image source nomme de photo | flickr
The other evening I reviewed student portfolios at Columbia Art College here in Chicago. It's part of their portfolio development program and a gosh darn rewarding experience.
A bright-eyed, high-spirited student I'll call Erika, presented her portfolio to me. She's a copywriting major ready to own the ad biz. One of Erika's campaigns touted the fine jewelry by Montblanc. Her concept was off to some good storytelling, but it didn't invite me to be part of it. I told Erika that I may be an active buyer of jewelry. So connect with me because I'm looking for an answer.
So I suggested to Erika that she focus on the most salient points. Tell me just enough so I connect the Montblanc story to my own experience. They say the Montblanc diamond is the essence of individuality. I just might buy my own script if you let me.
Much the same can be said about how the value of influence in social media is being created by bringing people around an idea. Or connecting to one.
Take Twitter for example. This humongous social network is where site users, called Tweeps, perch like birds on a wire. Tweeps tweet to share information. Or to seek it.
The real aha of Twitter is where influence comes into play. Karl Long says it best in his recent post on the Twitter blog. Karl makes the point that real influence happens when action is taken by the buyer and seller of content at that moment on the wire.
From a bird's eye view, creating real influence value in social networking circles is part luck. Part intent. In Twitterland, information is a constant stream of tweets flowing into the experience. When you flutter off the wire you just might miss what you seek. This suggests that it's better to be proactive when seeking information by posting your request in the form of a tweet. And hopefully get back the tweet you seek.
Companies like Trader Joe's are getting smart on the wire.
These purveyors of my favorite mixed olive bruschetta are roosting on the Twitter wire. Tweeting and answering tweets to build customer loyalty. To influence purchase. And Trader Joe's is doing one more thing: They're monitoring mentions of their name embedded in tweets. Continuous measurement to incrementally improve customer service and relevance.
So the real influence in social media is being driven at that magical moment on the wire when the immediacy of the answer satisfies the request. In the same Twitter blog post, Zebrasfly, a primary junior high teacher in Adelaide, schools on the concept: Influence is a verb. It happens to you.
Some of it on the wire is just rickrolling chirp.
