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Photo Credit: David Elfanbaum on Flickr

Since Virgin Atlantic Airlines started to give flights away to online influencers, my perception is that people on Twitter have become obsessed with their Klout scores. I do understand that we all want to be influential in our social circles and have our key messages noticed by our audience. Last week, when I believed that my Klout was 7, I had a very defensive reaction to being rated by the website. However, after a long conversation with a friend about the pros and cons of Klout, I decided to pay the website a second visit and sign up for the service.

I believe that having a website telling you how influential you are can be great for your ego, but shouldn’t you know it already? Why are we (social networks users, marketers, companies) giving so much power to an algorithm? I know it’s based on the same old google search science, but should we really trust a tool that allow a social media campaign based on very old school concepts achieve one of the highest Klout rates with an imaginary man?

Please, don’t get me wrong. As a marketer I love the fact that we have another free tool to measure our online campaigns. I do believe that klout.com is allowing us to easily identify the key community influencers and sort out the spammers from the real people. However, I can’t get over the fact that the people who really influence my opinions have low Klout scores or that some celebrities have high scores when they don’t actually engage with their audiences. It seems that all that we’ve been studying and exploring on Twitter, Facebook, etc is a lie, since we all embrace another measurement tool to please clients who require numbers to justify our pay checks.

Call me crazy, but all this Klout hysteria brought me back to the old competition between marketing and sales departments. Yes, at the end of the day we all want our client/company/non-profit to succeed, but what do we actually want to create? Short-term sales or brand awareness?

Social Media: Does Your Klout Really Matter? is a post from: Madame Heringer.com

Photo Credit: PressReleaseFinder on Flickr

I have been postponing a re-branding/re-focusing of MadameHeringer.com for a while now and before I really transform it into the journal of a marketer, I am asking for your help. MadameHeringer.com has been through a lot of changes in the past year. We finally bought a customized domain, added new contributors and implemented a WordPress theme, but now I am curious to know how these changes have been working for you, my valued readers!

The direct link for the online survey is http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RZ7J2ZJ. You can also click on the pop up to be redirected to Survey Monkey. I tried to make it as comprehensive as a survey with only ten questions can be. Please, be honest!

As an incentive, I am giving away a movie night for 2 to one lucky survey respondent. Just enter your email in the last question for a chance to win!

Thank you in advance for your help. It’s always a pleasure to do business with you!

Online Survey: Is It Time for an Extreme Makeover? is a post from: Madame Heringer.com

Apparently, every time that I get overwhelmed by inspiring stories, I have a hard time translating them into a concise blog post. That’s one of the most ironic situations that a trained journalist can face. However, instead of ignoring Northern Voice 2010 and pretending that it didn’t happen in my life, I am showing up for duty and re-establishing this blog’s purpose.

Northern Voice 2010 was my first blogging conference and I still can’t understand why it took me so long to get out there and start meeting people like me. Well, according to Kimli Welsh’s presentation, I learned that I am not the only blogger who gets intimidated by the idea of leaving the safeness of a URL. Luckily, lots of familiar avatars stopped by to say “hi” to me, giving a friendly face to their strong online presences.

For me, this year’s conference was all about finding my voice online. I have been blogging for over 5 years now, but even after several metamorphoses MadameHeringer.com still feels like it only makes sense to me (Yes… I am completely ignoring thousands of monthly unique visitors and behaving like a drama queen!). However, Monica Hamburg and Dave Olsen’s workshop was the best validation that I could wish for. Blogging takes time and effort to find your niche and voice, but also it’s about having fun and experimenting with new mediums. Lesson learned!

Stefani Cameron’s How to Screw Up Your Personal Blog session was the most resourceful and sincere story that I heard at Northern Voice 2010. In a nutshell, stick to who you are and respect your boundaries. Readers are smart people and they know when you’re faking!

Northern Voice 2010 was a 2-day long event about blogging, Twitter and online marketing. From creating podcasts to copyright laws, it covered it all. I got a lot out of the sessions and plan to bring some multimedia experiments to this space in the following months. Stay tuned, my Northern Voice experience has just started!

My Northern Voice 2010 Conference is a post from: Madame Heringer.com

My online reading was very social media intense last month, so are the blogs and articles that I’ve been referring to. The social media bug definitely bit me in April! Here is my list of favourite websites and articles that somehow made me a better communicator:

PROBLOGGER.NET

The month started with Darren Rowse’s April’s fool joke about Google acquiring Problogger. It would have been smart move if a good chunk of readers haven’t believed that it was only a joke. Darren himself said here that even two of his family members and a reporter had fallen for it.

On April first, I was 5 days into Darren’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge and I must confess that I panicked a little before I realized that his “news release” was just a joke. Problogger.com is a real find for those who want to take blogging to the next level!

Thanks, Kiratiana Freelon for sharing this resource with me!

SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS SUMMIT 2010

Following my friend Rebecca Johnson‘s advice, I subscribed the Social Media Success Summit 2010 which starts on Monday, May 4th. It is an online conference facilitated by big social media names such as Guy Kawasaky and Chris Brogan.

I have been learning a lot about social media practices with the pre-summit materials and forums. Can’t wait to participate in the live discussions.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING INDUSTRY REPORT

This 33-page report is the result of the analysis of over 1,300 open-ended responses given by current social media marketers to Social Media Examiner staff. Even though it didn’t discover any unexpected behaviour, this report is a great formal profile of social media marketers, their employment expectations, and dedication.

Mashable: 4 Tips for Tapping Into Twitter Conversations

Sparkpr’s Managing Director Leyl Master Black shared a very insightful article on Mashable last month. Even though Black uses big brands to convey her ideas, her 4 tips can be easily adapted to any business.

ADVERTISING AGE: What Social Media Will Look Like in 2012

I was born in a time that people would publish predictions for the next 10 years and we would have time to watch them evolve and absorb the changes. Well, Freddy Laker’s predictions for 2012 won’t take long to become a reality since Facebook’s recent privacy changes and advertising integration happened only 20 days after Laker published his article. I am still not sure how Facebook will convice users to change their privacy expectations, but I can wait for social media to become common sense.  Definitely, a good read!

April 2010: Internet Findings is a post from: Madame Heringer.com

Meeting Rebecca Bollwitt felt exactly like how Paula Mazulquim described the day that she met George Stroumboulopoulos in her blog. Sometimes, it’s completely impossible to make sense (or even be normal) when meeting someone who you really respect and admire for the first time. I believe that Paula did it better than I did last Saturday.

Rebecca is a huge inspiration to me to keep blogging and writing. In this video, you’ll see how much she believes in social media and citizen journalism’s potential. I am learning a lot about blogging through ‘Blogging to Drive Business’, which will have a review here some time soon.

What about you? Who has been your inspiration? Who would you like to be when you grow up?

P.S.: I completely forgot to get my miss604 pin…

Rebecca Bollwitt’s Book Signing for ‘Blogging to Drive Business’ is a post from: Madame Heringer.com

Seguindo a recomendação da Fal, resolvi dar uma forcinha para a pesquisa que o Ênio está fazendo sobre blogs e blogueiros. Por favor, participem mandando um e-mail para pesquisa.blogsbrasileiros@yahoo.com.br. O anonimato é garantido, se você quiser…

Blogueiros do meu Brasil… is a post from: Madame Heringer.com