Last week I created a video blog about my reading regimen.  As I went over my favorite reading resources, two articles stuck in my mind.  It was the title of an Entrepreneur Inc. Magazine column called “THE WAY I WORK.” The first column highlighted Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, who described his work style as, “My style is to bust the door down and clean the mess up later.” I couldn’t get his work regimen out of my head.  Then when Iooked at the same column, a couple of months earlier.  Except this time, it was Gary Vaynerchuck letting everyone know that his style was, “Everyday, between every phone call – during every spare second – I’m on Twitter.”  These article had an impact on me. Although my post focused on how to stay “in the know” and how to keep up with the news with a daily reading regimen, in all honesty, that’s not why these articles or men stuck out in my head. The reason: there was something inherent in both of them with respect to their new influence … they truly owned it!

What do I mean by truly owning your influence? Once you achieve influence, which I’ll discuss in a moment, it’s how you maintain, manage and consistently give of yourself.  There are some new influencers, personalities such as Michael Arrington, Gary Vaynerchuck, Chris Brogan, Arriana Huffington, Charlene Li, and the list goes on, who I believe have reached positions of influence and to this day “own” their influence.  They continue to exhibit a combination of characteristics that have people riveted by their actions and following their every move.  It could be a combination of the driven attitude (“bust the door down”), the tireless energy that makes you never stop (“every day between every call on I’m Twitter”) or is it the power of social outreach and engagement that makes individuals soar to new heights of influence and remain as well known influencers.

When I think about influence, there are so many different definitions and calculations.  No one has said that there’s a right way and a wrong way to view influence.  And, no organization has come out with the only “influence” calculation. Studies are published every year about the top influencers and it’s a game of numbers from influencer rank to their reach and resonance.  But, if you really dissect influence, you have certain characteristics present with the fact that people (your peers) give other people influence because they registered high on a “value scale.” Then, if you don’t truly own your influence (manage and maintain it), as quickly as you gained influencer status, you can lose it too.

What about influence vs. popularity …  is it all about the numbers?  No, not necessarily, because as you gain popularity, the numbers most likely increase. However, at a certain point, you may lose touch with your closest circle or network, who gave you influence to begin with. In turn, this could make you less influential. You simply cannot maintain your close connection.  Of course, we can’t just look at the numbers because every web community has different influencers and the numbers in those influencer networks range from as small as a couple of hundred people to more than 1 million people.

So, what is the story behind influence…how does a person ride down the influence highway turning a page from ordinary communications to wild influence that’s driven and never sleeps, and, which affects people and the decisions they make?  I believe that influence starts long before you are ever named an influencer (it’s inherent in your personality) yet it’s not whether or not you are popular.  I bet today’s influencers have a story to tell about their steps to influence because it was a combination of factors over the years and more importantly, it’s what they are doing today to keep the influence.

Here are a few characteristics of an influencer:  Trust, in-depth knowledge, expertise of your industry, intense motivation and passion, a giving spirit, a winning attitude and the ability to “launch” with constant contact (both online and offline). Critical to influence is also having the right people around you, who will support your efforts and continue to be your champions. This is a “calculation” for influence, regardless of your numbers (Klout score, Twitter Grade, Twitalyzer).  If we can work more on these these characteristics, cultivate them (on a “characteristics scale”) to provide value and exhibit them consistently and tirelessly (owning it), then shouldn’t each and every one of us have what it takes to be an influencer?

What are the characteristics or your “calculations” that make an influencer and how does that influencer register on your value scale? And, whether they influence a few people or thousands, how do they own it?

Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff was an excellent book and I felt that the book deserved a two-part review. I mentioned in my last review that I found so much helpful information in Part I.  Well, Part II was no different. The second part of the book actually went deeper into how to energize and embrace the Groundswell and how to create an organizational environment where your employees can accept the change as well.  Organizational behavior and cultural shift is an area of great interest for me, and a favorite topic to discuss in my own presentations.

Let me start with one of the chapters in the second half of the book that dealt with energizing the Groundswell.  Chapter 7 was an excellent chapter as the authors went into detail about the steps to harnessing the energy and momentum generated by a Groundswell.  I particularly liked the way they offer techniques for “energizing your enthusiasts” and a breakdown of complex information into helpful case studies including the following: Dell, ebags, Constant Contact and Lego.  Another favorite part of Groundswell, several of the case histories throughout the book included an “ROI Ratings and Reviews” section.  I love a book that can break out a cost analysis and a profit analysis at the end of each example.

I might be slightly biased toward this subject, but I thought an internal organization look at the groundswell was covered nicely in Chapters 10 and 11, “How Connecting with the Groundswell Transforms Your Company,” and “The Groundswell Inside Your Company,” which gets your employees involved and participating in groundswell thinking.  I am a firm believer that anything you want to achieve externally, must be accepted and valued within the organization first. Your own employees are the greatest brand champions and should be used to the organization’s advantage. However, culture can be one of the toughest challenges.  Even if you listen, plan and set social outreach programs in place, a lack of buy in or participation on behalf of the organization’s employees will prove counter productive toward overall social success.

Groundswell outlines the best approach to getting your entire organization on board.  A few of the helpful hints in Chapter 10 included:

• “First, start small” and pick your battles strategically
• “Second, educate your executives” by showing them the research
• “Third, get the right people to run your strategy” who are usually the people who are the most passionate about relationships with customers
• “Fourth get your agency and technology partners in synch” and make sure they understand the groundswell
• “Fifth, plan for the next step and the long term” so you know exactly where the groundswell thinking will take your company

I know that Groundswell was first published in 2008, but there’s a reason why the book is a bestseller.  If you pass by this book because you think you should be reading newer titles (and, yes, you can still read them too), you are missing an opportunity to hear excellent advice from two very savvy technology focused, social media professionals, who back up everything they say with concrete examples.  I think this book is well worth the read and is now on my recommended or “must read” list.

Groundswell Part I

This is a first for me, the book review in two parts.  I found so much useful information in the book Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff that I thought it would be best to break the review in two.  Now I know why this book is a BusinessWeek bestseller and when I mentioned that I was going to read Groundswell my community on Twitter told me how much I would enjoy the book.  Thank you Twitter friends, you were right!  Tapping into the Groundswell is a great experience and I want to share my thoughts with you.

As I read through the chapters I found myself saying, “I can’t believe I haven’t read this book.”  Here’s my first bit of advice to you.  If you haven’t already, go and pick up this book or if it’s available on Kindle, then you should download a copy.  It’s critical that our brands understand how to traverse the social landscape, and that starts with our own understanding of how to advise them. First and foremost, before I go on, for those who don’t know the concept of the Groundswell, it is (as defined by the authors):  A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.” Groundswell is a book that provides a roadmap and it does this in a number of ways.  I like a book that offers readers more than one way to grasp a concept and learn a new approach.  Li and Bernoff have successfully managed to instruct through helpful higher-level concepts, great case study examples and useful graphics and diagrams that support their work.

Let’s take a look at the first part of the book, which captures chapters 1 through 7.  I really had the feeling that the authors were very careful to introduce ideas and concepts and help the reader to learn each one before moving to the next chapter.  Although there are many, the most powerful concepts and the critical points that I want to stress to you in the first half of the book are the following:

• The Social Technographics Profile:  I find this tool tremendously important and think that it helps to identify the behavior of your target public.  Li and Bernoff introduce Forrester’s profile tool, which enables you to enter the demographics of your audience (age, country, gender), so that you are able to gauge their social participation (See screenshot below.)

The tool compares your audience’s participation as creators, conversationalists, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators and inactives, as compared to the average US consumer.  The results of using a simple tool will guide you with your social media strategy.  It’s critical that your target public’s participation matches the efforts that you want to put in place.  For example rushing to build ratings, reviews and social networks when your target public is mostly adult spectators will not produce best results.  Chapter 3 of the book talks in great detail about the Social Technographics Profile.

Below is Forresters Technographics Ladder with an explanation of how the average US consumer participates in social networks and a breakdown of the activities on each rung of the ladder.

Click to enlarge

• Strategies for Tapping the Groundswell (Chapter 4) is one of my favorite chapters in the book.  The authors introduce an acronym for their four- step planning process – POST.  POST stands for:

• People – What is your target public ready for?  Here’s where they tie in the Social Technographics Profile.  By taking a good look at the people first you can assess the level of engagement based on the type of participation in social networks that is familiar to them.

• Objectives – Here’s the one that I find is missing quite often.  The authors ask outright, “What are your goals?” They want to know if you are more interested in talking to groups of people, energizing or supporting them, and that means both external as well as internal employee groups.

• Strategies – How do you want your relationships with your customers to change, and what exactly do you want them to do?  Carry messages? Become more engaged?  If you don’t map out your objectives, you cannot measure the change in activity once the strategy begins. The authors offer five helpful types of objectives including: listening, talking, energizing, supporting, and embracing.

• Technology – After you determine the people, objectives and strategy, it’s a lot easier to identify the technology whether it is a blog, wiki, social network, etc.  Technology is extremely important to your strategy, and the authors discuss poor technology implementation (we see this happen all of the time with lightly trafficked communities).

• Listening to the Groundswell (Chapter 5) can never be stressed enough and that you must have a listening plan.  I’m a huge proponent of listening.  Li and Bernoff breakdown listening into two listening strategies. The first is to set up your own private listening community, which is more costly, but definitely worth the investment.  The second listening strategy is a more frequently used strategy and that is to begin brand monitoring through “blogs, discussion forums, YouTube and everything else…”

They use case studies to illustrate the listening strategies in Chapter 5 and include stories from National Comprehensive Cancer Network to USA Mini.  I also think it’s excellent the authors address how listening will change your organization. They go as far as saying that once you start to listen “your company will never be the same” and I agree with them.  In the past market research departments have been set to the side as a resource used by other areas of the company. Listening/research are now a focal point of the organization, which means that the marketing, PR and communications department take on a critical role with the listening function in social media communications.  Of course, all of the information obtained from any listening exercise must go beyond marketing and PR to other departments in the organization.  Social media is a shared responsibility.

I’ll let you absorb all of this information and then you can look forward to Part II of my review.  Let me know what you think about Groundswell and if you’ve read the book if it has helped you in your efforts to tap into the Groundswell.  Part II!

Happy New Year to all of my friends! And thank you for all of the insight you’ve shared on my PR 2.0 Strategies Blog.

On the first day of the year, I wanted to provide a preview my 2010 book-reading list.  I read some excellent books in 2009 that I’ve shared in earlier reviews, from Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s Trust Agents to Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It (both must read books).  As mentioned in my post, “PR New Year’s Resolutions,” one of my resolutions is to read and review more books on my blog.

Here’s my hit list for the first six months of 2010 (in no particular order):

• Twitterville by Shel Israel
• Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
• World Wide Rave by David Meerman Scott
• Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson
• Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
• The Truth About Trust in Business by Vanessa Hall
• Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging and Maximizing LinkedIn by Neal Schaffer
• 2011: Trendspotting for the Next Decade by Richard Laermer
• Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business by Erik Qualman
• Facebook Marketing:  Designing Your Next Marketing Campaign (2^nd edition) by Justin Levy (to be published in May 2010)
• Engage:  The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate and Measure Success in the New Web by Brian Solis (to be published in March 2010)

If you’ve read any of these books, I’m hoping you will share your thoughts (but don’t give away the endings!)  And, feel free to make book-reading suggestions to me for the last six months of the year.  What books will you be reading this year?