Tuesday
11Nov2008
15 Days of Marketing Day Eleven: Measuring Your Influence So Companies Will Want to Work with You
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 4:59AM
Once you've built up your marketing skillset and cut your teeth promoting yourself and promoting others, most of you will ultimately want to be hired, right? With the economy the way it is, companies are looking for low-overhead, flexible ways to get the work they need done, so now is a great time for virtual marketing executives to add value and a return on investment.
However, you're going to need to show them your value. Clearly, the number of comments on your blog will demonstrate your influence, but having hard numbers ready to share as supporting evidence of the return on investment you offer is important too.
Here are a few tools that can help you have those numbers ready when you're asked. And it's helpful to have those before you're asked rather than after. You never want to be in the position where you're scrambling.
You'll want to include all these statistics and numbers handy and updated on a regular basis so that when you present them to potential clients or employers, they'll have the latest information. Growing your brand consistently will correlate directly to these numbers improving and increasing so check them often to gauge where you stand.
YOUR HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Part one of your homework will be to try the tools above to start a baseline measurement of your influence. Remember, it's not all about the traffic, it's your influence that counts. (Thanks Mrs. Fussypants!)
Part two will be an exercise to increase all the #15days participants influence. Once you've got your subscribe button up (if you don't already as I know most of you do!) and your newsletter sign-up box up on your blog, please say so in the comments. Today I will personally subscribe and sign up for every newsletter that is left in the comments today and I hope all of you will do the same.
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However, you're going to need to show them your value. Clearly, the number of comments on your blog will demonstrate your influence, but having hard numbers ready to share as supporting evidence of the return on investment you offer is important too.
Here are a few tools that can help you have those numbers ready when you're asked. And it's helpful to have those before you're asked rather than after. You never want to be in the position where you're scrambling.
- Twinfluence. This nifty tool is awesome for determining your influence on Twitter. For example, according to Twinfluence at the time of this posting, I am ranked #50 for reach out of all Twitter users. At 3,359 followers, I have an influence of 2,530,242 second-order followers. So when talking to brands and companies that are considering working with me, I've got these numbers to share.
- Twitter Grader. This is another great tool to evaluate your Twitter profile. Twitter Grader evaluates your profile according to a number of factors including how often you tweet and whether your tweets are replies. According to Twitter Grader at time of this posting, I have a Twitter grade of 99.7 and am among the Twitter Elite in Washington, DC at #8.
- HubSpot, the same people that bring us Twitter Grader also offer a tool to measure the effectiveness of your website. You can probably guess this tool is called Website Grader. This is an awesome tool as it really gives you a comprehensive analysis of your website or blog and a good idea of what aspects need improvement. For example, while I'm happy with scoring a grade of 91 for my website, there are lots of ways I can make this grade higher.
- RSS Subscriptions. I have Feedburner integrated into this blog and my subscriptions continue to grow. Not only will potential clients and companies be interested in this number, but if you decide to pursue direct advertising as a source of income for your blog, this number will be important too.
- Newsletter Subscriptions. Publishing a newsletter for your readers is another great way to add value to the companies and brands that you will hopefully be working with in the near future. I use iContact for the MomForce site because they are very affordable compared to the other newsletter services out there and offer a lot more functionality. Sign up today for a 15 day free trial. And if you haven't signed up for the MomForce newsletter (be the first to know as soon as we launch!) please do so at MomForce.com.
You'll want to include all these statistics and numbers handy and updated on a regular basis so that when you present them to potential clients or employers, they'll have the latest information. Growing your brand consistently will correlate directly to these numbers improving and increasing so check them often to gauge where you stand.
YOUR HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Part one of your homework will be to try the tools above to start a baseline measurement of your influence. Remember, it's not all about the traffic, it's your influence that counts. (Thanks Mrs. Fussypants!)
Part two will be an exercise to increase all the #15days participants influence. Once you've got your subscribe button up (if you don't already as I know most of you do!) and your newsletter sign-up box up on your blog, please say so in the comments. Today I will personally subscribe and sign up for every newsletter that is left in the comments today and I hope all of you will do the same.
Reader Comments (10)
Wow, Day Eleven’s assignment has proved to be an eye opener. I posted my baseline stats on my blog, check it out at http://microblogginmom.blogspot.com. I also have a “subscribe button” at the top right of my blog and invite you to sign up!
Okay, now I am off… to help increase the influence! =)
Thanks,
Gail
Gail - MicroBlogginMoms last blog post..http://microblogginmom.blogspot.com/2008/11/15-days-of-marketing-with-jessica-knows_11.html" rel="nofollow">15 Days of Marketing with Jessica Knows - Day 11
Hi Jessica!
I already have a subscription button on my website. You can sign up via email or feed. Thanks for such a great post. I am checking out my blog's influence now!
81%, 86/100, 58 (I swear it was 89 a month ago...)
subscription info is posted on my sidebar, too!
Okay, it's like an hour later and now the Website Grader says I'm at 94... how weird is that?!
Loving your 15 days Jessica. I just revamped my blog, would love to hear what you think. It's still under renovation, so no banner ads or anything yet. But, you can get the idea. I'm also going to add a subscribe by email instead of just subscribe by RSS. What are your thoughts on that? Personally, I prefer to read my subscriptions by email and not feed.
Alexis Martin Neelys last blog post..http://www.familywealthmatters.com/how-to-get-what-you-want-2/" rel="nofollow">How to Get What You Want
I just used Twinfluence. Thanks Jessica for sharing these tools! You're awesome!
Lisa @ Serah'ss last blog post..http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SerahsSoapBlog/~3/448397208/clean-campaign.html" rel="nofollow">A Clean Campaign
I have had a subscription button for some time, but not a newsletter.
Dawn @ My Home Sweet Homes last blog post..http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MyHomeSweetHome/~3/456718718/" rel="nofollow">Mobistories virtual books: a giveaway where EVERY reader wins!
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My twitter grade is 77, which I am pleased with since I have not been tweeting long.
My website grade is 77. I'd like to raise this. Can you tell me more about Meta? I'm not sure how to apply this to my blog.
email subscription up...still working on newsletter subscription
http://comfortjoydesigns.blogspot.com/2009/01/15-days-of-marketing-day-11.html
Deborahs last blog post..http://comfortjoydesigns.blogspot.com/2009/01/save-sam-giveaway.html" rel="nofollow">Save SAM - Giveaway