Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

influence

The TRUE Power of Influence and Emotional Impact

People talk about influence ? what it is, how to get it, how influence is guided by numbers and how to attract the attention of influencers for promotional needs.

There?s no doubt that influence is a constant hot potato.

But sometimes, influence comes from the strangest of places. Sometimes influence comes from folks we might never look twice at. Sometimes influence comes from nothing but emotion.

Look at this video from Australian Juan Mann. One guy, who started a campaign offering free hugs to try and bring a touch of humanity back to the city of Sydney in his native Australia.

He wasn?t an A-list blogger commanding an audience of thousands. He wasn?t a celebrity with a million-plus Twitter followers. Instead, he was just a guy with an idea built on emotion.

Yet as you can see, not only did he influence folks in his city (as seen by the fast collection of petition signatures), he also influenced millions of people worldwide (almost 73 million and counting on YouTube).

There are also a ton of Free Hugs movements worldwide, both online and offline. All from a single guy?s belief in humanity and emotion.

Funny how influence works, huh?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4[/youtube]

Make Yourself An Influencer By Playing The Klout +K Game

A lot of people continue to talk about Klout and whether it’s something to take note of, or simply another tool that’s fun to use but doesn’t offer real value.

Personally, I’m in the second camp. Probably because I don’t feel you can measure influence purely by what you do online, and most definitely because there are so many variations that make up a single decision that – to me – it’s impossible to say what influenced that decision the most.

But whether you think Klout has value or not, it’s now a lot of fun – because you can game the system and show its flaws, and this is all done by one of Klout’s own tools, the new +K option.

The +K option allows you to vote for people’s expertise on a certain topic. The idea is, the more votes someone gets on a topic, the more recognized they are by Klout as an expert in that field. Which, as the video below shows, can lead to completely ridiculous results .

So, yeah – well done, Klout, for showing your flaws better than any critic could. Now that deserves a +K!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I387sH_9yMY

Note: Big props to Dino Dogan for the idea of this mock interview to highlight how to game Klout.

Internet Fame and the True Impact of Influence

DSCN1849.JPG

You may be aware that there is a big debate going on in the social media blogosphere about ?influence? (and you can see links to several blog posts at the end of this one for examples of these discussions).

How we need to leverage influencers in our communities in order to get the word out about our causes, brands or services, etc. And that makes total sense from a generating-word-of-mouth point of view.

But hold on.

If you?re trying to do this, what if you don?t actually know who your industry influencers are? Perhaps because you?re not really immersed in your own open community, or because your community is too large or public-facing to be able to list your champions in an organic way, you?re just not seeing it?

So you begin to use some of the tools out there that purport to measure influence, and you start to think, ?This isn?t as easy as it sounds.?

Maybe you?re starting to think that influence is not about how many followers someone has on Twitter. ?Maybe you?re starting to think that ?influencer scores? are totally meaningless for your goals and objectives.

So what is influence, really?

Can it be measured (and if so, how)? How can you find the influencers in your industry? Do apps?like Klout or Twitalyzer really work to automate this? Or?is this all bunk?

A group of us are going to be talking about Internet Fame and the True Impact of Influence in a new BlogTalkRadio show on Wednesday February 9 at 10pm ET.

This new show is the brainchild of some really smart social media practitioners and consultants from various industries, and the purpose of the show is to debunk some of the social media bubble/hype around various issues. The tone will be irreverent, but the conversation and concerns around the topic are very real.

I hope you?ll be able to join us (expect the accompanying chat to be lively and extremely snarky!), or listen to the podcast afterwards (bookmark this page and come back to listen!).

I?ll be hosting this inaugural episode (uh-oh!) and Tamsen McMahon, Lisa Thorell, Allyson Kapin, Rich Becker and Olivier Blanchard will be chatting live with me on the night. But, as it?s BlogTalkRadio, anyone can call in and ask the panel questions. Lots of other people with thoughts on the topic will be listening in and participating by chat.

In preparation for the radio show, here are some of the blog posts the group may be referencing.

So put the kids to bed, grab your tipple of choice, and join us on Wednesday evening!

This post is derived from Maddie Grant and SocialFish.

The Problem with Influence

Ego and big heads

I just read something by a friend that’s both interesting and sad at the same time (and sad as in lame, not as in Bambi).

My friend mentioned that he was speaking to a well-known PR guy and author a few months back.

The topic of the conversation was a site for bloggers and authors that my friend works at. According to the PR guy, the site would never be much of a success because he (the PR guy and author) wasn’t ranked high enough.

The PR guy then went on to say that the site wouldn’t be a success because, “You have to make sure the biggest influencers are ranked at the top.”

As my friend so eloquently put it, well f*ck me sideways.

Influence Shminfluence

The problem with influence is that it all boils down to relevancy. You can’t tell me that a pig farmer in Alaska (tough old pigs out there!) is influenced by what a PR guy is saying about the 2.0 or 3.0 world.

Instead, I’d think he’d be more influenced by bacon writers and pork chefs, and analysts looking at how the pork buy trade will look in the next two years.

When it comes to influence, the folks that matter to us are the ones that are in our industry, or affect the industries of our customers and clients. That’s what influences our business and its success (or lack of it), not someone who’s in an industry that has little to no relevance to us.

There’s no doubting that the PR guy is influential in his sphere – but does that mean he should be viewed as such in all spheres, and “ranked higher” because of it?

Egos and Eggheads

And this is where the real “problem” with influence comes in – when it starts to make you feel you automatically deserve to be in a certain position, or recognized more by something or someone.

The quote my friend uses – “You have to make sure the biggest influencers are ranked at the top” – is possibly the biggest reason why influence is coming under so much flak at the minute (just Google “Klout sucks” to see some examples).

We seem to be creating an environment where people expect to “be someone” because you have some success in a certain field, which is a shame.

There’s nothing wrong with success, and there’s nothing wrong with pride in your achievements. Hell, success should be celebrated.

Ego, on the other hand (especially one where your head gets as big as an egg’s on a pin tack) is a different beast altogether. When it reaches the stage that someone says a venture won’t be successful because the influencers aren’t ranked higher – then we have a problem.

Influence and Success

We need influence. Consumers buy from their favourite celebrities and their recommendations of a product. Professionals buy from people they trust when that person makes a recommendation. Brands use “names” to help promote products and services.

So influence works. But wouldn’t it be better to be the right influence, as opposed to the type that’s defined by someone who appears to have a huge dose of self-importance?

And as for that site that would never be a success?

There are about 30,000 authors and bloggers registered with the site. The company had a great Blog World Expo, and are about to launch a new platform that (ironically) will help people like the critical PR guy connect with bloggers for PR campaigns.

Not too bad for something that defines its own influence, huh?

image: Divine Harvester