and shares generate conversations, edging them up to the top of the stream.

 

On the other hand web pages are ranked largely by inbound links. While these published, referring links are no less useful than they once were, there are also fewer of them today for Google to count. 

 

Comments, likes and shares aren’t inbound links, but they have become important measures of influence.  It’s possible that if Google can’t figure out a way to integrate these signals into search, some day its ability to effectively rank online content could become obsolete.

 

Does Google+ potentially give Google search the social signals it needs to stay relevant?  Is the introduction of G+ Circles siginificant?  Should businesses be thinking about how to use Google+ in their social media outreach strategy?  Or are we essential just trading the measure of influence for the measure of popularity?

 

Social media and content strategist and President of Convince and Convert Jay Baer (@jaybaer), talks about Google’s new social web offering and tells you why to join the 10 million other who are currently figuring out how to use Google Plus.

 

 

1:55 - Online content has gotten smaller, with an activity stream of what’s happening now constantly changing. Are Facebook status updates, wall posts, tweets and shares the future of the web? Jay explains how Google+ could help Google stay relevant through the shift from pages to streams.

 

4:17 - With content creation moving away from page views to short, microbursts of information, Page Rank is becoming less useful. Jay talks about how the Google page rank algorithm has been the fundamental premise of SEO for years and the potential downfall of the page rank formula in the new world of social object oriented content.

 

5:53 - Who has more influence online: content creators or content curators?  Have we gone too far in the other direction by exchanging the more measured, foundation principle of Page Rank for the impulsivity of likes and comments? Jay cites Matt Riding, who mentions the pendulum swing where it may be the status updaters who receive a disproportionate amount of attention, rather than the writers of original content.  Jay explains how Google+ gives the search giant a way to bake social signals into its search algorithm.

 

7:48 - In a recent blog post about Google+, Jay says that Google swallowed it’s “we can do things different pride” and out the best of Facebook, Twitter and FourSquare in G+. The result: using Google+ may be better than other social media tools because it does less; it has a concise set of features and doesn’t try to bake a cacophony of features into a single interface. 

 

12:11 - Jay talks about how to use Google+ Circles.  With the new drag and drop interface, using Google+ Circles gives you the chance for a “do over” to get your friends lists right. Eric mentions a recent episode of  Media Hacks #262 with Mitch Joel (@mitchjoel), Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan), and Hugh McGuire (@hughmcguire)  where they discussed this new feature ad nauseum.

 

18:34 - Jay calls Google an algorithmic cake trying to add social frosting, while Facebook is a social cake trying to add an algorithmic frosting. The algorithmically based Google adds a social layer with Google+; while socially based Facebook tries to go algorithmic with Edgerank.

 

19:53 - Google already has a plethora of ancillary online services, like Gmail, Google Maps and YouTube.  Google+ gives it a chance to vertically integrate these services with a social wrapper and use them in a way that enhances the overall user experience.

 

22:48 - The nasty little secrets of black hat SEO and the question “Is Google Broken?” Jay discusses the shared characteristics of “Search” and shares ideas for shutting down the content farms and improving local search.

 

25:39 - Google, Adwords and G+.

 

27:56 - How should business take into account new social network when developing a social media strategy? Jay points out that you need to be clear that your business strategy is simply not about collecting “likes” or “fans”, but that you see a resulting behavior change – like buying the products.  If your strategic plan is how to use a tool, you will always be playing catch up. How should business use Google+ to support their social media strategy?

 

31:30 - What is happening to the trends of referral traffic? Jay’s blog has already seen more traffic from Google+ than Facebook.

 

33:58 – End

 

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Are black hat SEO specialists getting better at outsmarting Google? And is Google Local Search particularly susceptible to gaming?

Earlier this year, JC Penny and Overstock.com had to be manually demoted by Google because they were paying for inbound links to artificially inflate their rankings.

Last month a Chinese start-up that uses illicit SEO tactics to outrank a number of major consumer brands for keywords like “summer dresses” secured a $15 million dollar investment from Sequoia Capital.

And credit card provider Capital One piggy backs off an online car dealership’s display ad widget to rank number one for the phrase “auto loans.”

Most recently, lead gen companies have gotten so good at gaming local search, it’s become exceedingly difficult, if not impossible for local locksmiths to get found by customers. Instead, the lead gen companies, or affiliate marketers, intercept the leads and sell them to the highest bidder, driving up the cost of service.

Online search expert Doug Pierce, available via LinkedIn, Twitter or email, who is the co-founder of Digital Due Diligence, which helps investors evaluate online business models, talks about the shady schemes of black hat SEOs, and whether or not they’ll ever gut Google search of its usefulness.

Topics Discussed:

Since this podcast was recorded, Google made significant changes to the Goolge Local search algorithm, promptomg Doug to write this blog post detailing what's wrong and what more can be done.

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About the Podcaster:
Eric Schwartzman (@EricSchwartzman) provides social marketing services, social marketing research and social media training to businesses, government agencies and nonprofits. He has over 15 years experience integrating emerging information technologies into organizational communications programs.  He has served Boeing, BYU, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Government of Singapore, Johnson & Johnson, NORAD Northcomm, Southern California Edison, Toyota, UCLA, US Dept. of State, United States Army, US Embassy of Athens, US Embassy to Rome, United States Marine Corps and many other small to medium-sized companies and agencies.  Eric is also the instructor behind top-rated social media training seminars and the Social Media Boot Camp which are offered regularly in the US and abroad. Visit the social media training calendar for upcoming dates.

Are black hat SEO specialists getting better at outsmarting Google? And is Google Local Search particularly susceptible to gaming?

Earlier this year, JC Penny and Overstock.com had to be manually demoted by Google because they were paying for inbound links to artificially inflate their rankings.

Last month a Chinese start-up that uses illicit SEO tactics to outrank a number of major consumer brands for keywords like “summer dresses” secured a $15 million dollar investment from Sequoia Capital.

And credit card provider Capital One piggy backs off an online car dealership’s display ad widget to rank number one for the phrase “auto loans.” Most recently, lead gen companies have gotten so good at gaming local search, it’s become exceedingly difficult, if not impossible for local locksmiths to get found by customers.

Instead, the lead gen companies, or affiliate marketers, intercept the leads and sell them to the highest bidder, driving up the cost of service. Online search expert Doug Pierce, available via LinkedIn, Twitter or email, who is the co-founder of Digital Due Diligence, which helps investors evaluate online business models, talks about the shady schemes of black hat SEOs, and whether or not they’ll ever gut Google search of its usefulness. Topics Discussed:

How national lead gen companies outranking local companies in Google Local Search.How lead gen sites use NAPs -- name, address and phone number -- to curry favor.Was including Local Search in its current state in Universal Search Results a bad idea?Inside the unseemly Chinese Internet web of inbound link purchasing networks.How to use ALT tags to give inbound links from JPEGs SEO relevancy.Did JC Penny know what it was doing, or was management digitally illiterate?What https://www.opensiteexplorer.org/  does that Yahoo! Site Explorer doesn’t.

Since this podcast was recorded, Google made significant changes to the Goolge Local search algorithm.

Photo by Julius Drost on Unsplash

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Why is it some Facebook wall posts get likes and comments, while others get none?  When is the best time to post, how often should you post, are there certain words that generate a higher response rate?  What’s the science of procuring engagement on the world’s largest social network?  

In this episode, we explore what makes a great Facebook wall post?  The best shares aren’t random.  There is a method behind the madness.  Listen to this podcast with Buddy Media director of communications Joe Ciarallo (@joeciarallo) and find out how to create effective Facebook wall posts based on a research study his company did on the shares of 200 name brands over a 2-week period.

Joe also talks about how to optimize your status updates for Facebook’s Edgerank so fans see it their newsfeed.  

Topics discussed:

In this exclusive interview, Buddy Media director of communications Joe Ciarallo (@joeciarallo) reveals

Podcasts Referenced in this Episode:

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About the Podcaster:
Eric Schwartzman (@EricSchwartzman) provides social marketing services, social marketing research and social media training to businesses, government agencies and nonprofits. He has over 15 years experience integrating emerging information technologies into organizational communications programs.  He has served Boeing, BYU, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Government of Singapore, Johnson & Johnson, NORAD Northcomm, Southern California Edison, Toyota, UCLA, US Dept. of State, United States Army, US Embassy of Athens, US Embassy to Rome, United States Marine Corps and many other small to medium-sized companies and agencies.  Eric is also the instructor behind top-rated social media training seminars and the Social Media Boot Camp which are offered regularly in the US and abroad. Visit the social media training calendar for upcoming dates.

The best shares aren’t random.  There is a method behind the madness.  

Prior to their acquisition by Salesforce.com, I spoke to Buddy Media director of communications Joe Ciarallo (@joeciarallo) about why some Facebook wall posts get likes and comments, while others get none?  

When is the best time to post on social media, how often should you post and are there certain words that generate a higher response rate?  

What’s the science of procuring engagement on the world’s largest social network?  

In this exclusive interview with Joe, we explore what makes a great Facebook wall post. 

Listen to this podcast with Buddy Media director of communications Joe Ciarallo (@joeciarallo) and find out how to create effective Facebook wall posts based on a research study his company did on viral content marketing shares of 200 name brands over a 2-week period.

Joe also talks about how to optimize your status updates for Facebook’s Edgerank so fans see it their newsfeed.   Topics discussed:

Optimum Facebook post character lengthBenefits and drawbacks of URL shorteners and the problem with long URLsWords that appeared most in top “liked” and “commented” sharesWhich words appeared most frequently in ineffective engagement in FacebookThe impact of “likes”, “comments”, affinity and time on Facebook EdgerankingsWhy NOT to ask “why” in your Facebook wall postsPurchase intent and recommendation likelihood of Facebook Fans vs. Twitter FollowersWhat’s the ROI of a Facebook fan?Niche marketing, B2B marketing and brand building on FacebookShel Holtz’s recent interview of Brian Solis

For more on how to make a Facebook post go viral, check out this interview with Chris Brogan.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Is there a way to reduce call center costs while improving the quality of customer experience?  

In this episode, former Forrester Analyst Natalie Petouhoff (@DrNatalie) discusses her ROI model for social customer service and the recent videos she produced on social customer service for Salesforce.com on building the business case with management for using social media in their customer service. departments.

Can social customer service protect brands against perceived and systemic product failures?  In markets dominated by companies that are too big to fail, do customer opinions matter?  Dr. Nat also discusses he method of calculating the ROI of social customer service interactions, the value of direct and indirect call deflection and why companies should align with their super users to lower their cal center costs while improving customer experience quality.

 

Here’s Dr. Natalie’s list of monitoring tools. Chapter Six of my book also walks you through the process of building a social media monitoring dashboard with free tools and services:

 

Tool / Site

PR, Marketing, Customer Service and Production Development Value

www.search.twitter.com

 

Search on twitter to find people, topics, etc…

http://www.boardtracker.com

 

Forum search engine, message tracking and instant alerts system designed to provide relevant information quickly and efficiently while ensuring you never miss an important forum thread no matter where or when it is posted.

http://alltop.com/

 

See which blogs are prominent in which sector

http://www.socialmention.com

 

Allows you to easily track and measure what people are saying about you, your company, a new product, or any topic across the web's social media landscape in real-time. Social Mention monitors 100+ social media properties directly including: Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, Digg, Google etc.

http://www.wordle.net/

 

Generates “word clouds.”

http://www.google.com/trends

Planning on launching an activity? Run a quick search to see which time of year the world is talking about that subject the most.

http://www.bing.com/social

 

It features real-time snippets of the most shared links in relation to the subject you are interested in, in real-time.

http://blogpulse.com/

 

See who is writing about your brand or subject of interest in a flash.

http://www.alexa.com/

 

Get a handle on the DNA of a website or Blog; How much traffic a site gets, where that traffic is coming from, whether it is gaining more traction, here you need to focus more effort, check on the competition, etc…

www.technorati.com/search?advanced

 

Search to see what blogs are writing about your brand or company

http://swixhq.com/SWIX.html

 

Simple way of tracking activity across all of your social networks / platforms.

http://backtweets.com

 

If you are running a campaign and want to see how much traffic has been driven to the 'target' of your activity, type it in here and you'll get an idea of how much that site address is being shared.

www.addictomatic.com

 

 

Instantly creates a web page with the latest news from various sources by typing in a key word.

www.google.com/alerts

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Enter the topic you wish to monitor, then click preview to see the type of results you'll receive.

www.google.com

 

Other Podcasts Reference in this Episode:

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About the Podcaster:
Eric Schwartzman (@EricSchwartzman) provides social marketing services, social marketing research and social media training to businesses, government...