There is no doubt that social media has come a long way in recent years. Even the presidential election in the U.S. incorporated social media sites. The birth of the U.K.’s latest prince found its way onto social media and this would have been unheard of even a decade ago.

If you check the social media influencer site Klout you can see that there are many big names listed on it. President Barack Obama is listed along with companies like Wal-Mart and Coca Cola and all the major celebrities have high Klout scores.

The use of social media has now become an acceptable method for doing business not just for politicians and celebrities but for small business owners as well.

So how does social media affect society today? Well one of the best reasons for using social media is for researching both products and people. How many employers run Facebook checks on people before deciding if they are worth interviewing or not?

Social media is also used for people to leave comments and feedback on products, movies, music and more. If you just enjoyed a great meal at a local restaurant you are more inclined to login to Facebook or Twitter and tell all your friends about it. The same applies to a new product you may have just purchased. If it was good you let other people know and if it was bad you are definitely going to tell your network to beware.

One huge site that has an enormous amount of social influence isn’t really a social media site at all. Amazon is the largest online retailer with millions of visitors to their website each day.

Their influence comes from allowing customers to post reviews and comments on products they have purchased. Some of these comments range into the hundreds and no doubt this is going to influence anyone’s buying decision.

You have to agree that you would certainly make a purchase if the item in question has a ton of positive reviews. On the other side of the coin if it has nothing but negative comments you are going to steer clear of it.

Social media definitely has a large influence on society today so it only makes sense, as a business owner, that you would want to tap into this area as well. Take a queue from Amazon and get your customers to write reviews about your products or services and see if you don’t experience a business growth.

Social Media is now the accepted platform to keep in touch with your friends and share information about your life in general. This type of sharing has increased so much in recent years that some professionals have wondered if this is actually a good thing or not. Can you share too much online?

While it is possible to share way too much online today, studies have also shown that sharing with friends can help increase a person’s self esteem. Could this concept be applied to improving your own confidence about your business as well?

No one is debating the popularity of social media sites. Thousands of people make a point of logging into their accounts first thing in the morning to check for updates.

The way you communicate with people has its own influence on how people perceive you. If you always share negative content people will view you as a negative type of person. On the other hand if you share upbeat information along with images and jokes people will assume you are friendly and approachable.

Have you ever read posts on your own page from your friends that have made you feel jealous of what they were up to? You wished that your life was that much fun? You naturally assume that they are always having a great time. While this could be true there is also the aspect that they are not at all happy and are posting great content just so that they appear to be having fun.

While it is easy to post fake content this is not something you want to do for your business. If you are not as confident about your business as you should be try to find upbeat news and happenings in your industry.

This will do a couple of things for your self esteem. First you will realize that you are in a good business and are heading in the right direction. Secondly by posting about new developments you are indeed boosting your companies self image along with your self esteem. You are coming across as someone who is keeping up on all the trends within your industry.

One important area to look at on your social sites is your profile. This could very easily be the one thing that is causing your lack of self confidence in your business. Making improvements to your profile could make a world of difference to your business.

How many times have you seen content go viral on Facebook and Twitter and wished the same would happen to yours? As a business owner you can no doubt see the impact this could have on your business so how do you achieve this?

As you know content is king and producing quality content for your social media sites is crucial. Unfortunately this is one step that is often overlooked by many marketers and business owners. Instead of taking the time to write a quality post they quickly throw something together and then start posting about it all over the social media sites.

It is always important to keep in mind that social media is all about sharing. People share their thoughts, their feedback on products and they love to share images and anything that is fun.

If you keep the above concepts in mind then you can easily improve your social media site status and grow your influence. When it comes to social media there is a rule for content in place. This rule is 50/30/20 with 50% of your content coming from news, 30% of your content should be about you, your personality and what you do online. The last 20% should contain information about your business. You do not want to confuse these last two as they are quite different.

Your personality is what will attract followers and fans to your social media accounts. While your business will attract potential customers and by using these together you are creating a business personality that people will know, like and trust.

When it comes to your content it is in your best interests to post content that is positive in nature. Combine this with a friendly personality and you are well on your way to mastering social media. This is much better than being known for always posting negative content.

While posting about your business and what you are doing is great social media followers like to know more about you. This includes posting content about the area where you live, local news stories, sports, music and trending topics in your niche.

To really increase your influence in social media you must always remember to share content and don’t be afraid to share what your competitors are up to. Use your social media sites to have fun while building your reputation, your brand and your area of influence will automatically follow.

Many people think that building a huge following on social media is all it takes to become a successful influencer. There is actually a lot more to this than you may realize.

While it may be easy for you to create a new Facebook fan page and build a following of thousands of fans, what you need is active followers. An active follower or fan is someone who takes the time to comment and share your content. It is this activity that the major sites like Klout and Kred take into consideration when measuring your influence.

It is possible to get your fans and followers to engage with you by following some simple steps. First remember that social media is about sharing content. While you main goal may be to have others share your content, this will not happen unless you share theirs first.

Another aspect that you want to master is the one of listening. Listen and read the comments that your fans post and then take action on them. By doing this you are actually showing them that you are interested in what they have to say. This will help you build trust and respect amongst your followers and in turn this will improve your power of influence.

Always remember to be yourself when using social media and don’t try to come over as you think people want you to. You should know what your brand is and what message you are trying to convey to people. This places you in an honest light and again helps to build trust with your customers. After all you want to be someone who your customers can happily do business with.

When it comes to adding content to your social media sites then always aim for quality content first. When having any type of social media conversation it is best to have one great conversation with one person than to try and have a mediocre one with ten or twenty people at one time.

Social media is meant to be fun so don’t forget to include this in your business. You don’t always have to be serious. Exposing a fun side will not hurt your business at all. Instead it will make you look more human and friendly to your followers and more approachable.

So instead of worrying about how to become the next best social influencer, just get out there and inject your personality into your sites. You may be surprised by what happens.

The majority of businesses use some form of social media site today. Using these sites on a regular basis takes time and effort, so how do you know if you are actually profiting by using them?

There are a few different ways you can tell if what you are doing on social media is working. The following are some of the most common ways you can track your results:

1. Using Facebook Insights to see how far your influence spreads
2. By using Google+ Ripples to see your influencers as well as other people’s
3. Registering an account with Klout and working on improving your score
4. Using PeerIndex which covers long term use of social media and categorizes your posts
5. By using Kred with incorporates a higher scoring base than Klout

Plus of course if you are tracking your website with Google Analytics you can also tell how much of your traffic is coming from social media sites.

Social media influence is important and can be a measure of how well known you are across all the social media sites. This is also a good way of getting your brand name recognized.

As well as using the above sites to track your own influence level you can discover vital information about the top competitors in your own industry. You can see how they are using social media and who their influencers are. Then you can take this information and use it to your advantage.

It may be a little difficult to understand the differences between some of these tracking accounts. From a business owner’s point of view Klout will measure your campaign and will track how effective it is. Peerindex will show you how you stand in your particular community. They use eight different categories for every post that you make. So your goal would be to end up in one category all the time to get a higher ranking. By using Kred you can track what your peers are doing when it comes to social media.

All of this information can help you improve your marketing plan and show you ways to become more active on social media. If your current campaign is not helping you improve your Klout score then it might be a good idea to start a new campaign or go in a slightly different direction.

While you may have heard about the importance of social media how do you actually go around improving your influence in this area? There are some very simple things you can do to improve your area of influence as we will demonstrate in this article.

The first step is very basic and that is to actually start using your social media sites on a regular basis. This can be done by posting content daily to your accounts. If finding the time to post is an issue then you can schedule your content for posting using sites like Hootsuite, or you could hire a virtual assistant to do this for you.

The type of content you can share includes news items, special offers, and related content to your industry, and of course lots and lots of images.

Post content that is informative and fun and don’t always post about your own products or services. Get into the habit of sharing news items that you like. If you start doing this people will begin to recognize your name and this helps you build authority online.

You may also be trying to get on someone’s radar and you can do this by using your social media accounts. For example maybe you run a health related site and you want to get mentioned by a top fitness trainer. This is what you would do to get their attention.

1. Start commenting on their sites including leaving helpful comments on their blog.
2. Reference this person when you share their content on your social sites.
3. Incorporate Google+ Authorship so people can discover who you are and who you know.

Other ways to increase your social media influence is by publishing a book. Self publishing is huge right now and is the perfect way to get yourself and your company into the spotlight. Becoming a published author can quickly help brand you as an expert and can also be a huge influence in your local area. Wouldn’t you love to tell your customers that you have just published a book? Their reactions may just surprise you.

So while using social media accounts may seem like a hassle to you, it is time to start incorporating them into your business. Just view it as a marketing method and a way to brand your company. Sites like Facebook could easily become your daily newsletter to your target audience where you share happenings in your industry and let your customers know about upcoming special offers.

When you sit down and think about the purpose of social media it boils down to being a mixture of sites that allow you to find information on practically any topic. Social media is used as a major research site by a growing number of users. After all social media influences the good and the bad, so it makes sense that when information is being shared regularly that the content is good.

One of the top niches that is often researched via social media sites is information about being healthy. This includes losing weight, exercising and learning how to improve your diet and living a healthy lifestyle.

There are two angles to this and one is from a consumer’s point of view and the other from a business owner’s point of view. Consumers can easily stay on top of all the new developments in the health and fitness world by following or liking the top pages and sites on the various social media sites.

For a business using these sites allows you to track what your competitors are doing. They can potentially help you stay informed on new developments and new products which are in the pipeline.

It is so much easier for someone to log into their Facebook account and see the news feed from various health related pages. This is so much faster than doing an internet search to stay on top of everything.
For anyone trying to lose weight or stay motivated with their exercise program it can be motivating to read stories from other people. You can easily create yourself an online community where you can ask for advice and help from other people with the same interests as you.

Using social media sites to improve your health can allow you to share recipes, exercises and all the ups and downs of getting healthy while living your life. Everyone struggles with raising a family or going to school or work while attempting to make changes in their lives. Knowing you are not alone can really boost your moral.

On the other hand sometimes using social media sites can be an eye opener. When you do read stories and newsfeeds from others you can be grateful that you are not going through what they are. Instead you can use these stories for your own inspiration and motivation and really stay on track with your health goals.

Today online users spend approximately 27% of their time on social media sites. The number of people who have a Facebook account is set at 85% of all online users and 49% of people have an active Twitter account. Social Media is responsible for doubling the number of marketing leads when compared to traditional methods such as trade shows, direct mail and telemarketing.

How does this affect you as a marketer? Well people love to share and they enjoy sharing information about the things they have purchased and used. Who doesn’t go around telling their friends to go see a great movie? This concept now applies to anyone who is selling products or services both online and offline.
Amazon has a huge influence on what products people buy by allowing their customers to leave reviews and feedback on their purchases. The majority of people will read through these comments and allow it to influence their buying decision.

This same principle applies to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. When people are sharing, liking and tweeting about great products manufacturers will enjoy a jump in sales. The reverse is true if a product gets a bad review sales will slump. So which end of the spectrum do you want to be on?

It is important for anyone selling products or offering a service today to have social media accounts. This way you can allow customers to post and share feedback and comments about your products. By offering high quality products and providing great customer service via social media you can easily brand your products and your company online.

Take a look at Twitter and see how active it becomes when people start retweeting about events that are making news. While your products may not have such a huge impact, Twitter users can help spread the news about what you are selling and your customer’s experiences.

If you haven’t given much thought to using sites like Facebook and Twitter you really should start incorporating them into your marketing efforts. After all they are free to use and once set up you can hire an assistant to manage them for you if you don’t have the time yourself.

Remember that people today love to do research online for almost anything they plan on buying or using. If your company shows up in the search results you will see an increase in new customers.

As you know Klout is a site that allows you to measure your social media influence. This is a neat tool which many online users enjoy using. Klout uses the major social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+ to measure and then publish your influence score for others to see.

Your Klout score is determined on a score from 1 to 100 and the site uses an average on your running score over a 90 day period. So how can you improve your Klout score?

Your first step is to always post quality content to your social media sites. This content must make people want to share. The simple act of people sharing your content will increase your Klout score.

Next you want to create a community on your social media sites and this can be easily done on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. You can create fan pages, community pages and even groups. You should post to these communities every day and encourage sharing and comments from your followers. This increases your activity which again increases your score.

When you are running a special offer or announcing a new product then make sure you announce it on your social media sites. This allows you to create a buzz about a new launch and helps to get people excited. Excited people will be only too happy to share your content.

While Klout tracks all the main social network sites it helps if you link them to your Klout account. Even if there are a couple of social accounts that you don’t use very often it is still a good idea to link them. Then whenever you do add new content this will be seen as increased activity.

Build interaction across your social media sites by asking questions and running polls and surveys. People love to offer their opinions on all kinds of topics and finding an engaging topic can produce a buzz of activity.

Polls are great for allowing people to talk about themselves and this is a great way to start conversational threads on your pages. Social media is all about sharing and it doesn’t always have to be your content that is shared. Let your followers talk about themselves to get some good threads going with lots of comments.

By following the above points you can easily increase your Klout score and your power of social media influence for your business.

If you haven’t heard of Klout it is a website that ranks a person’s social media influence by using a scale of 1 to 100. The higher your number the higher you rank with influence when it comes to using social sites.

Klout takes information from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare and Instagram and assigns you a number. All Twitter users are automatically assigned a score and you can improve this score by creating a specific Klout account.

The goal or mission of Klout is to help people maximize their social media influence. Once you have created your account you can also link your YouTube, Blogger and other social media accounts to it. Currently these accounts do not have as much of an influence as the first ones that we mentioned.

When you post to your social sites the more interactivity that you have in your posts the more your Klout score will increase. Even getting your name mentioned or tagged helps increase your Klout score.

While you may be great at attracting hundreds of fans and followers what really counts is when these friends comment, like, share and retweet your content. This is often an aspect that people overlook and concentrate instead on building a huge fan base. While all the fans in the world are great to have it really doesn’t mean a thing if no-one takes the time to even comment on what you have to say.

If you want to have an influence on the main social media sites you need to take the time to actually use these sites. Don’t create an account and then leave it sitting high and dry. When someone does come across your page and sees that you haven’t posted in months they will automatically think that your company is out of business.

In fact by adding new information to your social sites your Klout score will improve. Social media is all about how people react to you as a person and as a business. So it makes plain business sense to use social media actively. While it is great to talk about upcoming promotions and sales, don’t forget to share information from others that is related to what your business offers.

With the increase in popularity of sites such as Klout it seems that who you are online is more important than who you are as a person or company. Your online presence is critical to your business success so don’t take using social sites too lightly.