The Feature:  Adding Influencers

As our users already know, the output of any search in TRAACKR is a highly relevant and targeted list of top influencers.  To date, this list has been limited to the Top25 influencers in any topic.  As of this weekend, however, these lists are not limited by just this Top25 provided by Traackr.  Our users can now extend and customize their A-Lists by adding anyone they want.  When adding influencers to an A-list, these influencers will be scored and tracked alongside all the other influencers on the list.  It’s a simple, but powerful feature that gives our users the ability to make their TRAACKR A-Lists completely customized to fit their campaign goals.

It’s also important to note that any influencers added to an A-List will also be tracked in the Influencer Monitor.

Along with being able to add influencers to lists, users can also exclude and edit influencers as well.

How it Works

Adding influencers to an A-List is very easy.  On any full A-List view, simply click on the Add Influencer button at the top of the page.  This will trigger a pop-up box which will ask you to enter the name of the influencer as well as a URL on which he/she publishes.  You can enter a Twitter URL (http://twitter.com/#!/BARACKOBAMA), a blog URL (http://techcrunch.com/), YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademy), etc.  [*using a Twitter URL is preferable for our system]

With these two pieces of information, the TRAACKR engine can try to locate the person you want to add.  Once that search happens, you will confirm the person you want to add and place him/her into your list.  At that point, you will find that person at the bottom of your list.

Now all you have to do is click on the message next to the influencer profile (it says, CLICK HERE TO RETRIEVE DATA FOR UNSCORED INFLUENCERS) and the TRAACKR system will “refresh” that influencer.  This means the system will search and score that influencer for each of the TRAACKR metrics (Reach/Resonance/Relevance).  If that influencer mentioned any of the keywords in your search, he/she will record a Relevance score and you will be able to see his/her posts in his/her profile.

Pretty cool, right?

Why it’s Significant

For us, this feature is much more than a simple enhancement to our A-List interface.  For us, giving our users the ability to add influencers & customize lists is actually a significant paradigm shift, not only for our tool, but (I would argue) for the “influencer identification” market as a whole.

How so?

Well…there are a bunch of tools/services/applications out there that do “influencer identification” on the social web.  Some are not-so-good, some are ok (and one is GREAT…I’ll let you guess which one that is .  But one of the things on which we all compete is our definition of influence.  These definitions of influence are pretty much based on the magical algorithms that drive their scoring system.  The “our algorithm is better than your algorithm” is a battle that we will all continue to fight as we develop our place in the market.  No doubt.  And I believe the science behind these systems is definitely important.  It’s a huge part of TRAACKR’s core technology, our differentiator and our success.

However, as arguably the top influencer tool on the market, we are very comfortable saying…..we don’t know it all.

We are a technology company.  Our system and our algorithms are quantitatively based.  Our definition of influence is based on things we can measure.  Not on things we can’t.  We can measure linkbacks or retweets.  We can’t measure whether or not someone is a good writer, a funny writer, or a passionate writer.  We can’t measure whether or not someone shares a common “spirit” with your product or brand.  And we can’t measure someone’s willingness to talk to you or about your product.  These are all qualitative indicators that we will never be able to measure.  However, they may have a significant impact on your definition of “influence” for your particular goals of the moment.

The fact is that the social web gives us access to a lot of data which, when used effectively, can provide amazing insights into a person’s influence.  But, we will be the first to admit that this data offers a perspective.  One perspective.  It’s an important and necessary perspective.  But it’s still one perspective.  There remains plenty of room for important qualitative insights to enhance and shape the definition of influence in any particular context.  And these are the kinds of insights that good PR/Mktg professionals provide.  This is where they provide significant value and this is how they differentiate themselves.

And this is why we added this Add Influencer feature to our A-List tool.  We identify and deliver a list of the top influencers in a space as defined by our algorithms.  Now you have the ability to add your own value on top of that list and build the list that meets your needs of the moment.

Now, let me ask again; pretty cool, right?

Now it prompts the question:

WHAT THE F**K IS AN INFLUENCER?*

Well it ain’t so…

Here are five hard truths on what an ‘influencer’ is and isn’t:

1- An influencer is not a new paradigm – Social media has not created this new breed of people. The fact  that people influence each other’s decisions on anything and everything (from buying decisions to marital advice or health) is at the very core of our social fabric and so is the idea that influence is not distributed equally among us. So we now call those exerting the most influence on a group, the ‘influencers’, big deal. Back in the pre-mass media days, finding these influencers was pretty easy: the community was the size of a village and many of the influencers in the community were fairly clearly labeled: the mayor, the doctor, the teacher, etc. Here is what’s new: new media has made the village global and influential people around specific topics (we’ll get back to this point) or issues don’t wear a name tag anymore, so if you don’t know them, they’re much harder to find.

2- An influencer doesn’t have super powers - I know this will come as a disappointment to some but (most) influencers haven’t been bitten by a radioactive spider and weren’t born on Kal-El then sent to Earth on a spaceship (though some have probably been raised on a farm in Kansas). The idea that influential people can ‘fix’ any PR crisis, make any product succeed, redeem a brand, etc. is just absurd. I’ll release another blog post in the next week or so to expand on this notion that influencers are not a cure for ‘suck’. The ‘powers’ influencers have are shared by all of us; the extend of our influence, where and how it applies will vary greatly with each person but we’re all influencers in our own right. These powers consist of an ability to get passionate about something (could be a brand, product, location, hobby, etc.) and **efficiently** share your interest with people around you.

3- No influencer is ubiquitous – This is probably the biggest misconception among those starting to work on “influencer marketing”. The idea that there is a finite list of ‘top influencers’ that you can go back to over and over again is very appealing but is just not true… Our work on influencer discovery at Traackr has demonstrated that contextual relevance drives influence through higher rates of successful influencer engagement and much higher conversion rates among the community of influencers (leads generated from influencers converting to sales). Of course the size of one’s network matters and just like marketers have been trained to make decisions on where to invest their ad budgets, influence marketers need to determine where to spend their time/money, with one important caveat: influencer marketing is about earned media, not paid media, and marketers need to factor their ability to activate influencers (engage them successfully), and for that relevance is paramount.

4- An influencer can come in all shapes and colors - There is no such thing as a stereotypical influencer. Malcolm Gladwell started popularizing the notion in his best seller, The Tipping Point, that there are different types of influencers that need to work in concert for an initiative to take off (whether we’re talking about the Tea Party – and I’m talking about THIS Tea Party not that one – or Hush Puppies). The reality of the diversity among influencers is actually much greater and more complex than the archetypes of a salesman, connector and maven defined by Gladwell. Understanding the type of influencer you need or you’re dealing with is essential to successfully engaging them and reaching your business goals.

5- An influencer can’t be bought - Marketers have to start changing their mindset about the way media gets distributed: when placing an ad, the marketer had the certainty that paying the right price would get the message distributed but had to live with the uncertainty of the effectiveness of the message on their target. Now in influencer marketing, the uncertainty lies with their ability to get the message distributed by people (influencers) who are primarily committed to serving their community or audience and will only discuss a product, brand, issue if they deem it interesting enough. However, what marketers lose in control of the distribution of their message, they gain in effectiveness of the message once it gets distributed because influencers are trusted agents (Chris Brogan, you owe me for an unintended reference to your book) to their community. This is also the reason why influencers can’t be bought: their social currency is the trust they built with their audience and they can’t break that bound or they will very quickly lose their status. For you marketers out there, Jon Bond said it best recently to FastCompany: “Marketing in the future is like sex. Only losers will have to pay for it.”

I’m personally not a big fan at all of the term ‘influencer’ itself as I think it leads to misunderstandings and oversimplification of a really rich and powerful concept. For better or for worse, we’re stuck with it for now and I’m not about to coin yet another buzz word. So let’s make sure that at least, we’re all on the same page when we use the word.

(*) my thanks to Marta Kagan @ Espresso for inspiring the title of this post, inferred from her infamous presentation “What the F**K is Social Media?”.

Lastly, we can’t reveal too much now, but be on the look-out for another special October list – think pink!

With all the hoopla going on about SXSW we simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity to show off our sweet A-List skills and bring you a public list of the Top SXSW Music Influencers. With hundreds of musical acts showcasing their talent on over eighty stages in downtown Austin, we knew the buzz would be huge.

After compiling the data, we can honestly say that we were surprised with the results. Who would have thought that a political journalist, everyone’s favorite gossip columnist, a well-known public television station (not usually associated with music) and not one, but two marketing pros would make a music list?

See the list for yourself here. In the meantime, be sure to follow the top influencers via Traackr’s SXSW Music Twitter list (@traackr/sxsw-music-influencers). Once you’ve seen the list, tell us what you think – did you love it? Hate it? Let us know!

However, as impressive as his bio may be, what truly earned Chris the spot of the first influencer of 2010 was the fact that he has shown up in Traackr a-lists spanning from small business marketing to Iphone apps to weight management to virtualization. There is absolutely no common link between any of those topics – aside from Chris.

Chris demonstrates passion and has strong involvement in things that impact his everyday life – no matter how unrelated they may be. This is what makes him so unique and why he is Traackr’s Influencer of the Month. His more than 75,400 Twitter followers, 8,400 fans on Facebook and 91,000 devoted YouTube viewers (who have exceeded  66,000,000 views as of December 2009) may be part of the reason too.

Chris’s cunning personality and strong opinions have helped him build an impressive following and strong online presence which led him to becoming the successful online influencer and entrepreneur he is today. We truly look forward to what Chris, along with the rest of the online influencer community, have in store for the new year!

It’s that time again! The Traackr team is excited to highlight the Influencer of the Month for the “ho-ho” holiday month of December. Read on!

Who is Anthony Padilla?

Most 22-year-olds are finishing up college and getting ready to enter the grueling work world of 9-5 jobs, but not Anthony. Instead, he has led the path of the new celebrity in entertainment – YouTube Celebrities. Ask most tweens, teens and even 20-something’s and they will probably know of Anthony’s humorous antics and good looks from his comedy duo YouTube channel, Smosh, which he co-creates with childhood friend Ian Hecox.

We first spotted Anthony in his number one influencer spot on our teen male influencers list. Since then, we have been amazed by his dedication to the online space and his communities, his clever comedy skits – one of which was awarded YouTube’s Best Comedy Award in 2006 – and his keen sense of knowing exactly what it takes to become an online super star.

Since Smosh’s beginning in 2005, it has become the third most subscribed to YouTube channel and continues to rise in popularity among the younger generations. It was this popularity that landed the duo among YouTube’s initial participants in their partnership revenue-sharing program in 2007. Interestingly enough, one of the revenue generating agreements that came out of the program was a sponsorship deal with Live Video – one of YouTube’s competitors. It’s not everyday you can say you got paid by one of your host’s competitors with everyone in agreement!

In addition to the more than 1 million subscribers on YouTube and almost 300 million views of their videos (that’s right 300,000,000 views!), Smosh has large amounts of followers among their multiple social media platforms, some of which include more than 45,000 followers on Twitter and more than 150,000 friends on MySpace. Anthony and Ian have even been business saavy enough to build what some might call an empire with the Smosh name, including t-shirts, posters, gift cards, games and contests.

Most importantly, however, is that aside from the Smosh name, Anthony has done very well with his own name by creating a fan base that is happy to follow his funny attitude and charming smile anywhere he pops up. Proof is in the numbers – he has been able to accumulate over 30,000 followers on

We are very excited to release a rare public Traackr A-List today :  The Top 25 Authorities who are moving PR forward.  Check out the list here.  Be aware, however, that if you look at the list now you will notice that the Top 5 Influencers on this list have been hidden.  Why is that, you may ask?  Well because we wanted to have some fun with this list before the upcoming holiday season.  We decided to have a contest and invite everyone to make their best guess as to who they think are the TOP 5 Authorities on our list.

Here’s how the contest is going to work:

The Contest

Rather than just giving away the entire list, we want everyone to work for it a bit.  Not only is there a great prize for the winner, but there are a whole lot of bragging rights too!

Dates:

Opened – Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 8 a.m. EST

Closed – Friday, Nov. 20 at 12 p.m. EST

Winner announced – Friday, Nov. 20 at 1 p.m. EST (Winner announced on the Traackr blog)

E-mail answers to: PRcontest@traackr.com

Make sure to give your answers in ranking order 1-5.  Also make sure that you offer the REAL NAMES of the individuals (as opposed to their blog URL or Twitter handle — we don’t believe influencers are defined by any single platform)

Prize: A $50 Amazon gift card – just in time for the holidays!

Tips from the team: The three Traackr measurement scores, reach resonance and relevance, displayed on the list, can help you make an educated guess. Another tip? You don’t necessarily need to be in PR to move PR forward. The first person to submit the correct answer wins!

Traackr’s Methodology

Traackr’s Authority List is developed through a methodical approach that finds meaning in the massive amount of data that is collected and shared throughout the online space. In other words, we take all the jumble on the Internet regarding online influencers, and turn it into meaningful, understandable and useful information for our clients. Through this approach, we identify the most influential individuals who play a pivotal role in a specific space – in this case, moving the PR world into the next millennium.

*Note: While all of these influencers may not be PR professionals themselves, they still play a significant role online influencing the profession.

Like all of our searches, identifying the top 25 PR influencers began with a keyword-based search using industry terminology. Our main focus for this search was around the PR 2.0 space, so the keywords were made up of more recent terminology trends among public relations professionals. Based on the data received from this keyword search, the influencers were ranked using Traackr’s scoring algorithms; reach (the ability to generate views), resonance (the ability to spark and propagate conversations) and relevance (the ability to cover specific topics or a market).

This methodical approach encompasses all of the social media platforms from Twitter to Facebook through Friendfeed and blogs, which is what makes Traackr’s lists so relevant and useful. Traackr sees the value in each online space, and by focusing on numerous platforms, sometimes it enables us to identify influencers who are making huge contributions to their field but may not have been recognized yet. Our good friends at Corporate Eye put it best; we spot the “king-whisperers”.

If you have any other specific questions about our methodology in regards to this list, just send us a note.

Good luck making your picks.  Don’t forget, we will be releasing the final list this Friday at 1 p.m. EST, right here on this blog…