Earlier this summer I wrote a blog post about the importance of influence. And while I still believe in the idea of Klout and what they are trying (or hoping) to achieve they are still a little way off from a perfect product.

Don’t forget context

I have come across a number of professionals and agencies who use Klout scores in the creation of influencer programs and strategies. (Full Disclosure: I am a managing partner and co-founder of a social media and community management communications agency. We haven’t used Klout for our clients.) And it astounds me that brands pay good money on account of a Klout score with no context.

Here’s what I mean. What does a Klout score of 40, 76, or 29 (pick any number you want) actually mean? Nothing in my opinion. What does matter is context.

Market

What market is a brand targeting? For argument’s sake let’s say that the product is a fluoride-free kids toothpaste. The brand wants to give away 250 tubes of toothpaste to parents of young children. The hope is to generate valuable word of mouth buzz to help the toothpaste maker (and their agency) earn some online media mentions. Does it make sense for the agency of record to work with Klout to identify 250 people with high scores? What if Klout could identify which Klout accounts were parents in a specific target geographic area? Even if Klout could identify parents who love trying toothpaste and want to use a floride-free brand.

Influence doesn’t end (or begin) online

And herein lies the real problem. Most parents concerned about floride-free toothpaste are not concerned with their Klout scores. And this is wildly assuming that these parents are even registered on Klout.

Wait Karim! If these floride-free advocates have high Klout scores won’t that help the toothpaste maker generate valuable online mentions? Maybe.

Influencers

There is greater value, I think, in directly engaging in conversations with these people. Here’s an idea: Connect directly with a dozen or so popular parent or mommy (even daddy) bloggers. Find out what their needs are. Find out what their readers (and community) are interested in. Work with them to create a program that benefits all parties involved: The blogger (or influencer), the blogger’s community, and the client.

During this process you may even find out that the influencer and their community you are engaging with are not interested in the fluoride-free toothpaste. Which allows you to move on to another influencer and engage with them.

Moving forward

The simplicity of measurement tools like Klout is that they tend to make people who work with brands’ communications and marketing programs lazy. It’s too easy to take a bunch of influencer scores and blast them with messaging. What’s not as easy, and therefore more rewarding in my opinion, is taking the time to properly engage with potential influencers. Take the time to deliver a quality product and service to your client. Don’t take the shortcut.

What is your opinion on Klout?

If you liked this blog post feel free to share it by clicking one of the share buttons below. You can also get my blog posts delivered to your email’s inbox by clicking the follow button under “sign me up” to the right of this blog post. Thanks!

digital media, social media, twitter

my #FollowFriday list for 2011

December 30, 2011 karimkanji

It’s finally here.

The last unofficial workday of 2011. So what better thing to do then continue something I started last year here.

Here is this year’s list of Tweeple (people on Twitter) who positively impacted my life in one way or another (in no particular order). After reading this make sure to follow all these people. Your life will be better for it.

@jpuopolo – Joseph has been a good friend and supporter of mine for a little while now. I first met him at freelancecampTO. Before we met he was just the dude who used Charlie Brown as his Twitter avatar. Today? He’s my UFC buddy. He’s been kind enough to open his place up to host many a UFC PPV. And he’s also offered his stickers for our XConnectTO events.
@manalsiddiqui – Who would have thought that meeting on a TTC Streetcar party would have netted me a good friend in Manal. Manal is one of the few people I know who spends so much of her energy and heart into making Toronto an even better place to live in.
@salimavalji – We met briefly at MusicConnectTO and then again at a Mobile Monday event. Next thing you know I was heading up to Stratford with Salima for Canada 3.0. Salima is a bright young lady whose understanding of social media and digital marketing is second to none. Knowing Salima this past year has helped me gain a better understanding of my own industry and business.
@OrangeYYZ – ING DIRECT’s foray into co-working with their Network Orange space has been a success as far as I am concerned. Our business, thirdocean, proudly calls the space at 221 Yonge home. Thanks to Melissa, Conrad and everyone here for making 2011 so special for us.
@thehartley – Matt has come through for thirdocean like no other this year. He has hosted 3 events for us this year: HashUpTO, FilmConnect and WebPalTO. His tweets on #cdntech and baseball are always enlightening if not downright hilarious. Thanks Matt. We shall do more lunches/drinks this year.
@hessiejones and @azimalibhai- I met Hessie through my friend Azim when they were both with Due North. Today, they are both carving out their own path. Azim is an independent consultant in the media space while Hessie is starting to kick butt with a new Toronto-based startup. They have both introduced me to some amazing people. Thanks!
@TheWorkRepublic – Thank you very much Ray, Maurice and Milan for hosting me on many days. It’s always a trip hanging with you guys during the day. TWR is the best place to work north of Bloor Street.
@funkstop – Although an entire continent away, Rahim has continued to support and be an inspiration to me and my business. The folks on the west coast are lucky to have a talented guy who wears his heart on his sleeve.

There’s probably a bunch of Tweeple that are not on this list that have impacted and continue to impact my life in a positive way. This is an incomplete list. I have also not included the many people not on Twitter who I interact with often whom I could not do without. To everyone, thanks for making 2011 another amazing year!

If you’re not on Twitter, get on and follow me at @karimkanji.

blog, digital media, social media, twitter

UFC uses Social and Digital to rule Sporting Universe

December 20, 2011 karimkanji

Earlier today an article I wrote was published on the website Web Not War.

On the weekend of December 10th Dana White’s UFC settled in Toronto with Sunday’s UFC 140 anchoring their activities. Over the past 10 years, Dana White, his partners the Ferenzzo brothers and their MMA athletes have created one of the most popular and fastest growing sporting and entertainment brands in the world. The reasons are manifold: the demise of the boxing industry and the need for fresh and new programming for this 200+ channel universe being just two of them.

To read the rest please visit http://www.webnotwar.ca/ufc-uses-social-and-digital-to-rule-sporting-universe/

digital media, social media, Toronto, twitter

my favourite co-working spaces in toronto

November 28, 2011 karimkanji

Almost a year ago I blogged about co-working spaces in Canada. On December 17, 2010 I wrote a piece titled “the (in)complete list of co-working spaces in Canada”.

The impetus of the previous co-working post was the desire to find a space to work from while at the same time being able to take advantage of other people working and building. Listed below are three places that I’ve had the privilege of working out of:

BNOTIONS:

While not officially a co-working space, BNOTIONS has had a profound positive impact on the growth of thirdocean. We spent 6 months calling the BNOTIONS office space our home. We held our team meetings there and also met potential clients in their space.

The culture of BNOTIONS also positively influenced the culture of thirdocean. Every time a guest exited the elevator on the 4th floor a loud round of applause greeted them. The BNOTIONS office is also famous for their WWE DVD collection and superhero action figures. Today, no matter where we work, all thirdocean visitors are greeted as long lost friends.

The Work Republic:

No matter what I say about TWR it will not be enough. Located at the corner of Victoria Park and McNicol Avenue’s, TWR is only a 5 minute drive from my home. This has allowed me to work out of a space while still being able to drive my son to his morning and afternoon classes.

This north-Toronto space is a welcomed and quiet reprieve from the hustle and bustle of downtown Toronto. On most days you can find Ray, Maurice and Milan listening to old school hip hop (Neil Young when I visit!), building mobile apps and making videos.

Need a space outside the city (yet still very accessible) centre to work from and bring your guests to? The Work Republic is the place for you.

Network Orange:

A slice of heaven in the middle of downtown Toronto, Network Orange is ING Direct’s contribution to Toronto’s startup and freelance community. Nestled at the corner of Yonge and Shuter, Network Orange offers our team a home 7 days a week. Included in their package are a choice of 3 meeting rooms, wifi, coffee, a functional kitchen as well as ample desk space. Open 7 days a week, I have actually “opened” this space at 8am and left when it closed at 10pm.

Operating out of this space has also allowed us to meet with potential clients, clients and even our service partners. More than any other space, Network Orange has helped our team at thirdocean grow from a young company looking for an identity to Canada’s community management and social media agency.

If you have a favourite co-working space please tell me about it in the comment section below. If you want to receive this blog in your email, click on the “sign me up!” button on the right.

digital media

The problem with Research In Motion

October 23, 2011 karimkanji

This post will not be the answer to all of RIM‘s current problems (yes, problems). It will, however, help the two-headed beast-led company get back on the path to respectability.

The answer can be found with one word: Respect.

What I have realized is that RIM does not seem to understand what respect means. And I hope to address that today here in this post.

Wikipedia defines respect as such: “Respect denotes both a positive feeling of esteem for a person or other entity (such as a nation or a religion), and also specific actions and conduct representative of that esteem.” The writers of that post might as well have added “company” to that definition. Nevertheless, this definition of respect is suitable for this blog post.

This blog post is not intended to summarize all the blunders that have occurred to RIM in recent months. If that’s what you’re looking for, you won’t wind that here. Search on your favourite search engine or tech blog to read up on those.

Let’s get into some detail below on this thing called respect:

Respect for the brand

The BlackBerry brand has been an innovator in the mobile and email communications space for many years. The BlackBerry pager was the first device to offer incoming and outgoing email to the masses. Many of the users were business people yet everyone wanted one. Unfortunately, affordability was not what it is today.

The BlackBerry brand stood for quality, innovation, and status. Today? Not so much. The public perception of both RIM and it’s BlackBerry products has fallen. And it seems that RIM is the only player not concerned about this.

Respect for the investor.

It’s one thing to defy public opinion and turn the other cheek. Has anyone ever heard of an investor at RIM suggesting that the company is on solid ground? We all know that the stock has taken a beating. But guess who else has taken a beating? The average Canadian investor who has money invested in Canadian stocks and mutual funds.

Almost every Canadian blue chip fund has a healthy portion of its portfolio invested in RIM. Which means many Canadians have lost a healthy portion of their savings due to the struggles at the Waterloo-based tech company.

Respect for their partners.

Partners such as Rogers, Bell, Telus, WIND, retail outlets, PR agencies, suppliers, employees, and many other partners have seen the BlackBerry and PlayBook portion of their sales here in Canada dwindle.

If it wasn’t for the ubiquitous Android devices or Apple’s iPhone, I’m very curious what the state of Canada’s technology community would look like…

Respect for their employees

How hard must it be to face family members, friends, colleagues and even passers-by when they know you work for RIM?

Respect for the consumer

I’ll be honest with you. I’ve had 2 BlackBerry’s. My current one is the Torch. The only reason I use it is because I received it free at a BlackBerry Torch launch party.

The Torch was supposed to give Apple’s iPhone a run for its money. Never happened.

The PlayBook? No comment. Although everyone who uses one loves it.

I’m not even going to mention the 3 days with no data. And don’t get me started on $100 of free apps as an apology.

Respect. It is this humble blogger’s opinion that if the suits at Research In Motion respected their customers, partners, employees, investors, and brand that they would be in a better position.

Here’s a quick suggestion to get on the path to respectability: Be humble; start listening to your consumers, employees, investors, and partners; start focusing on your core strengths; and become passionate again for technology and innovation.

What are your thoughts?

digital media

What would you do if you were the CEO of Research In Motion?

October 13, 2011 karimkanji

What would you do if you were the CEO of Research In Motion?

This is the question I ask on a weekly basis on the show I host called XConnectTO.

For your enjoyment, education and insight here are the latest 4 installments.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khrAIP_hVT8]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfSZph4NWwk]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZcAfELqDZ0]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9tRMDxAqmE]

What would YOU do as the CEO of Research In Motion?

digital media, social media, twitter

Social Media Masters: Toronto

October 2, 2011 karimkanji

Unlike traditional events that attempt to satisfy the needs of all levels of practitioners, the Social Media Masters Series goes beyond typical introductory courses, and provides advanced social media sessions for practitioners from true social media Masters. With the Social Media Masters Series, we are progressing the social media dialogue from the “why” to a more technical understanding of how to execute social media programs in key areas with an emphasis on engagement marketing.

Produced by Social Media Club, the world’s leading association of social media professionals and Sensei Marketing, a firm specializing in customer acquisition and social engagement for the enterprise, Social Media Masters is a premium event for leading brands and social media strategists.

The event takes place this Friday, October 7th in Toronto.

If you are a Social Media Professional wanting to take your skills to the next level, or an online marketer expanding your capabilities, this program is your chance to go beyond a typical introductory course and get advanced training from true Social Media Masters. This conference is a unique opportunity to develop your own mastery of social media for Marketing and Communications, with an emphasis on engagement. Whether you are in charge of a department in a large organization, you are responsible for multiple clients within an agency, or you are an independent professional deepening your skills and knowledge, this event will help you advance your career and accomplish your goals in key areas of social media marketing.

Produced by Social Media Club, the world’s leading association of Social Media Professionals and Sensei Marketing, a firm specializing in customer acquisition and social engagement for the enterprise, Social Media Masters is a premium event for leading brands and social media strategists.

Register today and save 20% by using code ‘karim’. Social Media Club is also hosting a cocktail party the night before. You can register at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2275211218.

See you there!

digital media, social media

FilmConnect: technology and new media meets film post-TIFF11

September 23, 2011 karimkanji

Yes, Toronto has finally gotten over this year’s version of the Toronto International Film Festival. Many of us had the opportunity to watch many new and interesting films and maybe mingle with a few Hollywood celebrities.

Next week, my friends and I at XConnectTO and thirdocean are bringing to Toronto, FilmConnect: a panel discussion on technology, new media and the film industry.

I invite all of you, if you’re in and around Toronto on Thursday September 29th at 6pm to join me.

Details of the event and registration can be found at http://bit.ly/filmconnect.

Check out XConnectTO to learn more about our panelists and esteemed moderator Matt Hartley from the National Post.

digital media, podcast, social media, Toronto, video

Why I do what I do.

September 14, 2011 karimkanji

Image representing Boris Wertz as depicted in ... — Image via CrunchBase

I love Toronto. And not just the Blue Jays baseball team or the CN Tower. I mean what makes Toronto, well, Toronto.

Her people. Especially those people who are making things happen. Whether it be community activists like the folks at the Toronto Green Community or the start-up/tech space that I have been involved in for the past couple of years.

Earlier today, I had the opportunity to chat with Canadian entrepreneur, angel investor and venture capitalist Boris Wertz. He appeared as my guest on The XConnect Show. It was our 19th episode and the first time we had a live audience.

The reason we invited a select audience was because our team knew that many people in the start-up space would love the opportunity to listen and learn from Boris. So we had about 10 guests sit in on the session.

Before our taping I introduced Boris to every member of the studio audience. And that made me feel happy and proud. Happy that I could do it and proud that I had the chance to do it.

What made me more happier was receiving an email from one friend a few minutes ago who apologized for leaving without talking to me so he could share with Boris a cab ride across the city.

No need to apologize.

It’s why I do what I do.

Growing at GROW (karimkanji.wordpress.com)
GoInstant launching tonight at TechCrunch Disrupt (startupnorth.ca)
Community Writing Site Wattpad Raises $3.5 Million In Series A Funding (paidcontent.org)

KARIM KANJI (dot) COM

The problem with Research In Motion

What would you do if you were the CEO of Research In Motion?

By Karim Kanji

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By Karim Kanji