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Book Review – ROI (Return on Influence) by Mark W. Schaefer

April 26, 2012 By 3 Comments

Oh no. I’ve opened the parcel containing the latest book from marketing mastermind, Mark Schaefer, only to be faced with something rather nasty. ‘What?!?’ I hear you say? A nasty little Klout logo, that’s what. Klout, the social scoring system, is something that I’m not particularly comfortable with and when I saw the logo, I did wonder if the book was going to be worthwhile reading. Did I open the book? Yes I did. I very much respect Mark and have been enjoying his {grow} blog  for a long time now. The knowledge that the book would be meticulously researched and written in an engaging tone (I’d experienced this in Mark’s guide to Twitter, The Tao of Twitter) made me give it a go.

Never Judge a Book by Its Cover

The fact is, this book is an excellent assessment of the current state of online influence and the power it can bring to both individuals and businesses.

The book starts by taking a look at the history of influence and how it has always been a key factor in successful marketing. A strong start to the book that sets a foundation for the depth of thinking that is present as you make your way through the pages.

Authority

Mark uses the findings of Professor Robert Cialdini to introduce the notion of authority to the fold. Prof Bob states that ‘humans crave authority’ and this has been present since day one within the social web, with gurus galore attracting massive followings, often purely due to sounding like they know what they are talking about and being there early. People flocked to them as they wanted to know who was is in charge. (review continues after image)

Perceived Influence

Those ‘gurus’ have what can be described as ‘perceived influence’. The social channels have allowed them to build that. The book looks at the issues of ‘auto-responding’ – users of social platforms sharing the content and thoughts of those with perceived influence without really assessing the validity and value of the information. It’s an issue you see all the time on Twitter, people re-tweeting like it is going out of fashion! Have you ever taken a point from a piece of content someone has RT’s and asked that person their thoughts on it? I bet you’ve had a shallow answer? Most likely that person has auto-responded.

Scarcity

One of the theories from the book that really got me thinking was the notion of scarcity. The book quotes the rather clever Christopher S Penn who has a theory that true influence backed up by real knowledge and experience is scarce and that is a really powerful weapon of influence…

“Attention is a resource that is scarce. True authority is a resource that is scarce. Everybody is seeking awareness and social proof, so if you are in an authentic position to provide validation, you have powerful influence”

Amen brother.

RITE

Key to the theories in the book is the notion of creating great content. Mark suggests a model for this he calls ‘RITE’ – Relevant, Interesting, Timely and Entertaining. That really hit home with me and is just one really valuable learning point you can take from this book.

Back to Klout

The book does discuss Klout, but in a balanced fashion and one that adds to the debate around social scoring. From a perception point of view, I’m not sure putting the Klout logo on the front of the book was wise, it did immediately negatively impact on my first impression of the book, however with my marketing hat on, I understand that its presence may well shift more books from shelves. I recently asked readers of The Social Penguin Blog if they were taking notice of/cared about their Klout score. You can read the interesting results here.

Wrap Up

I’m a real sceptic when it comes to books around social media. I’ve read some absolute rubbish in my time! However, this latest effort from Mark is a real gem. It made me stop and think often. It’s full of helpful and valid examples. The pace rattles along nicely and touches of humour help the ride along. All in all, a very worthwhile read, suitable for all levels of knowledge.

You can purchase the book on Amazon here. Have you read ROI? Please so tell us your thoughts in the comments section below!

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Is Twitter a Valid Source for Journalism and Academia?

April 25, 2012 By 5 Comments

You see it on TV all the time, screen shots of celebritie’s and politician’s tweets displayed during major shows and news hours. In addition to affecting newsrooms, Twitter is allowing citizen journalism to reach new levels due to its accessibility by anyone with web access. That is all good and well, but should Twitter be considered a legitimate source?

Every public tweet since March 2006 is being stored by The Library of Congress (LoC). When this happened the LoC said to ‘expect an emphasis on scholarly and research implications regarding Twitter’. I think we are beginning to see the results.

Twitter and Journalism

Twitter has changed journalism. It has increased the speed at which news is shared and has become a valuable research tool. Twitter broke the news about Whitney Houston’s death 27 minutes before the press. Many people are not going to newspapers for their first burst of news, they are checking tweets.

According to the “State of the News Media 2012” report by Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, nine percent of the respondents in the latest survey “very often” follow news recommendations from Facebook or Twitter. This has increased 57 percent from 2009. The study also found most digital news readers are still “very likely” to use search, web or app news aggregators or direct visits to obtain news. The study also found that 23 percent of U.S. adults get news from two devices. Another noteworthy discovery from the study – Twitter is more highly regarded than Facebook as a source of news story recommendations.

Natasha Rudnick, assignment editor and producer at CBS News in New York, shares her experience with Twitter as a journalist in “Twitter: A journalist’s gateway to the world.” Overall, she found Twitter to be a useful for journalists. Twitter embraces the changes it is bringing to the press. Twitter even offers a guide “Twitter for Newsrooms.” Explaining the ins and outs of Twitter for journalists.

Celebrated journalists such as Katie Couric are on board with Twitter. Check out her interview with Brian Solis on Social Media and Real-Time Journalism.

Twitter is affecting journalism, not only by allowing more citizens to report and comment on news, but by also by transforming the speed at which news is shared.

But just as in business cases, strategy is important. Social media and journalism strategy is not the same as a business looking to sell product.

Twitter and Academia

If Twitter is a journalist source, can is also be considered an academic source? The Modern Language Association provides guidelines on how to cite a Tweet.

“On Twitter, what is determined to be an academic resource is often times very subjective and is directly related to the Tweeter’s credentials or acknowledge expertise on the subject under discussion,” a Minnesota State University Reference Librarian said. Before including a tweet in an academic paper, I would recommend checking with the professor since citing a Tweet in academia is a relatively new concept; it may not be accepted by all professors. I project that in the future more professors will include Twitter citations in their research which may pave the way for students to be allowed to use Twitter as an academic source. With support from the Modern Language Association and the Library of Congress archiving all public tweets, Twitter is slowly becoming a legitimate source for journalists and academia.

Do you think Twitter is a valid source for journalist and academic papers? Would you ever cite Twitter as a source? Would you trust news organizations that use Twitter as a source? Should Twitter sources always be cross referenced?

Jenny is a social media enthusiast who also writes for the blog over at Four51

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The Rise and Rise of Spoof Twitter Accounts

April 23, 2012 By 4 Comments

When the Oscars came and went in February, the lasting impression was not Meryl Streep receiving her third Oscar, but THAT leg. Angelina Jolie’s leg received so much media coverage that it actually managed to set up its own Twitter account. And the strangest thing of all is that the world over loved it, the account now has over 47,000 followers, not bad for a limb. If so many people are following the famous leg, who does a famous leg follow? Well apparently it only follows two other tweeters, Bradley Cooper’s Moustache and JLos’s Nipple. Neither account has been as popular as “the leg” with under a thousand followers for the tash and just over 5,000 for JLo’s nipple.

Are these types of accounts really sustainable?

That Leg! (credit - http://www.hindustantimes.com)

Angelina’s leg has now gone all political and likes to tweet about Hilary Clinton and the presidential race, although the news that Brangelina are getting hitched did spark some more tweets on Hollywood’s hottest couple.

But it isn’t just body parts that have started their own Twitter accounts. Parody accounts are becoming more and more popular. Spoof account, ‘Not Zuckerberg’ parodies social media giant Mark Zuckerberg and posts satirical digs at other social media platforms: “If you’re a psychic medium, you ought to sign up for Google+. It’s an online ghost town”, one of his latest tweets states.

Whoever thought of adding “the one who shall not be named” (aka Lord Voldemort) to Twitter is genius. The millions of crazed Harry Potter fans jumped on the opportunity to follow their literary nemesis and he now has well over two million followers. And he keep his followers happy by tweeting multiple times a day on anything from new technology to Potter related satire. He recently posted a picture of Emma Watson with her new beau Will Adamowicz sharing a quick smooch with the simple message “does Ron know?”

Tweeting from the Grave

And it seems dying long before the social media bug hit us all doesn’t mean you can’t have a twitter account. American writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe regularly updates his 40,000 followers on anything from a personal rant to slating the new film based on the last few days of his life. He even likes to add the odd poetic thought such as “The two most glorious spoken words in English: “Drunk… again.””

But why are people so eager to follow these obviously fake accounts? Apart from the sheer hilarity of many of the accounts, a lot of them do have messages to tell. ‘Not Zuckerberg’ pokes fun at the social media world that Zuckerberg himself is responsible for creating and Voldemort keeps the Harry Potter saga going for many fans who are desperate to hold on to the magic world of witches and wizards.

But what really are the draws of tweeting body parts? They seem to be much timelier; they are quickly forgotten and become irritating. There are only so many times “I’m a leg” comes up in your twitter feed before it becomes rather annoying.

That said it seems that spoof accounts are here to stay and I’m sure many more people will jump on the bandwagon to create even more way out and satirical posts in the future using social media tools.

What about you? Do you follow any spoof accounts? Does your interest in them dwindle? Do you run one? Is it hard to keep the momentum going?

Laura Clarke is a blogger with a keen interest in all things social media currently working on behalf of Sentiment Metrics – a company that specialises in social media analytics.

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Can This iPhone App Make Your Dreams Wonderful?

April 10, 2012 By 2 Comments

Professor Richard Wiseman, the ‘most-followed’ psychologist on Twitter, has released an iPhone app that will turn your handset in to a ‘dream factory’, all with the aim of making our dreams that little bit more interesting.  The app senses when you are fully asleep and entering a potential dream state, at that point it will play various ‘soundscapes’ intended to evoke an experience of being on a beach (minus the sand in places you never want in sand) or walking in a forest (minus the fear of the Big Bad Wolf).  Wiseman said:

“Getting a good night’s sleep and having pleasant dreams boosts people’s productivity, and is essential for their psychological and physical wellbeing. Despite this, we know very little about how to influence dreams. This experiment aims to change that,”

The app and subsequent study were launched at the Edinburgh Science Festival and it is hoped that 10,000 people will take part. Those who do decide to take part won’t be afforded the luxury of a full nights sleep as the app will wake them up and prompt them to enter their experience in a ‘dream diary’. You can download the app for free here.

Funny things dreams, I could swear I dreamt that Facebook had acquired Instagram for a billion dollars.

Is this something you are likely to try? Is this all a little too freaky deaky? Do tell. Oh and please don’t tell us about your dreams. No-one cares. Ever.

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The Worst Blogger Outreach Email Ever?

April 4, 2012 By 16 Comments

Blogger outreach can be tough. Getting the attention of relevant bloggers in the required industry is a difficult task, one that can often take up serious amounts of time yet produce little in the way of positive results. One of the key issues is often the fact that the initial approach, usually via email, is very poorly put together and does more harm than good. I received the email below yesterday from someone at a very highly regarded and established agency (one that I have used in a client side role in the past) and it’s the perfect example of how not to do an initial blogger approach. I’ve made comments on each section to show you why it is so bad.

Hey There,

Issue – Always try to find out the name of the person who runs the blog. It really shouldn’t be that hard! My name is all over The Social Penguin Blog!

I hope you’re well.

As a prominent blogger within the social media community I just wanted to get in touch and bring to your attention a free competition currently being run by brand withheld name withheld by Mike in which entrants follow and submit the following phrase via Twitter – “Want to win a £1000 of bathrooms vouchers? Check out twitter name withheld by Mike competition at URL withheld by Mike. The winner of this receives £1000 of brand withheld name withheld by Mike vouchers.

Issue -  A prominent blogger that you don’t even know the name of? Fail. This person has clearly not even looked through the content on our blog. We have never covered such a promotion. It offers nothing to our readers in terms of great social media use. The approach is far from innovative. The ONLY advantage in this lies with the agency’s client, not the blog or our readers.

As a socially savvy blogger who has successfully built up a strong following within this particular blogosphere I thought this competition might be something both yourself and your readers could potentially be interested in promoting or entering.

Issue – Aside from the use of the word blogosphere, the whole wording of this sentence is just so crass. 

This competition is perfect for those looking to make potential modifications to their bathrooms.

Issue – How many of our readers are looking to modify their bathrooms at any given time? I would wager very few. Try and place this on a home improvements blog, not a digital marketing blog. 

If you have any further questions, it would be great to hear back from you.

Issue – Yes, I have a question, would your client be happy to know that you are wasting their billable time contacting blogs in such an unthoughtful manner? Also, using their brand name opens them up to a very public slaying if all of the bloggers that get these crap emails decide to kick up a fuss on social media platforms.

Kind regards,

I’ve withheld the name of the person and the agency. I’ve also not named the brand as I feel that would be unfair.

I hope you found that useful readers! Are you a blogger who receives emails of a similar quality? Do you work at an agency and struggle with blogger outreach? Do tell…

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Great Cartoon – The Quest for Gamification

April 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

Gamification has been one of the major buzz terms around social media/digital marketing in the last couple of years. Quite frankly, I’m sick of hearing about it and have been sniggering away at some of the attempts that brands have made to jump on the bandwagon. I’m a big fan of Tom Fishburne’s marketing cartoons and his latest really hits the mark…

The cartoon really sums up the need for businesses to stop feeling under pressure to use each and every digital platform, tool or technique on the scene. Not everything will work for every business and you can waste some serious time trying to bend the way you do things to fit in with the perceived best approach. You can read more about social media overload in our recent post.

Do you work for a business that has tried to bring gaming elements to your marketing approach? Has it worked?

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