My presentation to Monitoring Social Media Bootcamp, 31st March 2010

1. Philip Sheldrake Influence Crowd LLP www.influencecrowd.com www.socialwebanalytics.com LinkedIn /in/philipsheldrake @sheldrake Influence.Today’s bullshit.Today’s best practice.Today’s promise. 1

2. Today’s bullshit 2

3. It’s not the number of friends or followers or subscribers It’s not a sum of Diggs or Reddits or Stumbles or @’s or Retweets It’s not Google’s PageRank or SEOmoz’smozRank It’s not the number of blogs and columns you write It’s not the books and papers you author It’s not the job you have. … when these things are considered in isolation or out of context. What influence is not… 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 3

4. Influence is not some quantity invented by a PR firm, analytics provider, or measurement and evaluation company that rolls up a number of indices and measures into some relatively arbitrary compound formula that makes any appreciation of the underlying approach, variables and mathematics completely opaque to the end-user thereby radically attenuating any little use it may have been but in such a way that it can be branded nicely and sold as “unique”. Influence, my arse 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 4

5. One’s Klout is apparently calculated as*: True Reach + Amplification Probability + Network Score _____________________________________________ x Weights Standard Score Where True Reach = degree of engagement (interaction?) of one’s audience Amplif. Prob. = the likelihood of retweets and generating a response Network Score = the Klout of your audience * http://www.briansolis.com/2009/11/with-klout-comes-influence-measuring-authority-on-twitter Case study 1 ? eg, “@klout that’s crap” 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 5 Based on..?

6. Extracts from Social Mention’s FAQs: How does it work? It works just fine, thank you for asking What is "strength"? Likelihood that your brand is being discussed in social media (phrase mentions within the last 24 hours divided by total possible mentions) What is "sentiment"? Ratio of mentions that are generally positive to those that are generally negative. Case study 2 ! ? How is sentiment gauged exactly? And how accurately? According to..? 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 6

7. Cont.. What is "passion”? Likelihood that individuals talking about your brand will do so repeatedly. What is "reach"? A measure of the range of influence – the number of unique authors referencing your brand divided by the total number of mentions. Case study 2 eg, “@brandx you suck” “@brandx you really suck” So 1 author with 1 mention has a “reach” of 1.0 Whilst 5,000 authors and 100,000 mentions has a “reach” of 0.05 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 7

8. Micah Baldwin is VP and Lead Evangelist for Lijit Networks*: “Influence = (Personal Brand * Trust * Expertise) Of course, since Expertise = (Knowledge * Trust), we can further refine the equation to: Influence = (Personal Brand * Knowledge * Trust2) …we have defined influence mathematically”. * http://mashable.com/2009/03/02/measuring-online-influence Case study 3 WTF! 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 8

9. I should add that Klout, Social Mention and the Lijit quotes were selected here simply because they best suited the format of this presentation. There are, unfortunately, many dozens of very similar examples to the point that this nonsense is the norm in my experience. If in doubt about a measure of influence, just ask “How?” and “Why?” a lot and think about the answers. Case studies 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 9

10. Today’s best practice 10

11. Noun – the power or ability to affect someone’s beliefs or actions Verb – to exert the power, exercise the ability In other words… You have been influenced when you think in a way you wouldn’t otherwise have thought, or when you have done something you wouldn’t otherwise have done. Influence, definition 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 11

12. “Measuring individual influence in Social Media is as coveted as it is elusive. While many tools claim to calculate authority, it is the definition of influence that requires clarification in order to grasp the relevance and differences of existing tools and services.” Although he doesn’t scorn Klout so much as I have done here… perhaps because he has a high Klout ;-) http://www.briansolis.com/2009/11/with-klout-comes-influence-measuring-authority-on-twitter Brian Solis gets it of course 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 12

14. Feel compelled to pass that perspective on to others

15. Buy our products and services

16. Recommend our products and services to others But influence isn’t one way (us  our publics) it flows six ways… Influence in typical marketing / PR terms THOUGHT ACTION 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 13

17. The six influence flows™ 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 14

18. And influence isn’t something the marketing team “does”. Every single interaction in every single way that every single person experiences regarding something they consider to be related to your organisation has the potential to influence in a particular context in a way that’s beneficial or detrimental to your organisation’s objectives. Everyone is an influencer in some way about something at some time. Influence in everything™ 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 15

19. Many attempts to determine influence focus on various qualities of an ‘influencer’, looking for any response of any kind any and every communication might evoke. They are influencer-centric. Eg, “What would I do without my Blackberry. Man’s best friend. [Bob]”  “RT @Bob What would I do without my Blackberry. Man’s best friend. [Sue]” Influencer-centric 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 16

20. But true influence can only be determined by tracing backwards from the action of influence to the cause of the influence. This is influence-centric. Eg, “Steve, I see you’ve just bought a Blackberry. Why? [researcher]”  “My friend Bob says they’re fantastic. And pocket-lint gave it 5 stars. [@Steve74]”  @bobuk, bobuk.blogspot.com author = Chris Hall at Pocket-lint Influence-centric 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 17

21. Maturity of influence approach 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 18

22. Correct people’s misuse / abuse of the word “influence” Refute immature influencer-centric approaches, “WTF approaches!”, as false idols! Pursue a medium to high maturity approach, one that’s influence-centric, tapping the latest tools and services as they assist you in this endeavour. Action plan today 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 19

23. In fact, I believe you are better off just doing good work that aligns with the tenets of books such as “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” and “Engage!” for example, and employing best practice measurement and evaluation per “Measuring Public Relations”, than waste time slaving to specious measures. The New Rules of Marketing and PR, David Meerman Scott, John Wiley & Sons, www.davidmeermanscott.com/books.htm Engage, Brian Solis, John Wiley & Sons, www.briansolis.com/books Measuring Public Relations, Katie Delahaye Paine, KDPaine & Partners, http://kdpaine.blogs.com/bookblog Action plan today 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 20

24. Start with the recent purchaser, the person who recently changed his mind, the person recently transformed into an evangelizer. This entails: Finding them Tracking them and building a rapport with them Getting them to dig back in their minds, conversations, emails, browser history and magazine rack to unearth the sources of influence. Influence-centric approach today 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 21

25. The bad news – this approach is harder work! The good news – this approach is core to traditional market research it is becoming easier with the evolution of new techologies, services and behaviours it works. The bad news and the good news 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 22

27. Signing off the purchase order (go to the sales office)

28. Talking about it online (use search and social Web analytics)You will secure their time, energy and participation by offering them something in return, such as a priority customer support telephone number for example, which gives you the opportunity to continue the conversation (see next slide). 1. Finding the influenced 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 23

29. Good social Web analytics services will allow you to keep tabs on @steve75, @bobuk and their other social Web instances. Keep in touch via email, or even telephone if you want to develop the best feel for the process of influence in the context in which you are interested. Deploy a social CRM (sCRM or SRM) approach to keep these ‘one-to-ones’ going; incredibly valuable individually and collectively. Continues the conversational marketing (influence flows 1 & 3). 2. Tracking and building a rapport 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 24

30. Logging is essential for the creation of an extensive database from which you can measureand draw analytical insight. Structured data helps, so look to work from the efforts of thought leaders like James Grunig and Katie Delahaye Paine to help you categorise your findings. Eg, http://kdpaine.blogs.com/kdpaines_pr_m/2008/06/kdpaine-partner.html http://www.scribd.com/doc/6576129/Grunig-Relationships-Paper 3. Log everything 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 25

31. You could use a web form to allow willing participants to share information with you regarding the way in which they were and are influenced, and this web form can be used to automatically search their browser history for specific URLs, such as to product review sites and blogs you consider might have played a part. I recommend that you DO NOT employ such a tactic without securing the consent of the participant. I believe the vast majority of web users consider their browser history to be theirs and not yours. Ethical considerations 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 26

33. Improvement demands measurement

34. People genuinely like sensible and objective measurement when the nature of the cause-and-effect is well understood.The intention of measurement 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 27

35. Measurement provides data Data feeds visualisation and analysis Visualisation and analysis aids comprehension Comprehension is a requisite of good decision making Good decision making improves performance. The measurement cascade 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 28

36. Today’s promise 29

37. The recognition of and rigorous focus on the ‘six flows of influence’ and ‘influence in everything’ is one of the primary traits of the new marketing and PR professional… The Influence Professional and the Chief Influence Officer. The distinction of influence 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 30

38. The advent of the Chief Influence Officer marks the death of John Wanamaker's adage: "I know that half of my advertising doesn't work... the problem is, I don't know which half.” The incumbent knows precisely the state of all six influence flows at any point in time. She is sensitised to her organisation's environment in a way that makes most CMOs today look like they work in little bubbles.* * http://www.marcomprofessional.com/posts/philip.sheldrake/how-the-influence-scorecard-radically-transforms-marketing-and-pr The Chief Influence Officer 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 31

39. This transition is emergent and will continue because: Technology makes it possible It manifests competitive advantage. BTW, the resultant actions of influence are obviously easier to detect and gauge directly rather than resultant thoughts. Thoughts may be assessed indirectly as they are manifest in action or elicited in interview / conversation. Inevitable 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 32

40. The next couple of years will witness the joining up of traditionally isolated analytics tools and databases to better enable influence-centric analysis and the synthesis of your influence strategy and plan. …retail analytics + web analytics + social web analytics + CRM + sRM + business intelligence + Internet of Things data analytics = the Awesome Analytics Advantage. Will your organisation be “Triple A”?! Analytics Analytics Analytics 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 33

41. Thanks. Questions? 34

42. http://metricsman.wordpress.com http://www.briansolis.com http://www.webmetricsguru.com http://kdpaine.blogs.com and http://www.themeasurementstandard.com http://tedshelton.blogspot.com http://whollysocial.com http://www.webinknow.com http://www.philipsheldrake.me.uk http://www.marcomprofessional.com Reading & conversation 31st March 2010 / Influence Crowd LLP / Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License 2.0 England and Wales 35