Digital Influence Mapping Project

A Google Number for Influence? Not Happening...

Business Week ran a story this week about Google's patent-pending method for ranking influencers on social networks. Google wouldn't talk about it but Heather Green pieced together the following hypothesis about their criteria:

• How many friends you have
• How many friends your friends have (G1+G2)
• How frequently friends post on each others "sites"
• Click-throughs from recommendations (e.g. if I post a link to a cool video on my wall, how many people click through from their News Feed

Sounds plausible especially when you have the limitless bank of Google behind the effort. I have certainly been waiting for Google to blow Technorati's "authority" ranking out of the water. That much they could do and will do. But the 'magic number' for your overall influence? Not that easy.

Influence is Complex and Context

The problem is that the reported approach doesn't take into consideration the web of context we all float around in. If somebody wants to know about digital influence or Nick Cave - I am definitely their guy. Cricket? Not so much. I have influence (and authority) on some subjects with some people in my network and not on other subjects. How do you map this context so that I as a marketer know to engage (or if you are Google - display advertising on) an influencer and her social graph on one brand or topic versus another?

It reminds me a lot of what 33Across is trying to do. Essentially "mapping" my social graph is highly useful. Weighting all the connections against topic areas is mindboggling. It would take a careful analysis of content to get a sense of what different people are actually authorities on.That pokes a sharp stick at privacy issues (yes, I know it's public information but it's still invasive to inventory it)

Our model for assessing influence is complex and includes between 4-7 criteria some of which are human, (see illustration above) qualitative assesments. We use as much technology as is available to simplify the task but it cannot be fully automated. One small tech innovation that helps is the little slider bar inside the cgm monitoring tool, Radian6 that lets you adjust the weights of different data points to determine influence on a client and topic-specific basis.

Google has a lot of smart minds thinking about this. They will come out with something that is more useful than that Technorati number (warning: that is not a sound measure of influence all by itself). But beware  a magic number, it contradicts what we understand about contextual authority.

Do You Want To Belong to a Social Network Inside a Media Property?

I love Sugar. I love Fast Company, the magazine. I read FC more often. Both are great media companies for different reasons. Sugar has developed a broad network of different web properties delivering content from celebrity to fashion. They have always been a digital brand. Fast Company has always been a great magazine and is one of main 3 business reads.

Sugar just launched OnSugar - a simple blogging platform within their network that allows anyone who wants to to establish a blog. Fast Company has had similar functionality for a while now wrapped inside an overly complex social network model complete with profiles.

For these media properties the benefits are clear:

• Create a bond between "reader" and the property that keeps us coming back routinely and becoming word fo mouth ambassadors for the brand
• Build in a content creation mechanism that is scaleable because the content comes from "volunteers" aka site members

It begs the question of what the benefit to the member is.

OnSUGAR
The blogging platform is easy-to-use and based upon drupal. Ease-of-use is more like green-fees than a USP. The key feature benefits seem to be access to free imagery via a deal with Corbis and access to product imagery. That latter feature is another potential bonanza for SUGAR as users start publishing and sharing pictures of Juicy Couture hoodies or JCrew khakis. But is that a truly great deal for potential bloggers. I could go on but...I cannot go on as all of the other features are standards for blogging platforms. Oh, it's free. As are many platforms out there.

Is that enough to make a lot of people want to take up residence within the Sugar walls? (Did I just say that?) Blogging platforms and social networks inside media properties may not be walled gardens but there surely is one of those knee-high fences that make it awkward to get in and out. And how will your OnSUGAR blog do in search engines?

This model seems to cater to those who would be casual bloggers. Maybe you want to jot down a few thoughts every once in a while or upload a video. That kind of light-hearted approach is fine but may not lead to a vibrant "community" nor much worthy content to pull into the main sites.

And what does it have to do with TeamSUGAR, the social network with the SUGAR world? There are blogs there as well. This is confusing.

Which is a great segue to FastCompany.com

FastCompany.com
FC launched a social network like thing about a year ago. I joined up immediately. Like I said, I love the magazine and the chance to be a part of it seemed great. My hope was that I could connect my very active blog to their network and build a strong audience. The FC site has a lot of functionality. I can start a blog, upload multimedia, connect with other members - sort of, save lists like events. I do not seem to have a public profile like most socnets but merely this custom homepage which you will not likely see upon clicking through.

Seems like a lot of stuff but there are two big problems:

1. It is all walled garden-activity using their platform. This requires me to want to do all the things I already do inside the Fast Company socnet. While I love FC, my life is bigger than that. I would guess that is true of many of their fans. 
2. Second problem is user experience. I am sorry but the place is a mess. Try connecting to other members and you will be forced to browse through meta-topic lists that make sense to their editorial board but are not specific enough for most of us AND the names are not organized in any recognizable or accessible way.

I would presume that I would join FC for the "Company" - the other people in business like me who dig the culture of the brand. Or the opportuntiy to be embraced by the brand by having my content featured. Can't happen.

Can it work? 

Can media properties successfully integrate social media and social networks in such a way as to build a bond that is actually useful to their "formerly-known-as-readers?" In the age of lifestreaming, is building a new blogging platform or a closed social network really the way to go?

I love these brands and applaud them for trying but I don't think they have found teh right solution yet...

5 Steps: How Banks Must Regain Trust (hint: Not Via Advertising)

The headlines this past week were scary. Brands like Lehman Brothers crumbling, Merrill Lynch being helped up like an old lady, and 12 banks "failing" this year. Despite all of this, we all understand we are in a "cycle" and Western capitalist society is not being extinguished. (how deep the trough of the cycle is remains a concern)

Retail banks cannot stop trying to attract and keep customers. Investment houses will change up the paper yet offer investments nontheless.  But some serious trust has been lost. Managing our own personal finance is one of those things that the average American feels less and less confident about. Most of us have no choice but to surrender our trust to financial experts and institutions.

The Next Marketing Wave for Banks

Recent headlines reveal that we shouldn't trust our financial insitutions. So, what is a bank to do to bounce back? The following are 5 steps that a retail bank (one serving regular consumers like you and me) should do to earn trust and loyalty:

1. Stop your traditional advertising with your old campaign now
Paul Farhi at the Washington Post has a great article today about the falsely confident advertising of major financial institutions. AIG's slogan is "The Strength to Be There." Very few banks are even sensitive to building a brand with deep roots in the organization through customer service, credo and employee behavior. Ray Davis at Umpqua Bank knows what he is doing in this regard. Most banks think brand development and advertising are the same thing. Right now and for the next few weeks if not longer we are in what we call "crisis mode." Everyone knows trhe banks are in trouble. They know their institutions are not as solid as the architecture is meant to make you feel. So, stop throwing good money after bad. Stop reinforcing the idea that bank leadership is out of touch with reality by delivering your same "plan for retirement" ads.

2. Make a commitment to educating your customers on personal finance
I need a course. I need a coach. I need someone who gives a #@%$ about whether I can hold my own financially over the long haul (therefore being a strong, fees-paying customer for years). All the research shows that customers feel inadequate when it comes to managing money. Banks should consider programs that help us get smart and make better decisions. It's kind of like consumer driven healthcare. I accept that no one but me will manage my health or finance. Help me get smart so I do a better job of it. A major bank should partner with a major online university to offer personal finance courses. 

3. Whoever said corporate blogging is dead is an idiot - start a blog for godsakes
Or a Twitter account. Or a mobile update system. Or all of this. The platforms are not nearly as important as putting employees in the position of communicating out to customers. What are they seeing in the markets? What are bank employees working on? Give me ideas for getting smart about my money. I need to know that there is a human being in there - preferably one who cares about customers liek me. Who are the financial personalities that we get to know? The CEOs from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Or the loudmouths in pundit media whose allegiance is somewhere other than to the well being of their audience. Time for authentic, regular joe relationships. I want to know the bank manager again. In terms of introducing personality through social media, just don't think this video from Bank of America qualifies as a good move. While the guy has a great voice, I feel like I am watching an epsiode of The Office.

other examples of banks & social media:

• Wells Fargo's blogs
• Fidelity's podcasts
• The Charles Schwab Community - oops it's gone....

4. Listen and react to your customers publicly
The ideas.salesforce platform is a strong concept. And it's not just releavnt for Starbucks and Dell. What if a bank put that in place? Maybe my post would end up on ideas.suntrust.com instead of out here in the ether. Empower your customers to offer ideas to other customers.

5. Advertise all of the above and build a strong community around your bank built on trust
Stop advertising just rates or adirondack-chairs-on-porches-signifying-retirement. I mean, really, retirement is such a bogus idea. Most of us will work until we die and we know it. Seriously - use your advertising to raise awareness about your education programs, your unique employee and customer guides that will help us navigate through the complex world of personal finance. Your programs to help us manage finance wherever we are in the dreaded "cycle."

Banks and financial institutions need to walk a different walk. No more marketing as usual. The bank that embraces a smart use of social media and digital marketing will start to get trust because "they earn it" - for real.

Social Media in Russia Pt2: Edward Shenderovich

A great interview with Edward Shenderovich in his last few days with SUP in Moscow. I asked him about his POV on the current state of social media in Russia and what might happen next. Like Andrew, he is a serial entrepeneur. His next gig? Can't say. But it's interesting that his buddy Anton has left SUP to start a business social network (Edward already said that's not what he is up to).

The last minute is the best so, wait....for...it......

Interview with Andrew Paulson: Russian Social Media

Andrew Paulson is the serial entrepeneur behind the purchase of LiveJournal by SUP from SixApart. SUP has become an interesting new media company inside Russia with LiveJournal the sports vertical, Championat.ru, and an internal agency known as Victory.

I talked to Andrew at his super cool apartment in Russia which is apparently home to legendary dinner parties and is upstairs or downstairs from former party officials (two different kinds of "party").

He shares his POV on the social media  scene in Russia now and what is on the horizon. 

Baltic PR Weekend Conference in St. Petersburg Russia

Almost 500 Public Relations professionals assembled here in St. Petersburg - thanks to Andrey Baranikov at SPN Ogilvy. There are a lot of great speakers here from Aeroflot, Gazprom, Vesti Nedeli, Renaissance Capital, the Stockholm School of Economics and more. We will see whether my presentation on social media and word of mouth sparks a lively discussion or not.

We have had a lot of discussion inside SPN Ogilvy over the last three days about where Russia is on the path to adopting social media as a "platform" for marketing and communications. Those in the Internet space like Andrew Paulson and others at SUP are very bullish and see at as already time and inevitable. Others who are more in the center of traditional PR and advertising disagree - even amongst themselves. Some see the possibilities now and the advantages of being on the crest of the wave. Others are not so sure the wave is imminent or what shape it will take.

Of 147M total population, apparently about 30-40M are connected to the Internet (corrected from my last post on Russia); 102% of the people in Moscow have mobile phones. There are a lot of remote parts of Russia that will take some time to connect and like many countries, the population is concentrated in the already connected cities. I think Russia is pretty "connected" - certainly emough to support digital programs as essential to most programs if not all.

Some of the more traditional marketers say - "let's wait until the efficiency of social media and word of mouth marketing proves itself." What they are not saying is that the impact of social media-based marketing must be comparable to traditional advertising or PR before they will jump in. Worldwide financial woes impact their POV. Russia is now feeling some of that pinch. Even today, the markets dipped quite a bit.   

The Opportunity is Now

They may lose an opportunity. It takes a lot of work, a lot of living in social media to really understand how to apply it to marketing and communications. Look at Peter Kim's ever growing list of examples of companies trying social media. Many of those companeis are in 'try and learn' mode. many have already proven vis relevant KPIs that social media-based programs work for their business. We will find that effective use of social media in many cases may be more efficient both in terms of cost and impact than others forms of marketing and communications (especially when integarted with other programs). Today, it just takes some gymnastics to map out the measurement model that proves it. That will get easier.

If any of the lessons from the North American marketplace are applicable here, it may be that Russia needs a social media-enabled business crisis like Dell Hell or Kryptonite to convince business leaders (and marketing leaders) that social media is both a  significant threat and opportunity for business. Perhaps that won't be neccesary. We will be very bullish in this market about digital influence  - we are believers and have seen its success around the world.

Paul Holmes told the group a few important things: that smart companies are those that are willing to surrender control. Fom that they gain credibility and believability. Advertising will become important only in so far as it supports a credible message. Authenticity is absolutely critical to all of your communications. Anything that rings false will be far more destructive today. Having a reputation that exceeds the reality within a company is very dangerous today. That gap will always be discovered - if not today, then tomorrow.

He makes a great case for the importance of social media-based programs. Internet and Web 2.0 companies are quickly establishing themselves - LiveJournal, Vkontakte, Yandex. Media companies are establishing blogs. The Russian marketing and communications professionals have a great opportuntiy to innovate before they find competition in places they had not expected or before the people find their work less relevant. The time to get involved and start deploying authentic social media engagement (not just advertising across social networks) is now.   

Does Twitter Breed lack of Athenticity?

Jason from Technology Review (one of my new favorite magazines) wonders out loud, in print, at the front of the latest issue about how social media drives him to put a false face forward. His face and voice in the various platforms he participates in is one-sided and portrays a constant state of what I will call "business enthusiasm." He considers this inauthentic. The Jason Pontin of social media is a constructed persona.

Well, I couldn't disagree more. And while Jason has invited all of us who read Technology Review to send him an email with his thoughts, I have chosen to post here and carry on whatever conversation comes from this out on the 'Social Web.'

Quite a few smart people are trying to understand the impact of social media on our lives. An article from the New York Times Magazine from Clive Thompson ran this past week and introduced a broad public to teh idea of ambient awareness to describe the benefit we get from Twittering and updateing our News Feed and consuming our friends. he goes on to describe a similar tendency of people wanting to put their best face forward and be interesting.

In-Authenticty is Possible Everywhere
We can all be "in-authentic" at any point in any situation. It doesn't take technology to enable a articifical construct. Authentic to me means being someone other than you are. Portraying a voice or face that is not really a part of you.

If anything, social media has allowed me to be more of who I am. I share mostly about digital marketing, word of mouth, and social media. That's not just how I make my living - I actually love what social media can do and am genuinely fascinated with it. Often I share about other interests and opinions that I have or even family experiences. I am sure a lot of this is of little interest to many people, probably even annoying. But I have connected with quite a few people via social media who enjoy seeing multiple sides of people. I travel a bit. whenever I go somewhere I connect with bloggers and social media enthusiasts in real life. I love meeting and talking with people that I have gotten to know online. I am connecting with something and someone authentic.

Sure there's more to me than what I write about in this blog or on my Twitter feed. But what I talk about here and how I do it is completely a part of me. I have not constructed a persona. I have followed my interests, found topics and discussion where I can connect with people I respect and am interested in.

One thing I am conscious of - I avoid negativity. I avoid anything that smacks of snarkiness in my blog posts. To my friends, I am just as capable of going off on an issue as the next guy. But I am trying to tone that down everywhere in my life. I have just gotten to a point where I need less negativity in my life and don't want to indulge as some others do online. That doesn't make the social media John Bell any less authentic (although talking about myself in the third person is a little weird).

Jason observes that social media binds us more to the opinion of others. Do we play a role to attract attention (e.g. linkbaiting techniques)? That's one way to look at some of the more popular bloggers. But that doesn't define how 125m bloggers behave. Many people want to be themselves online knowing that in the long tail they will attract someone and likely someone who is authentically attracted to whatever they are doing.

If anything, social media will establish a new premium on personal authenticity. People will discover falseness and polyanna personas. Ultimately they will reject them in favor of authenticity. That's my guess, at least.

Highlights of Russian Social Media

While in Moscow, I have had the opportunity to meet some very smart people who understand the marketplace here as well as the culture. Some work at Ogilvy. There are some others who are connected to SUP, the new media company that now owns LiveJournal. I will post my video interviews soon with Edward Shenderovich, a sharp internet businessman and Andrew Paulson, the serial entrepeneur who started SUP, and has guided the growth of the company including it's outright purchase of Live Journal from SixApart in 2007.

Here are some quick factoids and POVs on social media in Russia

Live Journal, the blog platform has about 30m unique users which is roughly half of the connected population (60M) and represents about 20-25% of the entire population (140m)
Andrew is a firm believer in the content focus of LiveJournal and its user and business value. (I love believers)

Andrew also built a small digital agency inside SUP to not just create client solutions that include LiveJournal and Championt.ru, a sports media property but to be agreat digital agency in a market that needd it

Social Networks are starting to catch on with some Facebook clones hitting the market

Both Edward and Andrew see the rise of blogger/journalists on the horizon but also see the dilution of the value of online cpms with th egrowth of low-value social network pages

Many of the other internet companies have a mix of Web 1.0 properties like Rambler's Mama.ru and are dependent on the value of advertising (and the vagaries of that market) to drive revenue

Yandex is the favored search engine in the market. There is a slice of the service that specifically searches blogs. In 2004, Yandex sales increased to $17M, which was 10 times greater than the company's revenue just 2 years earlier. In June of 2006, the weekly revenue of Yandex.Direct context ads system exceeded $1M

Oh, and Red Square closes at night so I had to peer through the bars to be able to "experience" it

What does the future look like? Look for the videos in teh next few days and you can hear from teh experts in-market.

Your Social Media Score - ATL

Social Media Score V2 1 Atl2008

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: socialmedia socialnetworks)

We had a great session today in Atlanta with the local PRSA - comms experts from brands, non-profits, government, agencies and more. For two hours we had a lively discussion anchored in the attached "quiz" intended to diagnose where an organization might be in terms of "readiness" to engage with social media.

Thanks to our Ogilvy leader in ATL - Mickey Nall - for making this event happen from the Ogilvy side. I started with the "this-is-your-brain-thanks-to-social-media" image that I have shared before. The point was to frame up what I think our collective jobs will become in the future. From there we went into the quiz. I have not annotated the deck - sorry about that. If you were at the event, it will all come back to you. Those of you in the space (social media, digital marketing, word of mouth) the significance of the examples will likely make sense with out the notes.

We followed it up with a great panel discussion with Mike Haines from Facebook and David Santucci from The new Georgia Aquarium. Both had a tremendously valuable POV from their own different experiences. You should keep an eye out for them speaking or connect online as they are both smart guys.

Three ways to use Social Media Score:
I have clearly added to Slideshare.
Here is a pdf file for download Download social_media_score_v2_1_atl2008.pdf
And here is a live interactive site that we just re-launched today: http://www.yoursocialmediascore.com

Digital Devices: Flipping Between 2 Video Brands

The Flip cam has taken the video market by sneaky, quiet storm capturing north of 18% of the market. I have been using mine for a year and a half and love its simplicity of purpose and function. I have shot video interviews with bloggers around the world and other interesting sorts. Some of these videos even end up on the Web (see ).

The magic lies in beween the simple functionality, the 'pretty-good' quality of both audio and video and the price point (models between $125-175). A lot has been said about their ease of use which I call the '2-step' user experience: Point and Click. Plug and Play. Edit and Upload. I like the form and the function so much our team has a bunch of them now. We gave them to the blogging athletes at the Olympics with Lenovo.

I originally resisted the device because I didn't know the brand. Was it a fly-by-night electronics play? Was it's 'cheapness' a reflection of poor design and construction? Clearly, the product has proved itself in the marketplace. Mention the Flip cam to someone who uses it and they light up a bit as if they found a fellow tribe member. Unlike the preciousness of the iPhone, the FlipCam is a humble, yet well-designed device that shoots and edits simple video well. The Internet is at the heart of its design. The ease of downloading to your computer, editting and then uploading to YouTube is what it's all about.

Conflict
Well now I have a conflict. FlipCam has delivered a new model - the Mino - with some incremental niceties like a bit of a zoom, nicer form factor and it can recharge from my computer. I can easily make a case why I need to upgrade from my Flip cam original.

But now here comes Kodak with the HD capable Zi6. GeekSugar had a nice profile of the device due out in October.

I am pretty familiar with the bigger Kodak story (you know the one - missing the whole digital turn-of-events and then the perpetual back from oblivion reorg/re-engineering/retrenching). My daughter has a Kodak digital camera which is quite satisfactory.

I grew up with Kodak cameras and later using their film and paper during my darkroom days. Working in filmmaking, I have tremendous respect for all that they have accomplished with the world's great filmmakers (Yes, Barry Lyndon was shot by candlelight). I have a lot of heart for the brand (disclosure - they are a client of ours somewhere inside Ogilvy).

If anyone should own the "2-step" process, it's Kodak. They invented 'point and shoot' back in the day. Will their new video camera trump the Flip cam? As much as I love Flip cam, I want to believe in Kodak. I want to believe that they now understand 4 important things:

• the basics of device + internet.
• remarkable design of the complete user experience
• reliable consistency of perfomance (I know - a bit redundant)
• simplicity in purpose

I appreciate that having the HD format edges above FlipCam but there must be more to the Kodak camera. They must show users that they 'get it.' And unlike a brand like Flip cam who could deliver a beta product and then improve upon it, Kodak must get this camera right the moment it hits the market. They have something to prove. Just looking at the two web sites for the two different brands is like night and day. Flip is hipper and has that Web2.0 simplicity. Kodak's Zi6 is dropped into the product pages of the monolithic Kodak web template and sports a "features and benefits" page and a promo for a "Youth Canvas Camera Case - A cool case to show off your style". Kodak has shown that it has a self-aware sense of humor before. I wonder if they can consider embracing more of that to help make their products more relevant. I hope they seed the product and give vocal users a chance to use and talk about the camera. It looks great. A product like this needs WOM to get anywhere these days and the challenger brand (Kodak in this case) cannot just assume that the wave that carried Flip to the top will carry them as well. 

So, do I go with the new brand I love or do I hold out for the brand I once loved and who now sits in that often advantageous 'underdog' position?