Anyone in the social media space is well aware of the backlash that came after only a few hours of the Influencer Project going live. Most of the arguments surrounded the idea that influence, as far as this campaign was concerned, was really a vote of popularity. While I do have to give props to Fast Company for implementing such a brilliant marketing campaign (if you didn’t know who they were, you probably do now), it is nice to know that the general public does recognize a popularity contest over the definition of true influence.

So, back to the question, “WHAT is influence and WHO defines that role?” Well, there is probably not one decisive answer – afterall, influence is very dynamic – but our constant work with influencers from the web has provided us with some insight.

Jason Falls pretty much hits it dead on in his blog post, “Look for Trust, It’s About Trust.” Influence is mainly about two things – context and trust. An influencer is a person (not a corporate blog or publication ) who interacts with and maintains trust among his community and, eventually, gains the ability to influence change within their community. These things happen by becoming a sort of expert in the context they write or talk about. In a certain context, Pete Cashmore or Ashton Kutcher could be considered influential, but in another context, Brett McKay or John Sumser may be more influential. It is all based on what type of person you are looking for and the type of people you are trying to reach. Within their communities, any one of these people are extremely influential whether they have millions of Twitter followers or thousands.

So what do you think? What makes someone a true influencer?

Inspired by the show’s “end of the world” theme, Campfire created an interactive Facebook app that simulates what your Facebook newsfeed might look like during the apocalypse (complete with people from your network sharing in the hysteria). Dubbed an intriguing social marketing app, MediaPosts’s Catharine P. Taylor shared some insight into the campaign in her article, Are We Entering Social Advertising’s Creative Golden Age? Mashable also wrote about the campaign.

In addition to their clever social media campaign, Campfire worked with Traackr to identify reality TV influencers, as well as people dubbed influential “makers”  – those who show interest in DIY projects a bit more involved than your average house painting task. The influencers identified were sent a End-of-the-World Survival Kit (including a Colony hazmat suit, masks and flashlights – all the things you’d need in the case of a deadly worldwide outbreak….along with Facebook, of course)

Congratulations, Campfire! We really enjoy seeing the great things our clients accomplish.

If you have some great stories to share, please let us know!

Who is Nicholas Kristof?

Nicholas Kristof began writing his op-ed column, On The Ground, in 2001, which currently runs twice a week and focuses on globalization and human rights. Throughout his 26-year career at the New York Times, Nicholas has become a well-respected journalist and author who has been writing for the betterment of people and the earth for more than 20 years. Kristof is widely known for bringing to light heavy topics in his column, such as human rights abuse in Asia and Africa, as well as writing about less emotional, but still important topics, such as the current presidency, his secrets of success and even personal moments in his life.

Kristof’s respected writings have earned him two Pulitzer Prizes; in 1990 he and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of China’s Tiananmen Square democracy movement. They were the first married couple to win a Pulitzer for journalism. Then in 2006, Kristof won a second Pulitzer for commentary for what the judges called “his graphic, deeply reported columns that, at personal risk, focused attention on genocide in Darfur and that gave voice to the voiceless in other parts of the world.”

At Traackr, Kristof has come up on multiple global influential lists pertaining to hunger and health. His wide range of topics that are discussed on his blog truly satisfies every reader with his insightful, educational and entertaining posts. With almost 1 million Twitter followers and more than 150,000 Facebook friends, it seems that there are plenty of people who agree with our thoughts on this influencer.

Congratulations Nicholas from us here at Traackr, we truly look forward to seeing what your future work brings!

Let’s pretend that you are a marketing exec at a packaged goods company which is on the verge of launching a new, unique laundry detergent.  Now let’s pretend that I have put together two distinct groups of people to which you could market — but you can only choose one.  The first group is made up of women, aged 25-45 with an average of 1.7 children and average HH incomes above $75k.  The other group is made up of people who are all passionate about laundry and other household chores.  Which group would you pick?

Hopefully, anyone reading this post will choose the latter group…but I’m not sure this is going to be the case.  Many of you will instinctively select the group which is demographically “well defined.”  You will feel comforted by the numbers — the hard data.  This is because, for as long as any of us can remember, demographics have served as the key to marketing efficiency.  They were the light that would guide any campaign.  They represented ‘hard’ data which could and should not be questioned — and they demanded (and received) blind loyalty.  Just define your demographics and market to them — it was just that simple.

But is the proliferation of the social web enabling a “post-demographic” era for marketers?  Is it forcing people to rethink what demographics stand for and how they can and should impact marketing strategies?  I certainly think so…

The reality is that demographics are grounded in, as well as dependent on, some loose, simple assumptions.  Ultimately, demographic-based marketing is an attempt to achieve higher sales conversion rates.  The assumption being that people who fit a specific demographic profile are more likely to be interested in a certain product and therefore more likely to buy it — relative to people from a different demographic.  Marketing to a specific demographic would, in theory, provide “more bang” for your marketing buck.  Simply put, the assumption chain looks like this:

On face value, this assumption chain is logical, but often (like with all assumptions) flawed.  As you move from one assumption to the next in this chain, you lose accuracy.  And, by far, the largest “leap of faith” in this chain is the assumption that one’s demographic defines one’s interests.  Common sense says that the assumption connecting one’s interests to one’s purchasing behavior is a much safer and more accurate assumption.

But historically, locating people’s interests (in any scalable fashion) has been very difficult — near impossible.  So demographics became the de facto method for predicting purchasing behavior.  But today, with the social web, it is much more possible to locate interests and passions — bringing us one step closer to purchasing behavior.  We can now skip the middle-man.  Why worry about demographics when you don’t need to?  Why rely on a predictor of interests when you can uncover them directly?  (Unfortunately, because it’s safe — no one ever lost their job for buying IBM OR creating a demographic-based marketing strategy).

So, is there something wrong with demographic thinking?  Well, not really.  It’s just a bit dated (like Don Draper’s wet bar).  Will the concept of demographics go the way of the printed newspaper?  Probably not.  Demographic thinking is still necessary & valid in some cases, but we will start to see its importance diminish quite rapidly in the coming years.  Even today, demographics should only be one piece of the puzzle, not the whole thing.  We need to realize that what really matters is one’s interests & passions.  NOT one’s age or gender.

A good example of this is a question we’re often asked at Traackr.  Lately we’ve been approached by a lot of clients looking to target today’s hottest demographic — Mommy Bloggers.  The problem with “targeting” Mommy Bloggers is that it is a useless exercise.  There are many Mommy Bloggers out there, however the only thing they have in common is that they are women; have children; and write a blog.  Other than that, they are as different as peanut butter and tennis shoes.  Some Mommy Bloggers blog about high fashion, some about politics, some about technology, some about local diaper deals, etc.  The range of their interests and passions are endless as are the reasons people follow them.  What’s important is understanding one’s passions and what he or she likes to talk about.  Knowing one’s passions is the key to understanding who they are.  And knowing who they are is MUCH MORE important than knowing what they are…

So, are you a male advertising or marketing executive over the age of 50 with annual household income above $150k living in or around a major metropolitan city?  If so, I don’t care.  The real question is whether or not you are someone who is passionate about the future of marketing and the way the social web is and will continue to affect it.  That’s what really matters.

Other than that, you can be a dog for all I care…

DS

The above cartoon by Peter Steiner has been reproduced from page 61 of July 5, 1993 issue of The New Yorker, (Vol.69 (LXIX) no. 20)

In his post he covers a topic that is obvious, yet still painfully far from being resolved – social data is officially a part of business now, but it is extremely overwhelming. Companies know they need to use it to listen and interact with their customers, but they don’t know the best way to go about doing so. Jeremiah’s research in the Social CRM and Mobile/Social space found that Social CRM is, in his words, starting to get wind under its wings, and mobile/social is already around at the consumer level. It’s what’s going to happen next that is the interesting and most important piece.

He states that corporate social strategists need to evolve their thinking right now and find monitoring companies that truly quiet the noise in the social media landscape. The current state of brand monitoring features are no longer useful in a world of 24/7 updates and change – they only allow for reactive responses, not proactive and actionable ones. Look for companies that will help derive intelligence form the excessive data source of social – not just provide monitoring and reporting.

As the era of social media continues to bring more transparency, responsibility and added expectations of companies, they will need services that can assist them efficiently and effectively. What steps are you taking to assist you with these challenges?

Who is John Sumser?

You may know him from his “Top 100 HR Influencers” project, but John is pretty much all over the place; he’s the founder and CEO of Two Color Hat, Director at salary.com, editor of HRExaminer and also writes on his personal recruiting blog, johnsumser.com.  In all of the venues he contributes to, John provides invaluable news and views into the HR industry and with all of his knowledge and experience, he also gives his readers foresight into the future of the industry.

Traackr partners with John frequently to create lists that cover specific areas of the HR industry. You can check out the Top 25 Online Influencers in Talent Management, which was featured on the home page of HR Examiner. All the rest can be found on his blog. The array of HR topics these lists cover reflect John’s “influencer style”, which is a healthy and informed view of all aspects of his industry, rather than an extreme focus on one area of it. With this general approach, John maintains a spot among the top influencers in the industry, but doesn’t put him at number one.

With nearly 3,500 twitter followers and 5,000 tweets, John’s energy is truly inspiring and addicting to all of his readers. If you want to learn about the HR industry or need professional advice about your company’s own HR, John Sumser is someone you should read up on!

Congratulations John! We know we will see you again.

Who is Beth Kanter?

Beth is the author of one of the longest running and most popular blogs for non-profits, co-author of an upcoming book, The Networked Nonprofit and the CEO of Zoetica. She was also named one of the most influential women in technology by Fast Company and featured as one of BusinessWeek’s “Voices of Innovation for Social Media“, so there is really no question as to why Beth earned a spot as our June Influencer of the Month.

With more than 4,000 fans on her Facebook page and more than 340,000 Twitter followers, Beth has a devoted following that is interested in and trusts what she has to say about social media, the networked non-profit world and, once-in-a-while, South by Southwest.

Beth has popped up on the Traackr radar a few times, including the SXSW 2010 Trending list, which you can take a look at here – http://lists.traackr.com/sxsw.

The unique perspective that Beth brings to non-profits is her vision of the “networked non-profit”, which takes advantage of  social media in order to make their business and cause more transparent and effective in a very simple way. Through social media, Beth believes that non-profits can get back to their roots and begin to more efficiently engage people, raise awareness of social issues and ultimately make the world a safer, fairer and healthier place to be.

Congratulations to your success Beth, it is truly deserved! We look forward to seeing what the future brings for you.

At first glance, it would seem that social media and the web would make the job of a Crisis Management professional much harder.   After all, online, bad news travels fast.  Real fast and real wide.  News of an oil spill, drug recall, executive scandal, or a broken guitar can no longer be “contained” like it could in those beautiful, sunny pre-internet days.  Small rumors become worldwide truths within minutes.  If you are a Crisis Management specialist, this new world is your greatest nightmare.

Or is it?

What if this new world presented the Crisis Management professional with the ability to do his or her job better?  What if it wasn’t something to be feared, but embraced?  Again…not sure I’m right about this, but what if I am?

While it’s true that bad new travels fast in this new world, but so does good news — maybe not as fast as bad news, but it still moves.  That’s a good thing.  But the best thing is that the news is visible and it can be found.  With the right tools, the word being spread on the web can be uncovered and used to better inform and enable a crisis management situation.

As an example of what I’m talking about, our good friends over at Crimson Hexagon and Traackr used our respective tools to offer an example of how the web/social media, coupled with the right tools could actually help to enhance the Crisis Management function — for the gulf oil spill situation.

With Crimson Hexagon’s opinion analysis tool, a crisis management pro can not only monitor the relevant comments spreading across the web regarding the particular crisis, but organize them in a way that will better help that communications professional strategize about his or her next move.  Outside the obvious positive/negative sentiment, the Crimson tool can uncover the specifics of the vast opinions being shared online.  Are people talking about the impact of the oil spill on the environment or government policy relating to oil companies?  Are the opinions based on misinformation or are they legitimate and need to be addressed?  What information is the public looking for most?  Would knowing this information help the Crisis Management team plan their communications?  Sounds like it would be a huge help…

The second big piece to the puzzle is understanding who — what online individuals — are dominating and driving the conversations around this particular topic.  These are the people that are driving opinion and have the greatest impact, positive or negative, on the issue.  So, anyone looking to manage a crisis simply MUST know them.  [You can see a selection of the Top Influencers for the Gulf oil spill at http://lists.traackr.com/gulfoilspill].

Of course, we at TRAACKR believe that you need to know these people well BEFORE a crisis occurs.  Once the crisis occurs, it’s pretty late to start looking for them.  So we highly recommend finding, tracking and establishing a relationship with the influencers in your space today…regardless of a crisis.  Knowing these people ahead of time will help prevent misinformation or ugly rumors from spreading and getting out of control.

Of course, great social media tools cannot prevent a crisis.  They can’t stop an oil spill or a defective drug.  And they also can’t legitimize bad, dishonest communication on the part of those managing a crisis.  Crisis Management 2.0 is about good informed decisions and honest, direct communication.  Knowing the most important information to address as well as the right people with whom to communicate will become essential pieces of all Crisis Management campaigns in the future.

Anyway, would love to hear your thoughts on the impact of Web2.0 on the Crisis Management function and the role that high quality monitoring & analytics tools can play.  Let us know!

Who is Barbara Duck?

Better known as “The Medical Quack”, Barbara has one of the most frequently visited health blogs on the Internet and a great personality to go with it – maybe that’s why she has almost 3,000 Twitter followers. With a last name like Duck, I suppose a good sense of humor comes standard…

Before she stepped into the healthcare industry, Barbara worked in outside sales with Fortune 500 companies. When she decided she needed to re-invent herself, Barbara showed how serious she was about change by learning how to program and write code. Armed with her new skills, in the time of “primitive and simple” healthcare software, as she puts it, Barbara created an electronic medical records system for the doctor she worked for. The rest is history.

Her background may be a bit all over the place, just like her blog posts, but we think that is what makes her such a great Influencer of the Month candidate. She likes to cover just about anything that holds interest to her and her readers and always makes sure to keep everything on a level that is understandable to everyone – not just people with medical degrees.

It is for this reason that she has been present on over five Traackr a-lists, in topics including healthcare, sexual health, diabetes, drug recall, and even business intelligence. She gets it – all of it. And her readers know that, which is why she has so many of them. So keep it up, Barbara Duck. We congratulate you!

He drinks about 5 red bulls a day, so we know he won’t fall asleep on us, and he has two kids at home to keep him sane in the midst of Traackr work. Ok, maybe a 9 – and 8-year-old won’t keep him sane, but he loves them, so we had to mention them in here.

A few more things about Tom we thought you might find pretty cool:

• Tom is a completely self-taught technologist. As a child, he had dyslexia and once he figured out he could read and write much better on a computer, he used technology for the rest of his formal education.
• He’s really looking forward to overcoming the technology challenges of storing tons (literally) of influencer data.
• He’s bungee jumped before!
• You can find him on LinkedIn.

Tom and I worked together some years back – for that matter, we went to hell and back together – so we anticipate his integration in the Traackr team to be a walk in the park…

Welcome to the team, Tom! We expect great things from you!

On a side note, it’s been a busy few months at Traackr with a lot of new hires, and we don’t anticipate slowing down anytime soon! Actually, we are still looking to hire a front-end developer. If you’re interested, or know anyone else that may be, be sure to get in contact with us.