(NEWSWIRE.NET — January 30, 2013) Altadena. CA — Kred, a social media influence scoring tool, has named Sally Falkow, CEO of Meritus Media, a Top 1% Influencer. Social media is now the number one online activity, surpassing email and 95% of Americans are active on social media. Figuring out who is in a brand’s social graph and who has influence in certain communities and subjects has become very important to marketing and PR success.
Kred scores are generated by observing a social network user’s content, who it reaches, who acts upon it, and whether the user relays the content of others. The score is given as a dual score to distinguish a person’s Influence (the likelihood that someone will trust a person and act upon their posts) and Outreach (the propensity to engage with and share other people’s content forward). The influence scores are delivered on a normalized 1,000 point scale with higher scores representing a higher degree of trust and influence within the network. Outreach measures generosity and rewards actions like engagement with others and willingness to spread their message.
Influencer marketing is not as simple as it sounds though. Just making a list of the high ranking people might not get the desired result. “What I like most about Kred is that it gives you an influence score for each area of interest or expertise, so you can find the right people to connect with for each brand or client,” says Falkow. “Influence is not universal. Someone influential in travel would be no use to an IT company.”
“Influence scores are important – they’re an excellent starting place when you’re doing blogger outreach, but it isn’t wise to rely on them as a final influence ranking,” says Falkow. “We work with a lot of brands who want to reach influential bloggers and tweeters and it’s only once you actually start interacting with people that you discover who really has influence and can move people to action. It’s not always the one’s you thought it would be.”
Having a good influence score makes it easier for Falkow and her team to interact with other influencers as bloggers respond to someone who they can see has a digital presence and has been active on social networks for some time. “We’re delighted with this recognition from Kred and we will display the Top 1% Influencer badge on our website, our blog and our Twitter feed,” says Falkow.
To find out more about Sally Falkow and Meritus Media visit http://www.meritusmedia.com