Page 174 - Social Media Marketing

c h a p t e r 6: SOCI A L A NA LY T ICS, M ET R ICS, A N D M EASU R EM EN T ■know where you can get it…” is the one that is remembered and appreciated. Building
social capital works the same way, and it most definitely applies to influencer relations.

Figure 6.4 Relative Trust

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Social Capital

Author and thought leader Brian Solis offers a clear, concise view on social capital and its impor-
tance in business. You can follow Brian on Twitter (@briansolis) and read his post on social
capital here:

http://www.briansolis.com/2010/03/social-capital-the-currency-of-digital-
citizens/

Apply Your New Influencer Knowledge

Once you understand—quantitatively—the people in the marketplace or stakehold-
ers who matter to your firm or organization you’ll want to do something with this
information. Much of what can be done with influencer knowledge involves the use of
the social graph and applications that navigate it. Tools like Buzzstream and Sysomos
MAP are examples of how the social graph can be used to provide information that
defines the people talking about your brand, product, or service. You can combine
this with information that highlights the interconnections between people to create
an assessment of how influence actually flows. This can be tracked over time and tied
back to your social-media-based marketing efforts.

Influence ranking further allows you to prioritize your efforts. Like any other
program, there is a cost to undertaking it that can be measured in terms of other
opportunities foregone. The same applies to building relationships, with one caveat.
When using influencer scores to prioritize your efforts, it’s important to use more than