I was a little reluctant to write this post because much of the Twitter community is fixated with follower count. I see many tweets, even in my own stream, of certain people announcing that they reached 500, 1,000, 5,000 Twitter followers as if it’s some sort of huge achievement like receiving a Grammy Award or something. Of course I understand that community acceptance and ego is important to all of us at times so I can see why someone would share that information. However, the misconception is that follower count somehow equates to various levels of influence on the social web. While there might be an ounce of truth to that statement, I would much rather have a small community of followers that value what I share on the web than a much larger community of followers who just follow me in hopes that I reciprocate in an effort to grow their follower numbers.
Nonetheless, whether you are a marketer, blogger, manage a branded Twitter account or just some random socialite; it’s important to provide value to those who follow your tweets. Here are some tools that I have used in the past that are good starting points:
Twitalyzer
Out of all the measuring tools I have experimented with, Twitalyzer provides the most robust analysis of a given Twitter account. They offer base line metrics which include an impact score and influencer type (as described by Forrester) for anyone; and they also allow you to look at other accounts as well. By signing in to Twitter, you can get full access to Twitalyzer including support for multiple accounts, Google Analytics integration, activity tracking over time and audience exploration tools. Account Dashboards are only available to Twitalyzer Business and Agency subscribers which range from $29.99 per month to $199 per month. The only challenge with the tool is that there are essentially too many metrics and it’s a little overwhelming to manage and make then make data driven decisions.
TweetLevel
This tool was created by our very own @jonnybentwood and @alexparish from Edelman. What I appreciate about this tool is its simplicity. All you have to do is enter in a Twitter account, and the algorithm will spit out four key metrics — Influence, Popularity, Engagement and Trust. It’s a free tool all users; and also gives users recommendations on how to increase the four key metrics:
- Influence – what you say is interesting and many people listen to it. This is the primary ranking metric.
- Popularity – how many people follow you
- Engagement – you actively participate within your community
- Trust – people believe what you say
Klout
One of my favorite things about Klout is the user experience of the tool itself. It’s easy to find what you are looking for, read the scoring information and the graphical output is awesome. It’s also a free tool.
The Klout Score is a numerical representation of the size and strength of a person’s sphere of influence on Twitter. The scores range from 1-100 with higher scores representing a wider sphere of influence. The score itself is a factor of over 25 different variables broken down into three different categories; True Reach, Amplification Score and Network Score.
- True Reach – calculates engaged followers and friends vs. spam bots, dead accounts, etc.
- Amplification Score – the likelihood that messages will generate retweets or spark a conversation
- Network Score – this number will be high if engaged followers are highly influential
Here are some other tools that I have explored in the past but don’t know too much about:
Any other tools that you find valuable? Please let me know in the comments!
Tags: Edelman, Edelman Digital, engagement, followers, following, influence, klout, reach, social media, tweetlevel, twitter
