Monday, 7 January 2013

Are We Influential?

Return on Influence by Mark W. Schaefer
 
Return On Influence: The Revolutionary Power of Klout, Social Scoring, and Influence Marketing
 
 
 
 
 
Humans are essentially social beings and have probably been so since the days cavemen gathered round the campfire. Throughout history people have developed ways of networking and sharing information. The advent of technical equipment such as the telephone and the telegram took this further, and we are now living in a digital age where information can spread quickly and widely. When we use Social Networking sites we are sharing information not only about ourselves but also about our interests and the products we sell or like.
 
This means that our influence stretches much further and wider then the days when we gathered round the tea trolley or watercooler. The words we write can have an influence far greater than we can ever imagine. Companies are paying attention to what we are saying about them and their products. Conversely we are learning so much more about products and what our friends or others think of them.
 
I am an author, in effect a businesswoman, so I am extremely interested in networking and my reach and influence within this world. This book has made me think about this much more carefully about what I am doing in the digital world and my potential influence within this world.
 
Social Influence sites such as Klout provide a mechanism for measuring this influence, and the book outlines how this might happen. Schaefer uses Case Studies to good effect to demonstrate how this might happen. There are contributions from key influencers in Social Media talking about how they developed thier influence.
 
Anyone who wants to generate influence in their chosen field and use it to good effect to drive marketing strategies should read this book. It is excellent, well written and will help you develop the ways in which you may influence those around you. It is honest in its approach and looks at sites such as Klout from all angles. It does not shy away from topics such as how these sites can be manipulated, but gives a very convincing argument for why we should be using them.
 
I myself am a Klout user and I thought my Klout score of 58 was OK. I was astonished to find that with this type of score I am considered quite highly influential.
 
Whether we love or hate social media I think we ignore it at our peril. There are some very large players taking note out there and I as an author need to be aware of this.
 
As we are talking about social networking it would seem appropriate to provide my links on these sites
 
 
 
 
 
Feel free to connect with me in any of these ways. It would be great to share views and expertise
 
I was given a free copy of this book as a gift from the Author and was not expected to provide any review in return for this. The review is fair and objective and one which I felt I had to write given my enjoyment of the book.
 

 

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6 comments:

  1. Fran Hill8 January 2013 at 22:24

    I don't know what a Klout score is but I wish I had one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wendy H. Jones10 January 2013 at 00:16

    Hi Fran. Klout is a measure of your influence in a social media world. You can sign up to Klout at www.klout.com. You can then link this to as many or as few of your social media sites as you wish. This then measures your score based on interaction with others on these sites. Hope this helps.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown14 January 2013 at 02:32

    Thank you for bringing Return on Influence and Klout to my attention. I was blissfully unaware that such a site exists. I will check out www.klout.com and try to get a copy of the book to read.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wendy H. Jones17 January 2013 at 21:16

      Your welcome Dyanna. It is all fascinating and whether we like it or not really important in this digital age

      Delete
  4. Unknown16 January 2013 at 18:09

    We are all influential. The scores show people who want to reach out in a topic are who might be influential from their use of some channel. Since they miss the vast majority of human interactions, they are just one guess to start with.

    Aside from the numbers, I find that anyone focused on a topic will soon be an expert on it. If they connect with others in that field, there will be incluence

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wendy H. Jones17 January 2013 at 21:18

    That is so true Warren we all have influence in our own sphere. These scores just put a numerical value on what is in fact an intangible area

    ReplyDelete

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