In case you missed the news, we’re thrilled by this morning’s launch of #climate, a new tool that helps influencers harness their social popularity to spread the word for worthy environmental causes.

The tool is straightforward and really clever:

• #climate researches and builds a list of environmental nonprofits working to combat the harmful effects of human-made climate change;
• Influencers — including the NBA, Dick Costolo, and Al Gore — log into the #climate mobile app to browse potential causes to promote;
• With a single tap, influencers can select an organization and promote it to their social followers, directing them to donation pages, petitions, and other opportunities for action.

The power visibility into performance is yours!¹

It seems like just last week we were rhapsodizing about the importance of understanding who’s influential — and here’s a concrete example of putting this knowledge to work.

Every social post generated by #climate contains a unique awe.sm tracking link, so that awe.sm can provide Josh’s team with powerful data. With visibility into how each influencer’s post performs, #climate is building an understanding of which causes, influencers, and social networks combine to accomplish the most good.

By applying this knowledge, #climate and its users can communicate smartly, not loudly. Optimizing messages for efficacy will maximize the power of this, you know, awesome tool.

Learn more

Interested in learning more about what #climate does? Check out their demo video and learn how to get in touch.

Do more

We’ve helped thousands of social media marketers, brands, agencies, and worthy causes understand the performance of their social media marketing, and how to optimize social activity for maximum ROI. Whether you’re an existing awe.sm customer looking to do more with your data or a marketing padawan looking to become an awe.sm Jedi, let’s get in touch.

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¹ Did you know: “Captain Planet” was on the air before our youngest engineer, Cole, was born. How is that even possible?

*Originally published on the awe.sm blog

This is part 2 of an ongoing series exploring the experimental social media recommendation and optimization features being tested in awe.sm Insights. Collect them all!

Interested in participating in the experiment? Curious to see what optimizations we recommend for your social media marketing strategy? Reserve your spot to try it out.

We’re here to take a word back: Influencer.

Too many consultants and tools have promised to locate these mythical beings. Unfortunately, their methods ranged from specious to farcical. “Influential” became synonymous with “popular” or “chatty,” and the word stopped meaning anything at all.

We think it’s time to take “influencer” back by revisiting what the term is supposed to mean:

• The point of social media marketing is to foster word of mouth.
• Within social campaigns, the most valuable people aren’t the ones who shout the loudest…
• …They’re the people who’ve built a relationship with you, engage on an ongoing basis, and repeatedly amplify.
• When these individuals discuss a brand or recommend a product, their friends are more likely to take the advice.

If only there were a word for people who influence others.

Let’s measure influencers

Help is here. Now, awe.sm identifies the influencers who are actually most important in driving business results. Below the fold on the current Insights screen you’ll find two lists: Top amplifiers and Most engaged.

What are they?

These Insights sections identify individuals who are highly engaged with you or particularly effective at amplifying your content.

How does it work?

In its default view, Top amplifiers ranks social media followers who, through a combination of their audience size and the frequency with which they retweet your posts, are your most influential amplifiers. To switch to seeing who has the most followers or who has retweeted you the most, click one of the respective column headers for a raw ranking.

The Most engaged section ranks followers’ engagement based on numerous factors. In the case of Twitter followers, we’re scoring a combination of their retweets, replies, favorited posts, and follower counts.

For Facebook followers, it’s similar: shares, comments, likes, and friend counts. By clicking on any of the column headers, you can sort by an individual criterion.

What’s a VIP?

It’s okay to admit this: even with lists of who’s actually influential, it’s still fun to see who your most popular followers are, too. VIP view lists your followers who have the largest follower count themselves. Want to get them more engaged to convert them into influencers? Doesn’t hurt to drop them a line.

Why does it matter?

Suppose my celebrity godson has 100,000 Twitter followers, while I have only 10,000. Which one of us is a more valuable follower?

Now, add in the fact that our boy wonder has given you one perfunctory retweet, while I’ve retweeted you a dozen times, and routinely reply to your posts.

His retweet brought 100,000 impressions to a single one of your Tweets. Meanwhile, I’ve brought you 120,000 cumulative impressions, and our mutual followers have seen my frequent engagement with your content, building their trust. So who’s actually more effective?

Social media isn’t strictly a popularity contest, and influence isn’t determined just by reach. By showing you who’s actually an effective influencer, we’ll give you the power to cultivate relationships and start conversations that drive more visits, pageviews, and — ultimately —higher ROI.

Trust but verify (for now)

Our tuning of the algorithms, and collection of additional signals, is ongoing. We warned you — this is an experiment, and it depends on your help.

• If you’re awe.sm: Check out what Insights recommends for your social accounts, do a gut-check, and share your thoughts.
• If you’re an awe.sm-to-be: The more the merrier. It’s not too late to join the experiment, see what Insights recommends, and learn how awe.sm helps maximize the ROI of your social media marketing. Contact us now to get started.

You’re well on your way to optimizing your social media marketing and maximizing ROI— and nobody can take that away.

Next: what content performs best on social media?

*Originally published on the awe.sm blog