Like most businesses, you will probably have your marketing plan for 2012 already in place. But have you built your plan so that you’re ready to respond to the latest market trends?

While it’s important to stay focused, it’s equally as important to be prepared for the opportunities and challenges that will come from the latest marketing trends.

Wondering what the future looks like for marketing in the year ahead?

Here are my predictions for the top ten marketing trends of 2012:

1. A broader brand presence across channels

With the range of available marketing channels growing all the time, businesses will start to recognise the value of connecting up their marketing approach across the web, social media and other channels. This will be inspired by the need to better manage business resource in more challenging times – and to create a more streamlined brand presence. Instead of relying on one or two channel marketing approaches, more and more companies will link up their activities to create a truly coherent brand across multiple channels.

2. The rise and rise of user-generated content

User generated content took on momentum in 2011 – and this will continue into the New Year. Whether it is a YouTube video showing a customer using a product or customers sharing their experiences within a selective online community, content that comes direct from the potential or existing customer is likely to grow in value. The key test of this trend will be how successfully companies inspire and facilitate user-generated content. However they do it, it looks like the voice of the user will grow significantly in value in 2012.

3. Mobile marketing reaches critical mass

Mobile is going centre stage. A third of smartphone owners have used their device to buy a product online (Source: EPiServer) and this number is growing. The companies that fully prepare their marketing approach for mobile in 2012 are the ones that will benefit from a potential customer-base that browses – and shops – on the move. This demands targeted, mobile-ready content and a willingness to adapt internal marketing processes. With 59% of UK consumers now in possession of a smartphone and 18% owning a tablet device (Source: EPiServer), mobile marketing is a trend that businesses can’t afford to ignore.

4. The gap closes between business brands and social media

We all know social media is big news for business. But in 2012, it will be even bigger – and even slicker. Companies will start taking social media more seriously as a professional marketing tool. But it won’t just be the big companies using social media to actively connect with customers. Many more companies will start to interact, meaning customer service – and customer interaction – via social media will evolve even further. The gap between social media and the business brand will get ever smaller. Again, the user or the customer will take centre stage with the rise of the brand advocate in recommending, recruiting customers and connecting with companies in 2012.

5. A clearer vision on the value of analytics

Companies will seek to improve their understanding of marketing analytics in 2012. With increased channels and brand presence, businesses will look to clarify and streamline their marketing data. Companies will recognise the value of analytics that allow them to maximise on the flexibility of social media marketing by adapting their content according to live viewer response. Add to this an increasing focus on cost management and online marketing analytics look set to become the vital flipside of business marketing.

6. Up close and personal

Next year is the year that marketing becomes more personalised. Tailored content that is customised to the needs and interests of a specific market or audience will grow in value and popularity. This is for a number of reasons – the increasing growth of content’s role within online marketing and the growing presence of online, niche communities, for example. As people become more and more accustomed to selecting which brands and businesses can join them within their own online community, the value of personalised marketing approaches and content will continue to grow.

7. Content diversifies – again

Content has been big this year – and its role and value is likely to diversify even more in the year ahead. With the increase of personalised marketing, more companies will start to present content that is focused on telling stories about their business and products or services. But this won’t be a top down approach. Companies will need to draw out the stories from within their workforce – and encourage their workforce to share stories. In 2012, carefully crafted, managed and distributed content will play a vital role in successful business marketing.

8. The customer recommendation rules

In 2012, the voice of the user or the customer will get louder. Businesses are becoming smarter at integrating opportunities for customer feedback and response within their marketing approach. Social media word of mouth will keep growing, with people increasingly relying on their own online social circles to advise and comment on their choice of services or products. The companies that actively embrace this shift will be the ones that boost their profile and credibility in 2012.

9. The influence factor takes over

Closely linked to prediction number 9, social media influence will gain critical mass in 2012. Already gaining momentum, a powerful trend in the year to come is the ability for companies to influence, increase and map their influence across the social media channels. The power to inspire users in a real-world, but professional way will make a huge difference to their performance in 2012.

10. Video is centre stage

Anticipated to be big for quite some time, it looks likely that video is set to be one of the leading marketing trends in 2012. The growth of video within business marketing fits naturally with the broadening of social media channels and with increasing customer focus on feedback and recommendations. Expect video to take on some surprising approaches in 2012 – with many companies developing fresher and more user-focused forms of viral marketing.

How’s 2012 looking to you?

2012 is looking like a year where marketing channels and messages will diversify – and where user connection, influence and feedback will rule. Companies can stay ahead by embracing and facilitating how their customers interact with them on social media. Combine this with a more targeted content and better connected cross channel marketing can help grow your leads, customers and revenue in 2012.

Whatever your choice, the New Year is a great opportunity to review what’s been working for you – and what you want to leave behind in 2012. Look back at past marketing activities and at their ROI and other results to see what’s worked best. Then you can move on to make more leads and more customers your New Year’s resolution for 2012. Start with 40 ideas for New Year resolutions now – download this eGuide 40 New Year’s Resolutions for Marketing in 2012.

Guest Author: Sookie Shuen is the community manager at Tomorrow People, an inbound marketing consultancy. Read her Inbound Marketing Blog.

More Reading

• 18 Key Observations about the State of Blogging in 2011
• 6 Social Media Networks to Watch in 2012 [Plus Infographics]
• 10 Things You Must Know about the State of Social Media in 2011
• 7 Top Trends in Social Media
• Is This the Future of Books?
• 5 Insights on the Future of Social Media
• Is Blogging the Future of Publishing
• 30 Predictions of the Future for Twitter
• 45 Social Media Trends and Predictions

Applying for a job is a challenge in a crowded employment marketplace and it can be tough and daunting task as you are often competing with many other candidates for that one spot. Applications flood in via email with  resumes attached.

The recruiter or company can receive hundreds of application for just one position and it’s an avalanche of data and information that clogs the inbox.

It’s the survival of the fittest!

How do you stand out from the crowd when you are just a a click away from being deleted from the process?

There are a variety of ways to get that inside running for that dream job.

How to Stand Out from the Crowd

There are many tactics to gain that important attention and emerge from under a pile of resumes as the victor.

1. Create a multimedia resume that makes your application stand out from the crowd (here are some examples and yes they got the job)
2. Be referred to the boss by a friend who is on the inside (and I don’t mean jail)
3. Advertise on Facebook targeted at the exact company you want to work for

There is Another Way

A less traditional approach is that you can go about building up your online influence through producing and publishing content and buzz online with a blog, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

This proactive online personal branding and positioning of you as a person of knowledge, passion and attitude in your industry or niche will have employers hunting you down and begging to hire brand “You”.

So how do you do that?

10 Steps To Promote Brand “You” With Social Media

1. Identify your Passion

Maybe you already are an expert in your industry and you are passionate about your area of expertise. If you aren’t, you need to identify what you can focus on so you can create and publish content relevant to your industry.

More reading:

How To Blog With Passion and Purpose

2. Obtain a Domain Name in Your Name

If you can’t obtain it because it is already taken create another name that encapsulates what you are about. Gary Vaynerchuk created a video blog with the domain name tv.winelibrary.com to provide a platform to promote his passion about wine. There is no right or wrong about this but get started.

3. Start a Blog using WordPress

Google loves blogs as they deliver new and unique content that keep Google’s search results relevant and recent. WordPress is easy to use and you can buy templates that allow you to set the blog up without being a programmer

More reading

105 Tips To Make Your Blog Rock

4. Write and Publish Unique Content Regularly

Choose your medium such as video, audio or the written word as some people can write, others are better on video and some can communicate their passion through speech. Video bloggers such as Gary Vaynerchuk transformed their business with a video blog.

More reading:

9 Secrets of A Successful Online Video Social Media Marketing Strategy

5. Create a Twitter Account in your Name

Twitter is a great marketing tool to communicate to a niche market ever invented. Open a Twitter account and secure your Twitter name today which is consistent with your blog domain name.

6. Engage, Communicate and Promote Brand “You” on Twitter

Start following people on Twitter in your industry and  the Twitter etiquette of following back people who follow you allows you to connect, engage and then influence people in your target market.

More reading:

11 Twitter Essentials You Need To Pimp Your Blog

7. Create a Facebook “Page” with the Same Brand as your Blog

Facebook with nearly 700 million users provides a rich source of contacts to spread your content and get feedback and allow your message and brand to spread. Start a page today (not a personal profile)

More reading

How To Increase Your Facebook Page Fans By 1,000%

8. Set-Up and Optimize a LinkedIn Account

LinkedIn with nearly 100 million professional members with an average income of $100,000 is a social media channel that will appear high in Google search results whenever anyone Google’s your name. On LinkedIn you can link to feeds from Twitter and your blog into your LinkedIn page that provides social proof of your expertise and authority

9. Publish Content to “Other” Social Media Platforms

If you are a manager or a professional you no doubt will have PowerPoint presentations, upload these where appropriate onto Slideshare. Record videos of presentations or interviews and create a YouTube account  and upload those videos to YouTube. If you have great photos from events and seminars create an account and then upload the images to Flickr ( a social network photo and image repository). These social networking platforms appear high up in any Google search results when anyone searches your name.

More reading:

Google Becomes More Social And It’s Hurting Your Business

10. Make it Easy for People to Share your Content

On your blog make sure that you implement two features that allow people to share your content with 2 clicks. Install a Retweet and Facebook button that reduce the friction for anyone to spread your expertise to their Twitter or Facebook network with  a couple of clicks of the mouse.

More reading

How To Increase Your Blog Traffic By 55% With One Button

So you have completed these 10 steps and you are building Twitter followers and Facebook fans that are reading your blog and leaving comments. How do you measure that social media influence?

Measuring your Online “Influence”

Klout.com is a company that is attempting to measure this. The Klout Score is the measurement of your overall online influence. The scores range from 1 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence. Klout uses over 35 variables on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to measure your influence which includes reach, amplification and your network.

True Reach

True Reach is the size of your engaged audience and is based on those of your followers and friends who actively listen and react to your messages

Amplification Probability

Amplification Score is the likelihood that your messages will generate actions (retweets, @messages, likes and comments) and is on a scale of 1 to 100

Network Score.

Network score indicates how influential your engaged audience is and is also on a scale from 1 to 100. The Klout score is highly correlated to clicks, comments and retweets.

What is Your Klout?

You can measure your “Klout” by entering your Twitter name (such as JeffBullas) into the Klout website after logging in via Facebook or Twitter.

In a knowledge and attention economy it is important to be influential, obvious and noticeable and influence now extends beyond the traditional analog network of  the “old boys club”.

Some people might think that this is pushing the digital space beyond the point of credibility but at this stage nearly 2,000 companies have now bought data from Klout to use for assessing online influence for hiring and for finding people who are influential in their industry and area of interest.

If you were hiring a sales person, marketing director or even a CEO their ability to influence is important in their job roles.

Forbes also mentions some other ways companies are finding people with Klout to help them market their goods and services

So do you think having influence online is important for winning that dream  job?

Image by DaveKav

Twitter is a highly visible social media platform that  can be used as a measure of influence and ‘Klout’ on the world wide web.  The question of what makes a person influential on Twitter has tweaked my interest since October 2009 when I started a poll that asked “What makes a Brand or Person Influential on Twitter?“. (It is still an open poll and so far over 2,200 people have voted).

The great thing about Twitter is its simplicity and real time transparency and as such it is maybe the most visible platform to view a persons digital influence on an increasingly social web.

On Twitter the numbers are there for all to see such as

• Twitter followers
• Those you are following
• The number of lists you are on
• The names and categories given to those lists

Tools have emerged over the last couple of years to try and measure a persons influence on Twitter and on the web using a whole range of variables. Some of these tools are very simple and others are complex and far reaching.

Twitter Influence Measurement Tools

There are many different Twitter tools that attempt to measure influence.

• Klout
• Social Chiefs
• Peer Index
• ReTweet Rank
• Twitalyzer
• Twitter Grader

Klout is maybe the most popular and to date has measured over 75 million Twitter profiles and analyzes more than 3 billion relationships and 250 million pieces of content every 24 hours. Klout provides an overall measurement, which is a number out of 100 that takes over 30 factors into consideration – including your retweet frequency, the influence levels of your followers, and how far your retweets go. Twitter Grader is maybe the next in order of  credibility and has so far measured over 9 million users on Twitter and uses 6 algorithm factors such as the number of followers, power of followers and follower/following ratio. Social Chiefs not only measures Twitter, but also Facebook and LinkedIn. Measuring is based on reach, actions and level of interaction.

Twitter Reputation Ratio

A very simple measurement of influence on Twitter is the number of lists people have placed you on. In essence the more lists you are on the greater the respect and reputation you have on Twitter as measured by your followers and peers. The Twitter lists have been a Twitter feature since October 2009 (shortly after I started the poll).

These lists can can be used to calculate an effective metric as a minimalist measurement of authority and reputation and I call this the “Twitter Reputation Ratio” that strips out the pure follower count so as to provide a uniform ratio for comparison.

This is calculated by the following simple mathematical equation

Follower count divided by the number of lists  = Twitter Reputation Ratio

The more respect and authority you have on Twitter is usually due to people admiring elements such as your great content, reputation, skills or your music and a high level of reputation and influence is reflected in the metric being a low number (like a golf score). The lower the number the better your reputation is in your industry and niche.

So what are some ‘Reputation Ratios’ of stars and social media personalities and bloggers on Twitter?

Famous Stars Twitter Reputation Ratios

• Justin Bieber - Justin  has 9,379,737  followers and is currently on 465,019 lists = Reputation ratio of  20.2
• Paris Hilton - Paris has 3,876,028  followers and is currently on 45,684 lists = Reputation ratio of  84.9
• Chad Ochinoco - Chad has 1,970,670  followers and is currently on 45,684 lists = Reputation ratio of  85.7
• Barack Obama - President Obama has 7,768, 210  followers and is currently on 138,753 lists = Reputation ratio of  56
• Jimmy Fallon - Jimmy has 3,499,925  followers and is currently on 37,414 lists = Reputation ratio of  93.55

Social Media Stars Twitter Reputation Ratios

• Brian Clark (@copyblogger) – has 78,186  followers and is currently on 8,862 lists = Reputation ratio of  8.82
• Robert Scoble –  (@scobleizer) – Robert has 177,870 followers and is on 17,174 lists = Reputation ratio of  10.36
• Brian Solis – Brian has 90,741  followers and is currently on 11,477 lists = Reputation ratio of  7.91
• Chris Brogan – Chris has 138,256  followers and is currently on 18,658 lists = Reputation ratio of  7.41
• Problogger (Darren Rowse) – Darren has 78,922  followers and is currently on 12,285 lists = Reputation ratio of  6.42

In looking at the numbers, one of the conclusions you can draw is that the social media ‘stars’ that produce great content and have a trusted reputation on Twitter are put on many lists by their followers so they can read their views and catch up on their insights and blog posts.

Another aspect of the list is to have a look at the titles that people have listed you under e.g. PR, Social Media and Marketing that reveal what category your followers value about your content that provides a clear insight of why they put you on their list… If you are listed under ‘humour’ and you blog about writing then you maybe need to check what content you are publishing.

This is a simple metric and I wouldn’t use it to obtain a home loan or to brag to your friends about but it is a quick and dirty guide to the reputation that you have amongst your followers on Twitter.

What is your ‘Twitter Reputation Ratio’?

More Reading

• How To Get Targeted Twitter Followers
• Who Are The 10 Most Influential Twitter Users In The World [Study]
• What Are The 7 Elements Of Influence Power On Twitter?
• Twitter Power Poll: What Makes A Brand or Person Influential on Twitter?
• Two Keys To Be Influential On Twitter

Image by Alyssa & Colin

So you are wondering why you your tweets aren’t being retweeted?

You are not feeling very influential?

Well, the latest research from Hewlett Packard Labs shows that (after analyzing 2.5 million users and 22 million tweets over 300 hours) only one in every 318 URL’s is retweeted.

So you need a lot of followers who feel inclined enough to pass on your tweet to get some retweet action happening

The trick is not just getting their attention but getting them off the couch and hitting the retweet button.

In essence the ability to influence on Twitter is the power to

• Gain attention (popularity through following)
• Then make people take action (overcome passivity)

This influence is determined by many factors, such as

• Novelty and resonance of their messages with those of their followers
• Quality and frequency of the content they generate.

This scientific study by Hewlett Packard Labs has shown that just having a large quantity doesn’t make you influential. The most accurate measure according to the study was an algorithm they developed called the IP Algorithm (or Influence – Passivity Score) which they claim provides the most accurate measure of relative influence.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So below I have listed the assumptions that the team at HP used in their calculations for the IP (Influence-Passivity) Score

Measuring the influence score assumptions

• A user’s influence score depends on the number of people they influence as well as their passivity.
• A user’s influence score depends on how dedicated the people she influences are. Dedication is measured by the amount of attention a user pays to a given one as compared to everyone else.

Measuring the Passivity Score assumes

• A user’s passivity score depends on the influence of those who they are exposed to but not influenced by.
• A user’s passivity score depends on how much they rejects other user’s influence compared to everyone else

The study also assumed that the influence of a user can be both the quantity and quality of the audience that you influence.

So what top 10 tweeps did the HP team discover to be the most influential according to the Hewlett Packard IP (Influence-Passive) Algorithm

1. Mashable – Social Media Blogger with 2,093,894 followers and on 56,687  lists
2. Jokoanwar – Film Director with 83,839 followers and on 1,067 lists
3. Google - Google News with 2,495,743 followers and on 46,155 lists
4. Aplusk – Actor with 5,901,482 followers and on 59,775 lists
5. Syfy – Science Fiction Channel with 48,867 followers and on 4,145 lists
6. Smashingmag – Online Developer Magazine with 267,379 followers and on 21,854 lists
7. Michellemalkin – Conservative Commentator with 112,602 followers and on 5,774 lists
8. Theonion – News Satire Organisation with 2,410,864 followers and on 37,523 lists
9. Rww – Tech/Social Media Blogger with 1,047,141 followers and on 11,463 lists
10. Breakingnews - News Aggregator with 1,896,899 followers and on 32,178 lists

Image by Debh2u

Influence on Twitter is all about how many followers you have..right?  We grow up in a world where bigger is best and more of everything is better.

Jumbo, Whopper and Mega are words that turn heads and open wallets.  

On Twitter it’s about how many followers you have, on Facebook it’s the number of friends, on LinkedIn it’s the all important statistic  of connections quantity. It’s the emergence of a new sphere of measuring influence by “quantifying attention and influence” by the numbers.

Britney Spears has over 6 million followers but if you have a look at the influence of her fans on Twitter the majority have zero influence according to a study by Sysmos who help people locate key influencers in their areas of interest with its social media analytics tool.

Thirty percent of Britneys followers have zero influence according to the Sysmos influence parameters of  ”number of followers, following, updates, retweets and several similar measures”.

The reality is that when it comes to influence it resides primarily within your sphere of interest. If Britney tweets about singing or appearing on TV to followers who obviously love to hear her voice and watch her perform then the influence is broad and deep.

Celebrities are bound to attract mainstream followers less interested in their own Twitter follower counts and more consumed with their celebrity obsessions.If she tweets about how to play football then she has very little influence.

If you want to increase your influence on Twitter then you need grow your follower base that has influence in your niche whether that be organic foods, franchising or scuba diving. It’s not just about the numbers but the influence and quality of the followers that will spread your brands content and information to the market you are in.

So in a size obsessed world it is not just about the numbers.

Image by Mr Carls

Google has made a few attempts to become the next new force in social media and you would think with it’s current world wide global domination of the web that it would would be an easy task to displace the likes of Facebook and Twitter which are the young upstarts on the block.

The challenge for most companies is that when they step away from their core business that replicating their success in one field is not as easy as it seems.

Google Wave has ended in tears with the announcement  of it being closed down in December and Google Buzz is still hanging in there but has has failed to ignite any serious competition to Facebook or Twitter.

Sources are saying that Google will be launching a social networking platform called Google ME as early as November.

1. Google To Launch Facebook Competitor

Facebook’s exponential growth in popularity can be attributable to the site being the first social network to offer a more seamless user experience with an emphasis on sharing what friends really wanted to see and read, instead of a steady stream of spam-like content found on then the largest social network, MySpace, which is owned by News Corporation.

Competitors underestimated Facebook’s growth potential, forecasting its strong momentum at the time would not sustain in the longer run.

Fast-forward only a few years, and Facebook today is challenging Google’s top spot as the world’s largest web property.

It appears Google will finally utilize already popular products to leverage itself into social networking by adding layers of social networking elements into some of its properties, like YouTube, starting as early as this November…read more

2. Mark Zuckerberg Now Richer Than Steve Jobs

Just 5 years after founding Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg is worth more than Apple’s iconic chief Steve Jobs. This year, Zuckerberg, 26, added $4.9 billion to his fortune–vaulting to #35 on the Forbes 400 with an estimated fortune of $6.9 billion. Why the jump? Recent private equity investments in Facebook valued the firm at around $23 billion–more than triple its 2009 value of $7 billion..read more

3. Ashton Kutcher Has Little Twitter Influence

A study conducted at Northwestern University determined that celebrities like Ashton Kutcher with millions of Twitter followers are mostly ignored on the social media site, resulting in very little if any influence.
When the researchers applied their mathematical algorithm to the countless tweets that appear on Twitter each day, they found that experts in certain fields were much more likely to cause topics of discussion to become trends

4. Twitter To Release Real Time Analytics Solution

Twitter is planning to release a real time analytics dashboard in Q4. Like their releases of ads and the new UI, this will likely start as a beta release and have a phased roll out. The product will leverage algorithms similar to the Twitter Resonance concept in order to show users which tweets are spreading, who is influential in their network, and more. The emphasis is on real time in order to help users make adjustments on the fly to their tactics..read more

5. Twitter Now Getting More Traffic Than My Space

Twitter’s number of monthly unique visitors finally surpassed that of MySpace in August. Though it ranked third among social networking sites, Twitter ranked #50 in the list of top 50 properties overall. The numbers were crunched by the marketing research firm comScore..read more

Image by George Hall

Social media has provided a means for people to make a name for themselves globally in their niche if they are prepared to put in the hard yards and publish, promote and leverage their passion. This can be done by using the the different media that are available to them on social media such as online video on YouTube or images on Flickr and create content that displays their passion for the world to see.

This article is a compilation of 4 blog posts that I recently wrote that took the one best idea from thought leaders on what they think is important to increase your influence online in the world wide web of social media networks.

Hubspot sponsored the Influencer Project where the social media influencers and experts were given 60 seconds to state their number one tip.

Here are some of their thoughts on what they see as being important in being influential in a digital world.

There is one secret here that if you don’t have it you will not be successful.

1. Create valuable content that helps people solve their problems

You can do this on many diffedrent social media channels whether that is YouTube, a blog post or an eBook

David Meerman Scott of Webinknow.com

2. Be really transparent about everything that you’re doing,

Then sharing a lot of that information, being really open. And that will help you build your digital influence - Mike Volpe of Hubspot

3. Be consistent

Consistency demonstrates commitment. So, for the people that you’re trying to serve, if you are consistent, they’re going to keep coming back –  Michael Port of MichaelPort.com

4. Follow better people

so then you will read and view great content then enabling you to produce great output (content) – Robert Scoble of Scobleizer.com

5. Create relationships with outstanding strategic partners

Carol Roth at CarolRoth.com.

6. Make connections with people online, and then go and meet them in person in the real world offline

Scott Porad of  ScottPorad.com

7. Create content that stands for something, which is remarkable, divisive or inspirational

Joe Pulizzi founder of Junta42 and  The Content Marketing Institute

8. Lead your customers with the latest trends in your industry

Laurel Touby – founder of MediaBistro.com.

9. Develop and nurture multiple circles and multiple spheres of influence

Don’t rely on just one type of social media networks but get involved in several and you will create synergy

Chris Guillebeau from the blog  The Art of Non Conformity

10. Start talking to people-

Laura Roeder from LauraRoeder.com

11. Develop your storytelling skills

To improve your digital influence have a story that is worth telling don’t try and sell a product or idea - Michael Margolis, fromGetStoried.com

12. Co‐create some products with people who have your audience already but are not selling them the kind of things you’re selling

Make real quick teleseminars with them, or do special reports that are just for their audience, and kind of co‐make them with those people, and basically get yourself co‐billed with as many other people as possible. Because what happens is their audiences, goodwill, and credibility shifts over to you, and you get to be associated with some of the larger names in the business

Dave Navarro from TheLaunchCoach.com

13. Give your content wings and give it roots

Roots means to ground it solidly in who you are (your passion and being) and have a point of view. Give it wings means to let it be shared easily across social media platfroms all over the web buttons easy to share frictionless and free - Ann Handley of MarketingProfs and co‐author of Content Rules

14. Get offline and meet people in real life

When you meet someone, introduce that individual to someone else that you know, they will standout significantly in their eyes - Joselin Mane at BostonTweetup.com

15. Get very, very good at filtering and aggregating content

Be able to sort through all that content and be able to deliver it to people at the right time, the right size, the right amount. Second thing is,  be veryinformed about what matters to those folks, what they’re saying in the social technologyand the social space - John Jantsch  of DuctTapeMarketing.com

16. Be topical and early in the news cycle

This can be on any conversation of general interest  and detect and articulate patterns, make connections, and make context explicit and  just  hustle - Marshall Kirkpatrick from ReadWriteWeb.com

17. Use online video

This probably the fastest way to get your message out there, to increase visibility, and to get clients and customers online. Come up with some great content—it can be two to three minutes, it does not have to be a lot. Create content around your area of expertise and then distribute,distribute with gusto - Shamana Kabani author of The Zen of Social Media Marketing

18. Be remarkable

So defy convention where appropriate, people take notice -  Johnny B. Truant of JohnnyBTruant.com

19. Let your passion shine

It’s about people—real human beings, just like you and me, it is not about the technology. It’s about passion, conversations, not product conversations - Robbin Phillips of word of mouth marketing atBrainsOnFire.com

20. Learn how to talk more about other people

So if you’re looking to influence a certain thought leader, or even just a group of people, talking about them, talking to them, instead of about yourself - Yaro Starak from Entrepreneurs‐Journey.com

21. Hang out where your audience hangs out and get to understand them

Find out what their needs are and the task what they’re trying to accomplish. Ask people questions so you can help them solve their problems - Vanessa Fox of Nine by Blue and author of “Marketing in the Age of Google”.

Action: Build things that really help them. This could be an online video tutorial that show people how to perform a particular task or an eBook that provides guidance and suggesstions for answers for real day to day problems. These could be promoted on Twitter and embedded in Facebook as am update as well as being on your blog or website.

22. Find one specific niche and master that niche

Become the owner of that niche on the online social media space, so that everyone around you knew that you knew everything about that one specific topic – Lewis Howes at LewisHowes.com (his niche is LinkedIn)

Action: Start doing webinars to promote and educate others how to master the niche you have mastered yourself

23. Integrate social media with other tactics online and offline.

Research has shown a powerful synergy between social media and search, email and other tactics like we’ve never seen before. We found that social media integration creates a situation where the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts – Sergio Balegno Research Director at Marketing Sherpa.

Action: Look at creative ways you can integrate social media with traditional and other digital media. This could be by integrating email with social media to drive traffic to your blog or Facebook page.. read more at “10 Ways To Integrate your Email and Social Media”

24. Change from thinking about changing other people’s mind to changing your mind

Instead of thinking about competing, think about admiring and learning from everybody that you see. Hank Wasiak at AssetBasedThinking.com

Action: Engage with a top blogger or thought leader on their blog or Twitter and then possibly aim to collaborate with them on a Project

25. Get active in other people’s communities

Mitch Joel President of Twist Image and the author and blogger and podcaster over at Six Pixels of Separation.

Action: Get into peoples comments on blogs. Then mix it up with them on Twitter

26. Build Multi Digital Dimensionality by Listening and Engaging on Multiple Networks

What I mean by that is by showing as many different sides of yourself or your business as you can. Why? Well, because the more sides of yourself that you show, there’s more opportunities for connections, and there’s more ways in. Everyone sees , hears, views and receives information in many different ways. Both Tamsen McMahon – of BrassTackThinking.com and Justin Levy at New Marketing Labs suggested this tip but have their own take on how this can be done

Action: Publish the same content on multiple networks, Video, Text, Slideshare, Images, Podcasts but consider the networks where you can be most effective and gain the most leverage for your target audience in your niche.

27. Get into other people’s heads and help them with their challenges

Network with other influencers and make sure that everybody is aware of the value that you provide. What you’re looking for is a long-term relationship. Chris Garrett from ChrisG.com.

Action: Connect with people online and then meet with them offline to build a long term relationship that is real and authentic. Don’t be afraid to ask for an interview whether that be via a face to face or an online interview. You can even record the video and then it can be promoted on both of your social networks  (see “Social Media and The CEO- An Interview With Greg Savage the CEO of Aquent“)

28. Make your  professional narrative personal

When you’re talking about influencing people, especially as an entrepreneur, it’s about your passion, it’s about who you are and what you bring to the table. Connecting the who with the what. Cathy Brooks the founder of Other Than That.

Action: Don’t be afraid to tell people on your blog your story and what brought you to this place it can be the narrative of your journey or even let yourself  be interviewed then place that on your blog or post it on your Facebook page.

29. Have an opinion, be remarkable, be passionate and have a permanent place (Your Blog)

What is it about your industry or about the world in general that you feel passionate enough about to shake things up? If you’re willing to shake up your world, the world is willing to payattention.

Todd Defren – principle at SHIFT Communications, and a blogger at PRSquared.

Action: Write an opinion piece, or a blog post or invent something

30. Be a media and publishing company

Brian Clark Of Copyblogger

This media company should do 3 things

• Learn to be a story teller …narrative – it what makes us human
• Understand the pyschology of people as it powers your narrative
• Content has to be quality- production quality matters if you are going to get the attention you want

Action: Go to some of the blogs that specialize in teaching you skills in writing stories

31. Share ideas liberally and be accountable

Scott Belsky of Behance and author of “Making Ideas Happen”

Action: Place your ideas, videos and image on Facebook, Twitter, Slideshare and Flickr and ask your friends and community to keep you honest through feedback ..to hold you to account

32. Focus on a specific micro niche

Dan Schawbel founder of Millennial Branding and bestselling author of Me 2.0.

The number one thing you can do for your personal branding using social media right now, is to choose a much smaller niche to focus on, so you can stand out in your market, and become

known for that. So instead of becoming the personal finance expert, you can be the personal finance expert for Gen Y, or for college graduates. A micro niche globally can be worth millions!!

Action: Think of a micro niche within your area of passion and start writing and producing content for that niche

33. Build a community of readers

Gretchen Rubin author of The Happiness Project the book and the blog atHappiness-Project.com.

The way to do that is to engage readers in a conversation.

Action: Introduce topics in your that are thought provoking and interesting and on which people have a lot to say

34. Hang Out With Other Successful People (Entrepreneurs)

Alexandra Levit found at AlexandraLevit.com.

Be systematic in your approach to getting to know the individuals who have already been on the entrepreneurial path that you are currently on.

Action: Target between five and ten individuals who you admire, whose work you’ve followed, and gradually start getting to know them—commenting on their tweets, commenting on their blog posts, asking them if they could spare fifteen to twenty minutes to do an informational interview with you to tell you more about their path

35. Create A Tribe of Rabid Advocates

Steve Woodruff at SteveWoodruff.com.

His main secret for building influence online is to find and help individuals get launched on platforms like Twitter or in blogging. By coming alongside them and becoming an advocate they will be your fan for life. One of the of the keys for digital influence is not having the biggest number of connections; it’s really having the most rabid advocates

Action: Identify gifted up and comers that are just getting into social media, but clearly have the right stuff, have good experience, have drive and have a message. Take their material and expose it to a broader audience and connecting them to key people, you end up creating for yourself an advocate for life.

36. Become a Thought Leader Through Media

David Siteman Garland founder of The Rise to the Top

Action: Start a media arm for your company by creating a special show, Podcast or an Online Magazine

37. Be Patient and Persistent

Amber Naslund the Director of Community at Radian6 also at his blogBrassTackThinking.com.

Online influence is a slow burn, and it’s not something that you can really manufacture. It’s something that’s really organically grown by having quality one-on-one conversations with people over time. And that can happen in a number of mediums.

Action: Get up every day and blog and Twitter with a purpose and use your other networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn to connect, engage and network. Persist and don’t give up

38. Discover and Develop Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

Julien Smith co-author of best-selling book, Trust Agents, and blogger at InOverYourHead.net.

Probably the key to building your influence online is to take advantage of your existing benefits which you already have, that other people don’t.

Action: Take some time today or in the next few days to find some quiet time to sit down and write down the different things that you are passionate about and make you different

39. Distill what it is that you feel you bring to the table in terms of value and expertise

Brian Solis Author of the new book, “Engage: How to Build, Cultivate and Measure Success on the New Web”

Then identify the influential individuals that already in place, at varying levels, from the A list to the C list, and figure out how it is that you can connect with them, and how you can connect your insights to them directly.

Action: Build a repository for that insight eg a blog or website and “be” a thought leader and gather a community around your thought leadership

40. Build lots of Followers and Subscribers and Promote You Content by Retweeting and Emailing

Guy Kawasaki states that there are those who say that having a large following on Twitter is important and those that don’t admit to that are lying. You might have the best content in the world but if no one knows it exists that is of no use to anyone. Promote, Promote, Promote to your lists and followers and fans !!

If you want to learn more I would urge you to to visit these leaders blogs and websites you will be inspired by their valuable content.

Public relations professionals are some of the early adopters, innovators and users of social media in a rapidly changing web landscape and Twitter is a social media channel that can promote your message to a large group of people in real time so in essence it is instant PR.

You will find that within companies that the PR team is generally the group responsible for the brands social media activities.

I stumbled across this list painstakingly compiled by Liliana Dumitru-Steffens from the Everything PR blog which lists the top 100 PR companies and individuals who are on Twitter and as it provides a valuable source of potential resources I had to share it.

She used Twitaholic, Twittercounter and WeFollow. The rankings are based based on the number of users following back these PR experts (or PR companies/ publications), and not on their professional skills.

The ranking doesn’t aim to demonstrate how influential they are on Twitter and you could rank this list many ways in terms of their digital influence and that could include

• How many Twitter lists they are on
• How many Retweets their followers put back onto Twitter
• How many comments are on their blog posts
• How many Facebook friends they have
• The number of views on their YouTube channel
• The quantity of views on  their Slideshare channel
• How many search engine results do they receive when you enter them into a search engine
• What is their ranking in Google
• How much traffic does their website receive
• The number of inbound links to their blogs and websites

What a recent survey by Exact Target has shown is that Twitter power users are very influential online and so need to be taken seriously by brands.

So this list is only one measure of their own public relations success on behalf of their own brand on one social media channel. So go and visit their Twitter feeds and check out their content you are sure to learn something from these PR Twitter power users!!

Who do you think is the most influential and how could you measure that?

1. MagicSauceMedia – Renee Blodgett PR – 100,270 followers
2. PublicityGuru – Bill Stoller – Editor & Founder, Free Publicity Newsletter. For a Free Sample Issue click here – 89,432 followers
3. petershankman – Founder of HARO – 88,603 followers
4. JonathanCheban – 86,236 followers
5. peoplesrev – Kelly Cutrone – 84,000 followers
6. SocialMedia411 – Social Media Insider – 73,655 followers
7. briansolis – 65,542 followers
8. prsarahevans – Sarah Evans – 50,117 followers
9. Steve Rubel – 45,568 followers
10. Steveology – Steve Farnsworth – 40,815 followers
11. WeAreSocial – 39,212 followers
12. Alexander Blom – 39,161 followers
13. PRNewswire – Vicky, PR Newswire’s Director of Audience Development & team – 38,619 followers
14. MattSingley – 36,032 followers
15. PRwise – Roger S. Johnson – 31,450 followers
16. JessicaNow – Jessica Smith – 31,369
17. Collin Douma – 29,764 followers
18. MarvetBritto – 28,556 followers
19. ereleases – PR Distribution – 28,034 followers
20. Rochelle Veturis – 25,362 followers
21. DougH – Doug Haslam – 25,089 followers
22. DannyBrown – 23,175 followers
23. leeodden – 22,732 followers
24. Kathy_Johnson – Co-founder of PR/social media firm Consort Partners – 21,980 followers
25. chrisabraham – Chris Abraham is THE expert in social media and digital PR – 21,590 followers
26. missusP – Christine Perkett – 20,988 followers
27. Mark Ragan – 20,586 followers
28. Giovanni Gallucci – 20,453 followers
29. fishmark – 18,464 followers
30. prblog – Kevin Dugan – 17,875 followers
31. PR_Couture – Crosby/PR Couture – 17,801 followers
32. RealYaverbaum – eric yaverbaum – 17,711 followers
33. Lizz Harmon – 17,396 followers
34. SteveKayser – Biz Writer, Editor, Publisher, PR/Marketing – 16,704 followers
35. TDefren – 16,592 followers
36. karasmamedia – Kara Smith – 16,413 followers
37. PublicityHound – Joan Stewart – 16,290 followers
38. Shannon Paul – 15,826 followers
39. luisete – Luis Rodriguez – 15,627 followers
40. David Alston – 15,428 followers
41. DenverPR – Maggie Holben – 14,872 followers
42. juliebonnheath – JBH PR & Marketing – 14,706 followers
43. Doug Mummert – 14,337 followers
44. PressAbout – Free Press Release Distribution – 14,153 followers
45. sagefrog – Mark Schmukler – 13,659 followers
46. Michelle Blanc – 13,653 followers
47. jimcaruso – CEO & Chairman at MediaFirst PR – Atlanta – 13,579 followers
48. Flack_Me – The PR Professional’s Blog. – 13,057 followers
49. Marsha Friedman – 13,045 followers
50. ProfNet – Maria Perez – 12,925 followers
51. PRjobs – Lindsay Olson – 11,957 followers
52. jasonkintzler – 11,650 followers
53. laermer – Richard Laermer – 11,530 followers
54. HowellMarketing – 11,414 followers
55. CXN_Inc – 11,020 followers
56. John Digles – 11,016 followers
57. TracyHNguyen – 10,983 followers
58. LisaHoffmann – 10,920 followers
59. LizzieGrubman – 10,873 followers
60. davefleet – 10,580 followers
61. justinkistner – 10,354 followers
62. gothamc – 10,286 followers
63. walshpr – 10,153 followers
64. richquigley – 10,102 followers
65. dbreakenridge – 9,821
66. pheadrick – Parry Headrick – 9,687 followers
67. CathyWebSavvyPR – Cathy Larkin PR – 9,663
68. kdpaine – Katie Delahaye Paine – 9,652 followers
69. TiloBonow – 9,540 followers
70. BusinessWire – Monika Maeckle, Vice President, New Media Business Wire – 9,373
71. IdeaGrove – Scott Baradell – 9,370 followers
72. Spin_Thicket – 9,352 followers
73. pressreleases – Press releases distributed by Journalism.co.uk – 9,170 followers
74. Rachel Kay – 8,996 followers
75. Bill Rice – 8,709 followers
76. LuxuryPRGal – Christine Kirk – 8,636 followers
77. India PR Blog – 8,598 followers
78. tacanderson – VP of Digital Strategies at Waggener Edstrom – 8,514 followers
79. SourceBottle – 8,276 followers
80. Stefan Keuchel – 7,995 followers
81. Shonali Burke – 7,949 followers
82. Nigel_Morgan – 7,943 followers
83. SocialNicole – Nicole Harrison – 7,902 followers
84. ecofashionista – Kelly Drennan – 7,839 followers
85. George Affleck – 7,816 followers
86. J Public Relations – 7,790 followers
87. GetPubRelatJobs – 7,705 followers
88. CelebritizeYou – Marsha Friedman – 7,677 followers
89. Kellye Crane – 7,632 followers
90. waxgirl333 – 7,589 followers
91. Stuart Foster – 7,553 followers
92. SaurabhSaggi – 7,507 followers
93. GemmaWent – Red Cube Marketing – 7,451 followers
94. Brian Crouch – 7,432 followers
95. BarbaraJones – 7,418 followers
96. Len Kendall – 7,397 followers
97. PR4YOU – 7,377 followers
98. Yann Ropars – 7,373 followers
99. JenerationPR – Jennifer Berson – 7,273 followers
100. David Burrows – 7,244 followers

Image by monkeyworks illustration