This is the fifth post in the Social Influence Series. If you’ve missed a previous post, the posts are listed at the end of this article.
Social Influence. How do you measure it? I asked this question on LinkedIn Answers and got a range of responses. Some said by looking up someone’s Klout score. Some said by the number of followers someone had. Some said to look at how active they are on their social platforms. Some even said you can’t measure it.
To me, you can measure someone’s social influence, but it’s based on your opinion and what you look for. There are sites that measure social influence, but they are not always 100% accurate. When a score is based on a formula, sometimes things do murk up. That’s just life.
Social influence should be determined by a combination of factors. If I’m looking at how influential someone is, I take in account 10 things…are you ready for them?
1. Number of Facebook fans
Take a look at the person’s fanpage. See how many fans they have and how many people are “talking about this”. The may only have 500 fans but if their “talking about this” is over 500, then they are providing quality content that is worth commenting and sharing. Likewise, if they over 1,000 fans hardly anyone “talking about this”, then I’d move on.
2. Number of Subscribers on Facebook
Subscribing to someone’s personal profile is still fairly new. Not everyone has made that option available on their profile. If they do, take a glance at how many people subscribe to their public updates. Those with some klout (no pun intended) will have good subscriber numbers. I’m always curious who has over 100.
3. Number of Twitter followers
Now let me preface this, there are people who buy Twitter followers. So when you see someone has over 10,000 followers and are only following 1,000, sometimes I would take this with a grain of salt. Most people with high following numbers are legit. If see someone like that and have questions, you can put their Twitter name into http://memarketingservices.com://fakers.statuspeople.com/ and they will tell you the number of fake followers someone has. Back to topic, I take into account their follower/following ratio. I like to see someone who has more followers than people they are following. That’s just my opinion.
4. LinkedIn Endorsements & Recommendations
LinkedIn Endorsements are still fairly new. It’s like Klout or Kred for LinkedIn. You can endorse a person but simply clicking a skill they have. Its shows up on their profile with their most endorsed topics first. Those who are active on LinkedIn will have a lot of endorsements. That’s at least what I find. To me, though, what’s more important are their recommendations. Who has recommended? What did their recommedation say? How many times have they been recommended? All of that says a lot about a person.
5. Look at engagement levels on their social media platforms
This is going beyond a Facebook page’s “talking about this”. What I mean by this, is how many times are they tweeting and retweeting? Are they responding to people’s tweets? Are they commenting and acknowleding posts on Facebook? Do they have a 100% completed profile on LinkedIn? When was they last time they posted on Google+? The more influential the person, the more active they are. They appreciate and acknowledge their community.
6. Google Them
Simple. Type their name into Google and see what pops up. Does any of their profiles show up on the first page? Is anyone talking about them and it is good or bad? This is something I recommend everyone do – you need to know what is out there about you.
7. Look at their Klout Score
See, you knew this would enter in somewhere. Yes, this does factor in. It’s not the end all. Klout measures someone based on their social media activity. I would see where their score ranks among those in their industry. If you are not that familiar with Klout, you can watch my video about it here.
8. Look at their Kred Score
Kred measures someone based on their Twitter and Facebook activity. You can easily pull up how they measure and what gets what points. I love the transparency of this scoring. Kred measures you on 2 things – Influence and Outreach. Your Influence score scores you out of 1,000 and your Outreach scores you out of 12. You can see the walk-through I did of this site here that has more information.
9. Look at their PeerIndex Score
PeerIndex is another site that scores you on your social media. It’s very similar to Klout and Kred. It’s respected and some of the big boys (i.e. Forbes) uses this as a part of their determining factors for lists. At the time of this posting, I have been going back and forth with these guys for over 3 weeks because it won’t fully load my account. When I have more on this (or if it ever gets fixed), I will revise this post.
10. Go with your gut
Very simple. If you are looking at someone and something just doesn’t feel right, don’t ignore that. You know who you would and wouldn’t be comfortable with.
These are my 10 factors that I use to determine social influence. I’m sure there are other ways and other components to look at. When you want to determine how influential someone is, you have to take everything into account.
So tell me, what do you do to measure someone’s social influence?
Previous Social Influence Posts:
An Introduction to Klout & Kred
A Tour of Klout
A Tour of Kred
Is Klout Really Worth It?
Thanks for the heads-up Mandy, good points throughout the article!
Regarding #1. I would say a 15-20%+ Talking about vs. Connections is a fair measure when saying “they are providing quality content that is worth commenting and sharing” – and even if lower ratio they might have quality content but e.g. lack interaction skills/know-how.
Determine how influential? I do not measure as in numbers, but I follow what happen, i.e. I usually use some time to learn about every page and person I connect with and look at what their “talk about the walk” and how they live up to and “walk the talk” – that gives me a pretty clear picture how they are in a Social Media/Networking context.
Again, thanks for article – Eddie
This is something you can’t really put a number on. I like how you mentioned you see how the walk the talk – that is a HUGE indicator of how they conduct their business.
At this point, I’m not sure you can measure. The numbers are being so manipulated. You do it yourself, Mandy. We all do. In my case, I measure everything through my bottom line. If it’s growing, I’m on the right track.
You are right -there’s not a clear-cut way to measure. If I had to measure it, this is how I would go about it. Each person has their own preference and way and using the bottom line is a good one!
Great timing for this article! I need to understand the importance from a logical perspective because the ‘numbers’ lately have not been reflective of what I am experiencing in real terms and was about to pull my hair out!! Thanks for sharing this:)
Great article. Again learned something new from you: Peerindex never heard of but others things refreshed my mind on its importance. Thanks Mandy.
Thanks Carol!
Oh my gosh there are so many places to be connected! Thanks for this information, Mandy – it helps to know what to look and strive for.
Thanks Lisa!
I agree with Martha. For me if I continue to grow in engagement and my bottom line continues to grow then I’m on the right track.
That is a good point!
Woot Woot! Just ran my twitter by Fakers and I have no % of fakers. Luv it!. Great post here and yes… I’ve been looking at these things when I check someone out. Gives at least some insight on WHO they are. Thanks!
I LOVE that site!!!
WOW! So many places to be connected! Thanks so much, Mandy! Excellent article and have bookmarked it! You rock!!
Thanks Alexandra!
Mandy, there are so many ways to measure social influence. I really like your last one the best…go with your gut!
Thanks Sherie! I think that’s important!
Great post, Mandy. One of the things I do is look to see who is in their circle. Are they friends on FB with some of the people I admire, etc. I feel like that’s a recommendation in a sense from the people I already feel are influential. Thanks for this really thorough explanation.
Thanks Ruth!!
Great post. Thank you for the tips and advice. I try to build a relationship and know the person. Find out who they really are on a personal level, not just numbers. These number are all over the place sometimes and just confuse me.
I agree – that’s why I said you in the end have to go with your gut!
Thank you for your article. I first look at their interaction. I love to see when people answer also. For sure, we have to consider also when the page or account started.
Seeing how engaged they are is really important.
Interesting post. I don’t think about these scores any more, they were making me a little crazy! I keep track of my Empire Avenue scores, though. That changes with your activity and connections. More relevant for me.
I tried Empire Avenue once, but just couldn’t get the hang of it. Is there a benefit to using it?
Empire Avenue is not for everyone. If you do get in the “groove”, it is amazing for relationships and marketing. You have the opportunity to rub virtual elbows with really hot people in the online world. My philosophy is that the more places you can connect, the better chance you have of a good relationship! The combination of a lot of the same people on Empire Avenue, Facebook groups for Empire Avenue players, Twitter, Xeeme, and more – means more points of connection. The “missions” can be powerful for marketing your blogs, projects, website, etc.
There are tons of social media sites out there. It also depends on where you are coming from. Are you a network marketer, small business, professional, or public figure. Your areas of influence could depend many things. As a network marketer myself I know of 2 other sites that I found important to be on but they are not for the small business owner. So I agree that at the end of the day you have to go with your gut!
Thanks for an awesome post!
I look for interaction on posts and relevant content. I personally try not to focus on the numbers too much as it distracts me from my main focus which is to spread positivity, encouragement and helpful solutions where ever I post.
Hi Mandy,
Great information. It is good to read these types of posts to have a better understanding of social influence. What we can do and how we can determine other’s influence.
Great info here Mandy, I also think that it is important to see WHO they are connected to and WHO are they working with..
Great tips ! It is important to understand how influential someone is in social media. Get to know the person and what they are about, their ideas and values 🙂
great article-thanks for sharing!
Wow! Thank you for listing everything, Mandy. You got all those social medias on track. This is very helpful. 🙂
Nice post Mandy. Thanks for the breakdown.
Knowing how to measure someone else’s social influence has its place if you’re looking (in particular) to follow a thought leader or to hire one to help you excel. Measuring your own social influence has it’s benefits when you want (or need) to know where you stand compared to others on the ‘success’ train.
But I wonder if all the emphasis on influence isn’t pushing us too close to the point where our ‘number’ is becoming the go-to resource in determining our value. High values = good, low values = not ready for prime time and no values = run in the other direction.
What’s important to me is your expertise, the energy you bring to the room, and how you make people feel. The rest is just conversation. Besides, every ‘rock star’ was once a diamond in the rough that nobody knew. And you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.
I look at every aspect of an influencer. I check Klout,Kred, and Peer Index scores. One of the biggest deciding factors is the type content they create, and their activity on Twitter. As much as we hate to admit it, people pay attention to the numbers.
Love this post Mandy; it definitely brings things into perspective
Very informative tips on how to measure one’s social media influence. Thanks, Mandy.
Mandy, thinking of me and my situation..Is it fair to walk away from someone who may not have the right numbers? I am an honest trustworthy person who is trying hard to keep up and learn all this as it is not what I specialize in. I think we should use the gut as you say (and I love) and decide regardless of # whether they have anything worthwhile and give them a chance, just like the new guy starting a job.
I look at following and their website to give me a clue. I consider how well they interact and gain followers as a good measure of their influence. That tells the story to me! Great post Mandy !
Great post, Mandy! I love these, especially the last one…go with your gut! It is so important to trust your gut as well as the other things. Your gut is usually never wrong [grin].
Great overview of the various ways you determine one’s social influence. It would be a mistake to base one’s opinion on just one number or an individual score.
Social media is getting more and more complicated. So glad there are folks like you, Mandy, to explain it to us!
Nice post Mandy.
But going through all your 10 factors is prone to error and very time consuming. In addition, you will likely struggle with numbers from blogs for example. Let’s remember that influence is not just about numbers and scoring. It is also and mostly about context.
Now the trick is: before scoring them, how do you actually discover those people based on your context ?
Please have a look at TRAACKR if you don’t know it yet and let me know your feelings
Nicolas @traackr
Nicolas, I appreciate you taking the time to visit my blog. I’m curious as to why you think my factors are prone to error and time consuming. If you are actively seeking influencers in your niche through various avenues, it does not take long. I respectfully disagree with you on all points of your comment. If you read the blog post entirely you will see that in the end, it’s about how you perceive the person, not just all based on numbers. However, since you posted a link to your company, I feel your reply was just a way to publicize that.
I like tis detailed look! This one needs bookmarking!
Informative Mandy! Content and engagement make the difference!
Very interesting.
I think you do a great job making note of the fact that no matter what “they” say, in the end, it’s about what YOU think is most important. There are big companies who only churn out social media content – others where social media is only a small component of their work. Influence can definitely be different than “wanting to work with.”
That’s a comprehensive list. I agree. One tool is not enough. You need to take a look at the broader picture.