How to Build Online Influence and Protect Your Reputation

Editor's Notes

1. We are living in a world where your reputation and influence is migrating from offline to online Reputation is moving from local to global It is also moving from fixed to mobile (smart phones and iPads) Reputation and influence can be gained faster and broader than in any other time in history But we are still used to the old paradigms and ideas of influence and reputation because “ technology changes fast but humans evolve and change slowly ”
2. A Great Reputation - “ The beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something ” In Florence the other night and we were looking at somewhere to eat and we logged on with our iPad and checked TripAdvisor and read reviews or the best place for Italian Pizza. The restaurant’s reputation was online for everyone to see. Good reviews and bad reviews A café or hotel can live or die on its online reputation A good reputation enables you to have people refer you for business and opportunities It helped you obtain power and influence in your local community, town or city Reputation was passed on by “ word of mouth ” Reputation can be enhanced in seconds or destroyed is moving at the speed of the web and
3. Influence - “ The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something. ” Influence can help you change your life, your business and your community and even the world Influence is relative to a category such as Politics, Technology and Manufacturing Influential People Henry Ford – Cars and manufacturing, Steve Jobs – Design and Computing, Ghandi – Freed a nation through non violent protest Italy had a very influential person in Leonardo DaVinci – maybe the most diversely talented person to have ever lived but was most famous for his painting but was also an inventor and engineer - he conceptualised the helicopter a tank and even solar power
4. In the past influence was largely local or national Movies and mass media accelerated influence and took it global Actors and Celebrities through movies became international stars Influence has been used by people such as Angelina Jolie to make the world a better place, to create a legacy and to inspire people
5. Visibility was gained through traditional media and it was expensive! Newspapers Television Radio
6. So how was influence gained in the past? A short snapshot of the history of Offline Reputation & Influence Money The connected clubs The right schools Being invited to elite events Marry the right person
7. The old boys club and connections were an important part of being influential in the past and still are The right college university or school was vital Influence was also very male biased
8. http://www.socialable.co.uk/7-reasons-why-networking-is-a-waste-of-time/ The right events Cocktail parties The Tennis club Golf club
9. Money talks and enabled you to Buy into the club Attend the right schools Get elected to parliament Berlusconi?
10. Visible money
11. Marrying into the right family
12. Paris Hilton “famous for being famous” due to Mass Media Front page of the newspaper
13. Influence is moving online just like looking for products, services, information has moved online Over 90% of purchase decisions in some industries start with an online search Where do you start?
14. The economy is now no longer industrial that age has passed we now live in a knowledge economy and knowledge is easily displayed and spread online Experts are becoming visible faster With the right focus and tactics you can display your expertise for all to see in a “ knowledge economy ”
15. Visibility has moved online with the power of the web and technologies such as search engines and we use Google to find information and people. In an age of Google the best and worst can rank on page one of Google, The web now defines you. Have you Googled someone recently? Have you Googled yourself? Is it good, neutral, bad?
16. A Major online presence that you “ own ” is where you start The technologies are now mature enough and easy enough to create a powerful online presence where you can create and publish a multimedia presence A blog with your own domain name is your “ Influence Hub ”
17. But a blog without content is a home without substance Blog plus content is your foundation Your content defines you It also changes you and your business as you interact and receive global feedback The blog is your pulpit or soapbox to talk to the world
18. In a world of 500 million websites a blog can be a lonely place – much like a beautiful home in a forest or brochures in a cupboard Social Networks amplify and supercharge your credibility and visibility Resume ’ s are now not kept in a manila folder but are visible on platforms such as LinkedIn which provides a 30 sec snapshot of background and career
19. Find a job Chase a new career Grow my existing career Learn more about myself Get focused Promote a Product or a Service Connect and Meet your Global “ Tribe ” Create personal influence Increase credibility of your business Protect your or your business brand reputation
20. Finding a job was about being recommended by a friend or ex work colleague or contact If you are unemployed you have the time and opportunity to create and write content for your blog Create a Facebook page for your public profile It can display your past experience and passion for your industry of choice
21. May want to change your career or chase a new career and Strengthens and Positions yourself as a leader in your industry and provides a platform for an online personal brand – Use your online presence to connect with other influencers You can publishing interviews of people and even CEO ’ s in your industry – you can provide them with a pulpit and then they will promote on their on line networks Using social networking platforms engages and educates while you sleep – it is a resume that is never offline The act of publishing online forces you to read and research and sharpen your knowledge
22. There is nothing quite like having to write articles and posts to find what you are passionate about Feedback from your community will also help you find what resonates with your industry The problems, topics and trends that demand attention, this will sharpen your focus From the mist emerges the landscape and the road will become clearer
23. Promote a Product Service Personal Brand
24. In the past tribes were constrained by geography With Skype and social networks we can n connect with people of similar interests globally
25. Protect your online reputation If you don ’ t have a significant online presence then it is easy for other people to talk about and rank high in search results Publish content that ranks high and often on search engines Finance company story – only one website no blogs or social media channels so complaints surfaced above their brand
26. The Challenges I don ’ t know what I should be influential about? Its all new Its complicated Its is too public Its only for the Geeks
27. What should I want to be known for? Innate ability plus What I am passionate about Your focus and passion is a matrix of what you love doing and what you are good at This is the best place to start
28. Setting up a blog or a website can be complicated but it will pay for it self in spades if you do and a are active – but it doesn ’ t have to be! Easy way to overcome this is to Join Tumblr Get on Wordpress.com Create a Facebook page
29. Accept that there is no privacy Other people will write about you, Tag you on Facebook and publish photos Embrace it It is better you take as much control of your online reputation and brand rather than someone else
30. This can be done through a vision statement, a mission statement or a “ Mantra ” It is also sometimes called an elevator pitch you need in one sentence or a few words state what you and your company are about Fedex – “ Peace of mind ” Nike – “ Authentic Athletic Performance ” Target – “ Democratize Design ” Me – “ Democratizing Marketing ”
31. This can be done through a vision statement, a mission statement or a “ Mantra ” It is also sometimes called an elevator pitch you need in one sentence or a few words state what you and your company are about Fedex – “ Peace of mind ” Nike – “ Authentic Athletic Performance ” Target – “ Democratize Design ” Me – “ Democratizing Marketing ”
32. Who are you selling to? Could be one type of audience it could be several? This will determine how you communicate, words, photos, videos It also determines what social networks you focus on
33. Secure your brand names online including domain names and including Facebook and Twitter Self Host Use an easy to use Wordpress Template Because you need control over when and how you participate online. Fast and convenient is great but if you are serious you need maximum control and Facebook and Tumblr do not give you that.
34. Ogilvy was known for writing over 100 headlines for one automobile ad! You have a second to capture their attention Learn the art and science of the headline How to ’ s, Why, List posts, eg 10 Mistakes, 30 Things you should ’ nt share on Facebook
35. We all consume content differently Some would rather read Others prefer a 2 minute video Others love to view an infographic
36. It is great to write about the latest events but these date quickly so one way is to us the 80/20 Ratio, This will keep people coming back 80% evergreen content that doesn ’ t date quickly 20% topical news about your industry or topic These are typically educational posts such as how to ’ s and problem solving tutorials, whitepapers
37. 6 Essentials Optimize for Search (SEO) Social Networks – Publish and Participate Email Sharing buttons Subscription Free Content – to drive subscription and liking
38. Onsite SEO is vital to help Google find your content Keyword rich title if possible Categories Description (Meta Description) Tags
39. Secure the major accounts first Facebook page Twitter YouTube LinkedIn Google plus Flickr Pinterest Slideshare
40. Email should be included from day one You own it You can control it Socialise it Automate it
41. Email should be included from day one You own it You can control it Socialise it Automate it
42. Attention is now quantified on the social web How many Retweets How many Facebook Likes Traffic can be measured (eg (Alexa) This quantifies conversations and sharing Facebook puts another twist on it in its ecosystem and called “ talking about this ” This is Likes Comments Shares Totals them
43. Most people don ’ t know about this but Twitter is maybe the best way to get targeted influence globally
44. Tool Tweepi 1, Identify the top bloggers who have a large Twitter following in your industry 2. Put their Twitter name into Tweepi 3. Follow their followers The law of reciprocation will mean that a percentage of these will follow you back and as long as you have posted a foundation of content on your blog which will provide substance and content credibility then you can build a targeted tribe of fans
45. He used 130,000 emails to gain attention and spread his influence Website and blog was his hub Used strong visuals including Infographic and slideshow on YouTube and Slideshare Launching a product using social media provides multi-media rich global platforms that makes it easy for each social network community to share the message and let other people know about your brand. Promoting, marketing and launching any product globally was usually left to multi-nationals with big budgets and access to prime time TV and other expensive mass media and to be effective required multi-million dollar budgets. Here is a case study of Guy Kawasaki ’ s launch and promotion of his book ‘ Enchantment  The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions ‘ and how he used a multi channel social media marketing strategy and tactics that can be applied to any product. This approach or a subset of his campaign can be applied by anyone with the right discipline and appropriate resources and ‘ yes ’ you will need a marketing budget but it will not need to be 6 or 7 figures. Guy Kawasaki is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist (Garage  Technology Ventures), a  well known blogger  and also famous for his RSS aggregator “ Alltop ” He was involved in launching and marketing the Apple McIntosh in 1984 and has written ten books with ‘ Enchantment ’ being his latest. So how did he launch and promote his book using social media? 1. Facebook The Facebook fan page was built specifically for the book and its main aim was to provide a community site on the largest social networking community on the planet that would engage and then share. To build up the fan base that provided critical mass to share an incentive to “ like ” the page was achieved by giving away a free book. In this case it was his first book “ The McIntosh Way ” Primary Goal: Create an incentive for people to “ like ” the page by providing a free product and so grow his fan base Cost:  Approximately $2,700 2. Website and Blog He realized after 2 months that Facebook was great but limited and needed a site he owned that was not restricted to the whims and restrictions of the Facebook environment and its terms and conditions. He built the site which was part of his own website. Primary Goal To make it easy for his book reviewers to obtain information and images necessary to review the book. Cost:  Approximately $4,000 3. Book Reviews by Other Bloggers and A-Listers Building a tribe before launch becomes very apparent here and with Guy ’ s access to his Alltop data base of 20,000 bloggers he was able to offer a free review copy to all 20,000 and from that he attained the following traction. He used  eCairn  to indentify the social media movers and shakers to find other bloggers outside of his own database listing. 1,300 requested a copy 150 interviews 200 reviews All reviews appeared on his website which gave visibility to all the reviewers as a way of saying thank you. Main Goal: To provide 3rd party credibility authority and social  proof that was widespread and ubiquitous Cost : $16,000 (but this was borne by the publisher) 4. Email The shiny new toy ‘ social media ’ is not the only marketing tactic that he used and they knew that a 160,000 emails (130,000 acquired over 30 years of making contacts including his blog and website) would be highly effective. The numbers and results for this 30,000 extra email from  AlwaysOn 3.75% click through rate Primary Takeaway: Again it is the building of a marketing base via email prior to launch that is vital to have in your tool kit and assets to ensure launch success Cost : Approximately $4,500 set up and $1,000 per month (allow 3 months) for the email campaign (Total $7,500) 5. Banner Ads This was a 6 week campaign on Google AdWords, Facebook Ads and Twitter (Promoted Tweets). They used Clix Marketing for managing the campaign. Both Google Adwords and Facebook ads are easy enough to do your self Primary Goal To get access to potential buyers outside of his sphere of influence and use the power of Google and Facebook to target the rightaudience. Cost : Allow $2,000-$3,000 6. Photo Contest Every one loves a contest and they work well on Social media. He offered 5 cameras and an Apple iPad. He had a  Facebook contest  app designed by  Strutta . Results 1,150 entries 35,000 visits 70,000 entry views Primary Goal To create ‘ Buzz ’ . Cost : Approximately $6,000 (App $2,000 and prizes $4,000) Major Takeaway: Start a tribe before even writing that book or product so that when you launch you have a a fan base that will be ready to buy and spread your message for you whether that is on Facebook, Twitter or Blog. Guy used his blog, website and his social media community on Alltop as his primary platform for marketing his product. 7. Quizzes He took a quiz he had in his book and took it online and provided it in two channels (Facebook and his website). The surprise here was that the website version results far exceeded the Facebook results. 700 took the Quiz on Facebook 2,900 took the quiz on the website He used Wildfire which costs $400 per month to create the self-serve quiz and used Electric Pulp to create the website version ($3,000) Primary Goal:  To engage and also create more buzz. Cost : Approximately $5,000 8. Infographic The popularity of the infographics was taken into account and  resulted in reviewers and bloggers embedding it in their sites. He hired Column Five to create the graphic which provides an overview of the book in one image. Primary Goal:  To provide a media that could go ‘ viral ’ . Cost : Approximately$2,000 9. PowerPoint He had created a PowerPoint presentation  that would not only be used at key note presentations but would also be published on Slideshare and spread the brand and buzz. So far it has been Viewed over 40,000 times Favorited over 180 times Embedded in over 90 websites ReTweeted 81 times Shared on Facebook 126 times Enchantment v3.0   View more  presentations  from  Guy Kawasaki Primary Goal : Placement on the Slideshare social networking platform to make it easy for people to share and embed Cost:  Approximately $3,600 10. Slideshow on YouTube Thank you is a small phrase that produces big results and as a way of saying thank you to all the companies and people involved in the book project launch and promotion he created a slideshow on YouTube. They used  Animoto  to create the slideshow. Primary Goal : Provide another online digital property that spreads worldwide and as a minimum will be shared by the all the parties mentioned Cost : Approximately $1,000 for design and $50 a month for the software (professional edition)Guy Kawasaki
46. 10 platforms and media was part of a “ Book launch ” The thinking is how can your brand be “ everywhere ” Launching a product using social media provides multi-media rich global platforms that makes it easy for each social network community to share the message and let other people know about your brand. Promoting, marketing and launching any product globally was usually left to multi-nationals with big budgets and access to prime time TV and other expensive mass media and to be effective required multi-million dollar budgets. Here is a case study of Guy Kawasaki ’ s launch and promotion of his book ‘ Enchantment  The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions ‘ and how he used a multi channel social media marketing strategy and tactics that can be applied to any product. This approach or a subset of his campaign can be applied by anyone with the right discipline and appropriate resources and ‘ yes ’ you will need a marketing budget but it will not need to be 6 or 7 figures. Guy Kawasaki is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist (Garage  Technology Ventures), a  well known blogger  and also famous for his RSS aggregator “ Alltop ” He was involved in launching and marketing the Apple McIntosh in 1984 and has written ten books with ‘ Enchantment ’ being his latest. So how did he launch and promote his book using social media? 1. Facebook The Facebook fan page was built specifically for the book and its main aim was to provide a community site on the largest social networking community on the planet that would engage and then share. To build up the fan base that provided critical mass to share an incentive to “ like ” the page was achieved by giving away a free book. In this case it was his first book “ The McIntosh Way ” Primary Goal: Create an incentive for people to “ like ” the page by providing a free product and so grow his fan base Cost:  Approximately $2,700 2. Website and Blog He realized after 2 months that Facebook was great but limited and needed a site he owned that was not restricted to the whims and restrictions of the Facebook environment and its terms and conditions. He built the site which was part of his own website. Primary Goal To make it easy for his book reviewers to obtain information and images necessary to review the book. Cost:  Approximately $4,000 3. Book Reviews by Other Bloggers and A-Listers Building a tribe before launch becomes very apparent here and with Guy ’ s access to his Alltop data base of 20,000 bloggers he was able to offer a free review copy to all 20,000 and from that he attained the following traction. He used  eCairn  to indentify the social media movers and shakers to find other bloggers outside of his own database listing. 1,300 requested a copy 150 interviews 200 reviews All reviews appeared on his website which gave visibility to all the reviewers as a way of saying thank you. Main Goal: To provide 3rd party credibility authority and social  proof that was widespread and ubiquitous Cost : $16,000 (but this was borne by the publisher) 4. Email The shiny new toy ‘ social media ’ is not the only marketing tactic that he used and they knew that a 160,000 emails (130,000 acquired over 30 years of making contacts including his blog and website) would be highly effective. The numbers and results for this 30,000 extra email from  AlwaysOn 3.75% click through rate Primary Takeaway: Again it is the building of a marketing base via email prior to launch that is vital to have in your tool kit and assets to ensure launch success Cost : Approximately $4,500 set up and $1,000 per month (allow 3 months) for the email campaign (Total $7,500) 5. Banner Ads This was a 6 week campaign on Google AdWords, Facebook Ads and Twitter (Promoted Tweets). They used Clix Marketing for managing the campaign. Both Google Adwords and Facebook ads are easy enough to do your self Primary Goal To get access to potential buyers outside of his sphere of influence and use the power of Google and Facebook to target the right audience. Cost : Allow $2,000-$3,000 6. Photo Contest Every one loves a contest and they work well on Social media. He offered 5 cameras and an Apple iPad. He had a  Facebook contest  app designed by  Strutta . Results 1,150 entries 35,000 visits 70,000 entry views Primary Goal To create ‘ Buzz ’ . Cost : Approximately $6,000 (App $2,000 and prizes $4,000) Major Takeaway: Start a tribe before even writing that book or product so that when you launch you have a a fan base that will be ready to buy and spread your message for you whether that is on Facebook, Twitter or Blog. Guy used his blog, website and his social media community on Alltop as his primary platform for marketing his product. 7. Quizzes He took a quiz he had in his book and took it online and provided it in two channels (Facebook and his website). The surprise here was that the website version results far exceeded the Facebook results. 700 took the Quiz on Facebook 2,900 took the quiz on the website He used Wildfire which costs $400 per month to create the self-serve quiz and used Electric Pulp to create the website version ($3,000) Primary Goal:  To engage and also create more buzz. Cost : Approximately $5,000 8. Infographic The popularity of the infographics was taken into account and  resulted in reviewers and bloggers embedding it in their sites. He hired Column Five to create the graphic which provides an overview of the book in one image. Primary Goal:  To provide a media that could go ‘ viral ’ . Cost : Approximately$2,000 9. PowerPoint He had created a PowerPoint presentation  that would not only be used at key note presentations but would also be published on Slideshare and spread the brand and buzz. So far it has been Viewed over 40,000 times Favorited over 180 times Embedded in over 90 websites ReTweeted 81 times Shared on Facebook 126 times Enchantment v3.0   View more  presentations  from  Guy Kawasaki Primary Goal : Placement on the Slideshare social networking platform to make it easy for people to share and embed Cost:  Approximately $3,600 10. Slideshow on YouTube Thank you is a small phrase that produces big results and as a way of saying thank you to all the companies and people involved in the book project launch and promotion he created a slideshow on YouTube. They used  Animoto  to create the slideshow. Primary Goal : Provide another online digital property that spreads worldwide and as a minimum will be shared by the all the parties mentioned Cost : Approximately$1,000 for design and $50 a month for the software (professional edition)Guy Kawasaki
47. Others Darren Rowse Social Media Examiner – Mike Stelzner Tim Ferriss Mari Smith
48. Scott Monty – Head of social media for the Ford Motor company Tony Hsieh (Pronounced “Shay”) – CEO of Zappos 13 Blogs at Zappos Robert Scoble – Microsoft then Rackspace (personal brand enhances and synergises the business brand)
49. Conan O ’ Brien is one of the best examples of how to transition your mass media influence over to social media after a dispute with NBC Started a website Blog called Team Coco Created a Facebook page over 1.8 million fans Twitter account – 5 million followers YouTube Channel – over 34 million views Taken over control of his brand and his marketing This illustrates the democratisation of marketing and PR http://www.jeffbullas.com/2010/11/11/the-most-successful-social-media-marketing-campaign-ever/#comment-422913663
50. The Measurement of Influence on Social Networks Online Influence “ the ability to drive action ” on the web including social networks The Major Tools Klout Kred PeerIndex Tweetlevel –Edelman It wasn ’ t possible before but now it is! Klout was founded in September 2009 It measures a variety of data including size of a persons network, the content created and how other people interact with that content
51. Klout Initially started with Twitter as the base network but now they measure data on 12 different social networks Including Facebook, Google plus, LinkedIn, and YouTube Klout measures influence based on the ability to drive action, not potentially misleading metrics like follower or friend count. Klout has analyzed over 85 million people on major social networks Used by over 3000 brands and applications. Reach - True Reach is the number of people you influence (act on your content ), both within your immediate network and across their extended networks. Amplification - Amplification indicates how much you influence people through retweets, likes, comments and other interactions Network - Network Impact measures the influence of your network.
52. Klout - Reach -Your True Reach is the  ” number of people you influence ” . Act on your content both within your immediate network and across their extended networks Example for my network my true reach is measured at 45,000 people We filter out spam and bots and focus on the people who are acting on your content. When you post a message, these people tend to respond or share it.
53. Klout Amplification – How much you influence people When you post a message, how many people respond to it or spread it further? If people often act upon your content you have a high Amplification score. retweets, likes comments and other interactions
54. Klout My measurement here - Network - Your Network indicates  the influence of the people in your True Reach . How often do “ Top Influencers ” share and respond to your content? When they do so, they are increasing your Network score. Example is Justin Timberlake who has a high network Impact score because he interacts with very influential people.
55. Klout My top 3 topics identified by Klout are Social media Bloging Marketing
56. Klout Perks Campaign for Audi 1.Target – Design, luxury technology and automotive influencers 2. Invites influencers to test drive 2011 Audi A8 3. 217 Influencers spread world of mouth Results were 3,580 Tweets Reached 3.1 million Over 51 million impressions Doug Clark GM, Social Media & Customer Engagement, Audi of America We identified Klout as a skilled partner to help us recognize and identify our Facebook fans with followings and influence. Build Brand Awareness - Your customers don't trust advertising, they trust their peers and influencers.
57. Disney Movie Premiere for “ Tangled ” Target 412 Influential Mums and Dads Activity – watch with kids an early screening of movie and receive a special “ swag ” of Tangled goodies Amplification of influence included Over 15,000 tweets More than 1300 Facebook shares 39.8 million impressions
58. Influence and reputation is moving online – accept it and embrace it Credibility before Visibility – but don ’ t let that stop you starting Reputation online starts with content – Content defines you Positioning and focus is vital – explain your mission in one sentence Visibility doesn't happen without activity - Market relentlessly! Displaying attention quantification is important – people notice popularity Twitter is a sharp tool to get global attention - if focused and backed with unique content It is measureable and can be used to identify influencers
59. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not,…Genius will not, Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. – Calvin Coolidge US President