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Posts Tagged ‘influencers’

A Blog Post…On Blogs

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

I love mommy blogs. I do. My love began when I first discovered Dooce several years ago, and it’s grown from there. Somewhat odd for my age, I am in no way a part of their “target audience” (sorry, mom—no kids for a long time), but I just think they’re great. Why? Because they’re funny. Insightful. And their kids are cute. They say funny things. These blogs are a glimpse into their lives and things I will potentially encounter in the future (I appreciate the heads up). So you can imagine my excitement as a PR professional at the constantly growing influence mommy (and daddy) bloggers are having in the marketplace and continually shifting media landscape.

For a cool $40-$45 million Disney recently bought Babble, a parenting news and blog site with over 200 contributing mom/dad bloggers. While it’s a slam dunk for Disney in reaching its target audience, the Wall Street Journal is correct in saying that this begins to blur the lines between advertising and blogs. However, a deal like this only further reinforces the powerful influence this community has, especially one that’s recognized by a company like Disney. For more on Babble, MediaPost also does a nice job explaining.

As PR professionals, we’re always trying to identify influential bloggers. Sites like Babble easily turn into a resource when going through this process. These bloggers have been selected to contribute based on their existing presence in the space, and usually come with a wide network. But this landscape isn’t all burp cloths and sunshine. As with any social channel, content and following are key. We saw this last month as Gannet recently shut down its MomsLikeMe website due to low site traffic. Hopefully the trend continues in the positive direction, while maintaining the authenticity that has catapulted the parent blogosphere into the forefront.

Posted by Jenna Browning | Share: Twitter, Facebook, Del.icio.us, LinkedIn

Tagged: blogging, influencers, mommy blogs, PR

What’s your Klout?

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

This morning, Charlie Sheen officially laid claim to the Guinness World Record for the “Fastest Time to Reach 1 Million Followers.” @CharlieSheen set the record in 25 hours 17 minutes and currently has more than 1.3 million people tracking his every inane tweet.

Amidst the media frenzy that his recent antics have ignited, it’s not the Record that surprised me. It’s the fact that after joining Twitter on Monday, and racking up a following of more than 60,000 in mere minutes, he earned himself a Klout score of 57-all without a single tweet. How do you get ranked as a social influencer without any content?

Individuals and brands across industries are clamoring to increase their Klout score, but the Sheen episode sheds light on an important question: does Klout really measure a person’s clout? It seems Sheen’s score was based on quantity rather than quality, and it certainly doesn’t measure the sentiment of his “influence.” Sure, he may have a decent score, but is any of the buzz he’s creating positive? Would any brand really want to align itself with him?

It’s important, as we try to find ways to measure and quantify social media, to be critical of the tools we use to measure influence. Pat yourself on the back if you’ve got a high Klout score-it could very well be indicative of your social influence, but tools like Klout should be one piece of a larger puzzle. Develop a combination of the many tools available, and then use their results as a point of guidance rather than fact. As a brand, analyze your marketplace and determine what and who really matter within it-if the most influential reporter in your space has a low Klout score, don’t dismiss his value.

Because let’s be honest, with a Twitter bio that reads “Born Small… Now Huge… Winning… Bring it..! (unemployed winner…)” and tweets like “Still Winning..! Pong! #winning #tigerblood,” a Guiness World Record and decent Klout score are not going to get Sheen out of this PR nightmare.