Does online influence matter? What is it? How is it measured? How is it built?
In the digital marketing industry, people try to measure how effective or influential their companies and marketing campaigns are on the Internet. This concept of online influence is, by the very nature of what is trying to be measured, difficult to quantify and substantiate. This blog will discuss online influence, what it is, how it can be measured and finally how to build it.
Online influence is considered to be an indication of how successful a company’s marketing campaign, social media content, Internet presence, and corporate branding is. There are a number of key indicators that need to be met, to be considered influential online. The first is the ability to affect purchasing decisions of your consumers. This indicator talks directly to marketing and advertising success, as well as Internet presence, recognizing the impact these have on your influence. The second indicator is the recognition and reputation of your company. Influencers are knowledgeable in their respective fields, they are considered experts are often sought out and approached for advice and consultation. Their advice is trusted and respected, based on a reputation of good standing, and offering objective, independent advice. Well-placed social media interactions strongly affect reputation and recognition. The third indicator can also result from social media, and this is the ability to inspire and motivate others into action and involvement, creating positive engagement and ultimately results. The final indicator is that of trendsetting. This pertains to a perception of a company’s ability to quickly adopt new trending ideas, or drop old traditional ideas. A company’s branding and actions underpin trendsetting.
With online influence defined, you’d think it would be easy to measure. For example, one simple and rudimentary measure would be to count the number of social media responses that your company has. This would include circles on G+, followers on LinkedIn, Likes on Facebook, and Retweets in Twitter. Klout tried to take this concept further by creating a quantifiable influence score based on a complex algorithm that included these. However, the process used by Klout became publically ridiculed and disqualified by the industry after some embarrassing errors were discovered in their formulas. Klout isn’t the only company that tries to measure influence and online presence. Kred is a company that measures influence and outreach as a reflection of trust and generosity. PeerIndex measures Authority, Audience and Activity, which simply put is how knowledgeable you are, how trusted you are, and how active the knowledge you supply is shared. While Kred, Klout and PeerIndex focus mainly on social media, the Endelman Blog Level is slightly different in that it identifies influential bloggers by measuring readership, shared links and social media.
Building upon your existing online influence to increase these measurement scores can take a number of routes. The first and most obvious is to become influential, or as commonly defined in the industry, an Influencer. An influencer has an extensive social media presence and actively contributes to sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Influencers also blog frequently and utilize such sites as Triberr. Triberr is a website where Influencers share blogs and content, and become recognized as being influential by other influencers. As such, Influencers also increase their own online presence by commenting or blogging on the blogs of others. Another tactic used by influencers is to post on advice forums on topics that they are specialized or knowledgeable in.
Being an Influencer is just one approach to capitalizing on marketing through online presence. There are also a number of approaches, which adopt using the online influence of others; this includes marketing to influencers, with influencers, or through influencers.
Whether your business becomes an influencer or utilizes the influence of another influencer, the presence and utilization of an experienced digital marketing company can greatly affect your online influence. The determination of whether or not online influence can truly be measured is still vague, but results and outcomes are absolutely a defined measure of your online influence. Increased leads and sales, directly resulting from online activities through the application of digital marketing, are ultimately the goal of online influence.
