To stand any chance at making a name for ourselves in the Social Age, our story must be something so valued that others will be willing to seek it out. We can’t just slap together the same old marketing drivel and expect to make an impact.

Famed music critic Bob Lefsetz recently discussed this in one of his weekly newsletters (which I highly recommend subscribing to). He said:

We live in a sell nation. Everybody’s become a brand and is forcing themselves down our throats. Just give me some time, listen to my music, help a brother out.

But this just doesn’t work. In an era where choices are seemingly infinite we only care for that very narrow spectrum of greatness which we truly deem to be indispensable.

I’m in my car getting sad. I doubt Howard will re-up with Sirius XM. Maybe he’ll turn “America’s Got Talent” into an interview show. And I started contemplating a world without Stern.

And it was very empty.

And my goal is not to convince you to feel the same way. Only to point out that you have your own indispensable artists.

They call these people stars.

How do you become one?

There are tons of people who will take your money trying to explain how. But to really be indispensable, you have to have vision, and venture out into a wilderness only you inhabit, hoping someone back in the city will get the message and spread the word.

And it’s lonely out there. What’s worse, it takes you time to find your voice.

But when you do…

We’ve got all the time in the world for you. We’ll buy all your records, see all your shows.

We can’t live without you.

While Bob is talking about the music industry, I think there is something universally true at the heart of his thinking. I believe this is just as true for anyone in business as it is for anyone in show business. Your brand matters. Your online presence is your voice. Yes, it takes time. But the rewards for persevering, evolving, and constantly improving is that you will build and audience — a community — and you will be seen by them as an influencer.

Find your story and tell it well — then we won’t be able to live without you.

Your Story Will Make You Indispensable via JayOatway.com - Story. Community. Influence.

My new book, Mastering Story, Community & Influence: How To Use Social Media to Become a Socialeader is now available for purchase from Amazon.co.uk.

I owe a debt of gratitude to my community of amazing people whom I’ve met online, and through social media related offline events, who’ve helped me gain so much more understanding about this subject than I ever could have on my own. A big thanks to all those who’ve helped me shape my story through the telling of their stories. I look forward to many more amazing exchanges of social currency.

For those living outside the UK:

In the USA, May 15 

In Canada, April 24 

For those living in Hong Kong and Singapore:

Stay tuned for news about my book launch, signing parties and more opportunities to hear about all the cool stuff in the book.

Official Asia release will be on June 13th

My Book Is Out! via JayOatway.com - Story. Community. Influence.

It’s hard not to get a bit excited about accolades. I’ve been on lists before. It’s always an honor to be curated amongst others whom you respect deeply. But being ranked #22 on The Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers list definitely made me say, “Wow!”

But it’s important to put into context what is really happening here. Forbes contributer Haydn Shaughnessy curated a list of “social media power influencers” using some interesting new tools as part of a study he’s conducting:

The study is supported by PeekYou who have given me free access to their software, Leximancer, who have allowed me to use their semantic analysis platform for free, and Global Dawn who have met some of my wages while I do the work. Thanks to all.

 

He made it clear from the outset that this was his list, and not some “official” Forbes ranking.

But none of that really matters in today’s social media realm. His list was inevitably shared around as the “Forbes Top 50 Social Media Influencers” — a massive accolade that leverages the reputation that Forbes as spent decades building. This went nuts on Twitter and Facebook. Nobody bothered reading the fine print–that’s just the way it is with these things. I received far more comments and likes from a far wider range of people than I would normally expect for finding my name on a list. This was white hot social currency. It was the same for all of the others I checked with whose names were on the list.

Why such an sudden out pouring of congratulations? Why so many people from our pasts coming out of the woodwork to say, “I knew him before he was famous!” It’s truly an amazing phenomenon. My guess is that high accolades have some sort of halo effect. Anyone who feels close enough to offer congratulations somehow share in the glory–and in the social media world, so they should.

My first reaction was to thank my online community of friends and colleagues. It is they who give me whatever stature I have. They deserve the praise more than I.  In fact, there are no doubt many who deserved to be on that list more than I. I was ranked well above many people whom I admire greatly, and whom I think are far more “power influencers” than me. In fact, I’m sure that many people looked at the list and scoffed at where Shaughnessy’s tools had ranked us.

While I’m going to do a follow up with him on the study and methodology, now is a good time to restate the first rule of measuring influence: online influence scores often misrepresent people. Sometimes they err in your favor, other times they err against you. No algorithm can truly capture real influence. (In fact, increasingly I believe that most only measure presence.)

The ultimate gauge of influence still remains the human heart. My thanks to all those who touched mine with their praise and adulation.

Thoughts On Making The Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers List via JayOatway.com - Story. Community. Influence.

A fantastic post from Geoff Livingston taking us on a tour of all the influence theories that have been floating around since Gladwell’s Tipping Point came out back in 2000. A decade in, and the debate still rages as to what influence is and how it works online (click the image to see full size). But Geoff has dug up one of my favorite media expressions “The Fifth Estate” to try to bring order to the influence chaos:

“Leaderboard systems such as Klout and Empire Avenue can quantify individual social media capabilities and strength. Using these gamified leaderboard systems, companies and nonprofits can build lists of high-scoring voices and target them as influencers.

Many would argue that understanding your community’s dynamics and building relationships from within a community as a member of the Fifth Estate is a more reliable strategy than using a leaderboard list. Getting an idea embraced by those who can best spread the word often requires subject-matter expertise and accessibility, stronger grass-roots within a community.”

The most influential thing you can know about influence is that we all still have a lot to learn about influence.

There are more great visualizations of all the various influence theories at Jess3′s blog:

Influencer Theory via JayOatway.com - Story. Community. Influence.

Loyalty programs are going to evolve rapidly to take advantage of new customer data, in particular you influence score.

With airlines, those with Klout may find themselves moving to the front of the plane. While upgrades are the goal, for now it won’t hurt to be “friends” with your favorite airline and interact with them more.

Click here to see the full infographic.

Facebook May Someday Get You Upgrades Faster Than Air Miles via JayOatway.com - Story. Community. Influence.

The concept of humanizing business is something I’m a big believer in. It might be better thought of as re-humanizing business though. Social media is taking us back to the Mom & Pop era, where you had to care about your community if you wanted to have a healthy business.

The shift now is away from mass media, mass marketing and mass production, towards something, as Maddie Grant who just finished writing Humanize with Jamie Notter describe as more human:

Social media succeeded by abandoning the traditional mindset and assumptions of our machine-based organizations, and instead embracing ideas that are much more consistent with what it means to be human. In social media, relationships matter. So does trust. So do things like meaning, humor, transparency, authenticity, and creativity. Social media is built on the principle that control is a thing of the past, and that the results you get are not always the ones that you were seeking when you started. Those principles are much more aligned with what it means to be human, than with what makes machines work well. That is fundamentally why social media has been so explosive. We like being human. We can’t help it. When we get access to something that lets more of our humanity come out, we are drawn to it. That is why we are flocking to social media.

There is more social than media in social media. Humanization is a term to get used to hearing.

The Humanization of Business: Currency of Caring via JayOatway.com - Story. Community. Influence.

INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.

INFLUENCERS is a short documentary that explores what it means to be an influencer and how trends and creativity become contagious today in music, fashion and entertainment.

The film attempts to understand the essence of influence, what makes a person influential without taking a statistical or metric approach.

Written and Directed by Paul Rojanathara and Davis Johnson, the film is a Polaroid snapshot of New York influential creatives (advertising, design, fashion and entertainment) who are shaping today’s pop culture.

“Influencers” belongs to the new generation of short films, webdocs, which combine the documentary style and the online experience.

influencersfilm.com
facebook.com/​influencersfilm

Influencers: The Documentary via JayOatway.com - Story. Community. Influence.

Our stories are told not one-by-one, but in concert. We all share simultaneously to provide a more holistic narrative.

Vancouver Riots As Told Through Social Media via JayOatway.com - Story. Community. Influence.

An important part of re-telling stories through curation is linking to the original source. I see this as essential, but the following debate raises a few interesting counterpoints:

Why Do We Link In News Stories? via JayOatway.com - Story. Community. Influence.

To Be a Part of This Story Requires Acts of Selfless Generosity via JayOatway.com - Story. Community. Influence.