Kred says, “Yes, YOU do! We all have influence somewhere.”

Social influence is the ability to change the behavior, thought or actions in another person, whether intentionally, or unintentionally. When a Morning Show Host a local radio station mentions a new tech gadget, listeners, who perceive themselves in a relationship with the Host, form an opinion, and often take an action. They buy, or if it Host had bad experience, they may not buy; they may even have a conversation later on about this device with friends, family or co-workers, starting a wave of influence.

Without getting into too much  psychology, human needs lead us to conform to the expectations of others. Whether it is the need to be right, or the need to be liked. Social influence occurs when someone has the ability to affect your emotions, opinions, behaviors or decisions.

Radio is the original “Social Medium”. Listeners perceive themselves in a relationship with the person they wake up to, drive around in their car with, listen to at work, or even go to bed with. This is why On-Air Personality Product Endorsement deals are extremely valuable to brands. The trust that the audience/listener has in a Personality is almost automatically transferred to a brand or product.

In the exact same way, people are influenced by their peers online. In Social Media and Social Networking, influencers are trusted friends and authorities linked by interest-based communities. Kred, an online influence metric created by PeopleBrowsr, measures influence in online communities that are connected by affinities.  The Kred platform values audience quality and engagement, over audience size by assessing anyone’s ability to inspire.

 

In comparison to any product we use in Broadcasting, Kred is probably more like “PPM” (Personal People Meter) or  “Overnight Ratings” than Arbitron or Nielsen diary metrics. Kred uses information that is in real time, transparent and centered on each community, with a nod to an overall “Global Kred Score”. It also takes into consideration stuff you are doing in the real world; so when you have dinner at the White House you can upload that info, and get points.  It measures individual action (influence) and propensity to engage with others (outreach). Kred celebrates personal importance and generosity by shifting attention to the true heart of social media: trusted friends and subject matter  experts.

Don’t know about you, but most of my buying decisions and lifestyle choices start online these days. So if you aren’t there, it is a good chance you won’t reach me. Almost daily, I ask my online followers and friends to offer their opinions, thoughts and recommendations: “what do you think is the best___?” “If you had to decide between ___and____what would you chose?” “What is your favorite album/artist/single right now?” And then with a click of a link, I make a purchase.

Recently Washington, DC based Online Personality and Kred Travel Community Leader Ann Tran had a “Tweetup” in Miami. A Tweetup is similar to a live remote but it is people getting together offline, who know each other from online activities (notably the Social Media platform Twitter.)  Over 75 people attended and more than 17,000 viewed her invite. People flew in for the event, all the way from Europe to New York to California, some drove over 8 hours round trip, just to meet and spend time with Tran.

Similar to radio and TV, an online influencer can also drive followers to an event or venue, AND get people talking online about your product to create a digital footprint of buzz and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) across the world wide web. Kred helps you determine what areas you are influential in, and even better, what is important to your followers. It calculates the influence of the real stars in your life: from locals, like a trusted bartender or auto repair guy, to experts in your niche interests, like an environmentalist studying the effects of climate change on butterflies.

Some people walk into influence online. Let’s say you are a local TV Affiliate Anchor on the evening news.  Through reporting stories, and people talking about you online you have influence, but the big question is, “how is this helping your brand value for future on-air opportunities, or your ability to sell products and/or receive endorsement deals?” With a measurement tool like Kred it is easy to see what audiences you already have influence with, identify, and engage them; you can also determine groups of people you want to connect with, seek them out, and build a network of mutual enthusiasts on a particular subject. For example if you look at mine I am very high in the reporter category so if I look at the other influences in that category I may choose to follow those above me and after me and then look at who is following them and follow those people because perhaps we would have something in common. That is very simplified but it is a tool I use to identify where I want to grow, and if I am doing well with DOG LOVERS category, I should put more DOG LOVING content out, right? At the end of the day, it all comes down to what your goals are online. 

Dale Carnegie spoke of how to “Win Friends and Influence People” but didn’t tell us who we are, and what we are about. The meat on the bone of online influence potential is an inside job. You have to identify what is important to your life, what your personal/professional goals are, and determine who you are trying to reach. Then, you can figure out how your message is congruent to this audience. Without self knowledge, influence of any kind is not really a commodity, except maybe to your ego. Just think, if all you talk about is golf, football, hockey, hunting, NASCAR but your “curb appeal” comes from a younger female audience, that is not really reaching out to your fans and connecting with them on a level of their understanding. I am not saying don’t be yourself, but sometimes you have to look at yourself through the mirror your fans or P1 listeners are holding up to you. Find out what attracts them to you, amplify and be true to that.

Currently you can only access using your Twitter account so check it out.
http://kred.com