What is Klout and the Klout Score?
Simply link up your social media accounts to Klout and the Klout Score measures influence based on your ability to drive action online. Every time you create content or engage online you influence others. The Klout Score basically tells the world how influential of a social networker you are through your:

• True Reach: How many people you influence. Klout looks at who acts, shares and responds to your content.
• Amplification: How much you influence others. To attain this, Klout looks at how many people and how often people respond to your content.
• Network Impact: The influence of your network. Klout looks at how they share and respond to your content.

So, what does it mean?
Well, the easier answer is that your Klout Score determines if you’re an online influencer or not. So what does that mean? Well, as a top influencer you are eligible for Klout Perks (free stuff from brands), you’re considered a “somebody” and your resume might get a bit of a boost. As a brand, you can leverage top influencers to generate buzz around your brand (more on this below).

So, what’s a good score?
According to Klout, influence is relative and depends on your goal and peers. The average Klout Score is around 20. Klout also makes it exponentially harder to increase as you move up the scale. They say that it is much harder to move from a 70 to a 75 than from a 20 to a 25, making sure top influencers are working hard for their high scores.

Good for Business?
Brands can leverage Klout Perks, use Klout to measure their own influence online and identify brand influencers.

What are Klout Perks?
Klout Perks are exclusive products or experiences that influencers can earn based on their Klout Scores. Perks enable brands to connect with influencers – people whose friends or social networks look to when choosing what brands to engage with. Giving influencers Klout Perks means they have to talk about your brand – what they say is up to them.

The debate
People seem to love or hate Klout. Common criticisms include:

• But…offline influence doesn’t have a score?
  Sure, offline influence doesn’t have a score but most individuals are influential only to a close network of friends, and maybe their friends. Unless you’re a celebrity, us “regular” folks don’t seem to have much impact offline. With Klout, anyone can become an influencer, a “somebody”, if they make enough noise.
• Brands are giving customers preferential treatment!
  For brands, using Klout to leverage top influencers has several benefits. For one, if you compare it to the offline world where it’s nearly impossible to identify offline influencers, using Klout makes it easy to identify those who will champion your brand. Turning customers into advocates with Klout allows brands to go beyond the review or testimonial.
• The Klout Score is giving me anxiety!
  How, what, who…huh? The way Klout measures your score can cause some anxiety. In fact, they changed their original algorithm not too long ago, lowering some people’s score. It’s not just about how active you are….but how active your network is….how active is your network’s network and so on! Should you go to extremes and only choose to follow or friend people based on their influence to help increase yours? What does your high or low score really mean? Some really take their Klout Scores very seriously…and rightfully so. In some cases, high scores do come with some great benefits (Perks!).
• It has too much power!
  That it demands some power over your life and your career is a cause for concern for some.  Recently, I heard about a man who didn’t get the job he wanted because his Klout Score was too low. Are experience, education and capability no longer enough? No. Not in this day and age. I’m not saying that your Klout Score should dictate whether you will land a job or not, in fact I find its consideration a bit distasteful. But I do think that as marketing, communications and creative professionals, choosing to not participate in social media, as a whole will no doubt close a few doors.

I want to know, where do you stand on Klout? (oh..and what’s your Klout score?)

The Ones that Could Have Been

1. Yahoo! Buzz: No niche… no need.
Similar to Digg, Yahoo! Buzz allowed its users to generate “buzz” around stories they read online. Unfortunately for Yahoo!, low user participation rates and low website adoption numbers led to Buzz’ demise.

2. Friendster: Poor strategy.
As one of the first social networking sites to make an impact, Friendster once had more than 115 million users. Its downfall was combination of programming flaws, an unstable infrastructure and poor business decisions. Friendster has since changed course and rebranded itself as a gaming site.

3.Ping: An Apple failure!
A failure is a rarity, but not unheard of, in Apple’s portfolio. Although it’s still active Ping, an iTunes based social networking site, has failed to generate much action. Its censorship, hard to use navigation and the biggie – its focus on commerce not building social relationship has really put users off.

The Ones to Watch

1. Path: Social networking on the go.
Path is social networking app, which allows users to keep a journal on the go – a “path” of their life. Users can post photos, travel updates, share interests, music and keep in touch with friends and family.

2. Quora: Has all the answers. 
Quora connects its users to everything they want to know. Users ask questions, responses and share information. Users can create their own personalized homepages surround topics, questions, people and content they are interested in.

3. Chime.in: What do you have to say? 
Chime.in is a social network based on interests. Users share opinions and questions around their interests while discovering new information and making new connections and building communities around their favorite topics. Top interests include Street Style, Food, Social Media and more.

4. Stipple: Content with power. 
Stipple gives image owners power over their content. It powers commerce and content inside of images on the web and mobile while fostering connections and communities. It also permanently connects images to their owners who can share information, media and commerce through their images.

Whether these “ones to watch” will make a lot of noise this year remains to be seen. One thing’s for sure – when a social media site becomes successful – success happens very quickly. We know the story very well – take a look at how fast Pinterest and BranchOut grew. The real determinant of a social network’s success and longevity lies in its ability to keep users interested while staying innovative – remember there seems to be a new social networking site every week, armed and ready to become the next big thing.

What social networks do you think will have the most impact this year and why?

No matter what the reason, there are going to be times when you need to make that extra effort to communicate just exactly why your fantastic concept is so… well, fantastic. Chances are, if the client is reluctant in any way, you won’t sell them on the idea. So, in order to avoid going back to the drawing board, try to minimize the margin of error with better client communication.

Here’s 5 tips to maximize your client communication…

1. Start with the basics.
Refer back to the brief. Knowing and having an understanding of the goals the client had in mind is crucial to achieving a solution. Reiterate what was first given as the creative and strategic mandate and tie it directly into the creative solution you’re offering. After that, explain the thinking process that took place for you to reach your creative solution.

2. Don’t use too much design lingo.
Many clients don’t have a background in marketing or design, so it’s best to refrain from throwing out terms that the client may not be familiar with; it’ll only lead to more confusion and frustration on their part. Instead of talking about hierarchy, typography, negative space or Gestalt principles, express these intentions in more universal terms like “focus,” “eye path” and “emphasis.”


3. Show it.
Most clients – and people for that matter – are much more inclined towards visuals than words. Present clear, polished creative options to your client. But don’t just leave it at one solution. It may require a lot more legwork, but an effective and professional client presentation means providing multiple options. As we as creative professionals know, there’s always more than one way to achieve a solution. Give your client the opportunity to see those other options.

4. Throw in a little 101.
Although you don’t want to overwhelm them with industry jargon, you do want your client to get a peak at the method behind the madness. Sometimes that means educating them about the principles of design and the strategy behind the marketing. If your client doesn’t understand these strategies or principles, try explaining it to them. But again, break it down into ideas and terms they can relate to.

5. Listen and address concerns.

Sometimes the brief may have been followed to a ‘T’, but ends up not ringing true for what the client actually wanted. In that case, ask questions and listen to the answers. What’s not working for them? How are your concepts different from what they expected? Dig around a little and find out where you and your client’s thinking differs. It may mean taking a step back to reevaluate the goals and possibly reworking the creative. But it’s important to realize and respond to these concerns so you have more effective communication in the future.

Bottom line: The communication you have with your client can make the difference between a good relationship with them or a bad one. You want them to trust in your expertise. The easier you make it for them to do that, the better it will be for you both. However different your backgrounds may be, finding that common ground will allow for the possibility of greater success on both sides.

What other tips can you share about successful client communication?

Let’s look at Instagram. Instagram is a free photo sharing program that allows users to quickly edit and share the photos they take on their mobile devices and share on a variety of social networking services, including their own. A social network for photos. Founded 2 years ago, Instagram was recently purchased by Facebook (ahem: the world’s biggest social photo-sharing site) and has already attracted 30 million users! They paid a fortune for it (approximately $1 billion in cash and stock), so we know they believe in the power of imagery. You should too!

Optimize your images to encourage people to share the page and create some great backlinks, “like” and comment on them. It seems instead of talking about random things like “I had a tuna sandwich for lunch”, we can take pictures instead, telling a complex story or idea with a single picture. Today more than ever a good image is more than attention grabbing. If optimized, images can help you achieve better search engine rankings.

We often overlook images as an asset for search engine optimization. Drive traffic with keywords, captions and descriptions. Here’s how:

•  Use a great image:

A memorable, top quality, relevant image included in your blog post, website or newsletter,  for example, can greatly increase the click-through rate of that shared link.  We sometimes purchase a book at the bookstore because we are attracted to its cover. The image you use for your headline will attract the user’s attention and set the scene for what is to come… If you want to attract more attention when your post is seen on social networking sites, use a great image!

• Use keywords in the file name:

Just like keywords in post urls are important for pages, the same is true for images. Using keyword-rich words in your image filename is important for helping search engines determine relevancy. For example, instead of naming your image “image 2748-017″, name it “Jacques-Louis David 017.jpg”

• Use descriptive alt Text (alternative text for images)

Search engines cannot determine the text content of any image, so they rely on captions, alt text, files names that are relevant to the image. Alt text should be short and informative. Here is an example of descriptive alt text from Wikipedia:
[[File:Jacques-Louis David 017.jpg |thumb |160px |alt=Painting of Napoleon Bonaparte |[[The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries]] by [[Jacques-Louis David]].]]

• Use anchor text (this is the visible clickable text in a hyperlink)

Anchor text is usually below 60 characters.  The words in the anchor text help determine ranking by search engines, by providing the user with descriptive and contextual information about the content.

• image should match content

Anchor text, Alt text, file name, keywords – all should be relevant to help search engines know that you are not spamming.

Images can help achieve better search engine rankings, improving your visibility and make your site search engine friendly. An image is worth 1,000 words… how about 1,000 views!!!?

Image credit: 123RF Stock Photo

Facebook ads can be a very powerful tool to help to generate interest, brand recognition and brand loyalty. It can be an advertiser’s dream – targeting using the information people willingly share with others or enter in their profiles. But it’s important to know the ins and outs of advertising on Facebook before you get started.If you’re planning on launching a Facebook advertising campaign, here are some things to keep in mind before you get going.

• Identify your goals
  What do you want to achieve? Is a Fecbook advertising campaign the right strategy? Do you want more likes on your brand page? Do you want to get people to enter a contest? Do you want to drive brand awareness? Do you want to acquire new sales leads? Your objective defines your strategy, so make sure you know what your goals are before launching your campaign. Make sure to establish your objectives prior to launch but be prepared – with Facebook the strategy  may vary throughout the duration of the campaign.
• Know your audience
  Who do you want to reach – who is your audience? Think about what categories your customers fall into. Not only define them by demographics… dig deeper than that. Knowing your audience well lets’ you target your ads more effectively by tailoring your imagery and your copy to get your target audience’s attention.
• Set your budget
  Set a clear budget as you would for all advertising efforts. Identify how much you want to spend daily or during the ad’s entire lifespan and identify your cost per click or cost per thousand impressions bid. How much are you willing to spend? What’s your strategy? Should you initiate a cost per thousand  (CPM)or a click through(CTR) campaign.
• Know the rules
  Get to know Facebook’s advertising policies and approval process. You’ll find useful information on what you can and cannot advertise, say or show. Knowing the guidelines before hand will lower your ad’s chance of getting disapproved or shut down.

Now, you might be ready to launch your Facebook advertising campaign, but don’t know if it’s going to be a success. It’s always hard to forecast if an ad is going to be successful or not, but if you know your audience well enough and you have a clear objective and a well-defined strategy, you can help improve your ad’s success rate. Here are a few useful tips on creating more effective Facebook ads:

• Copy is key
  Develop to-the-point copy that grabs your viewers’ attention. Use a call to action like “Click here!” to help incite your audience to act. Also, use any keywords that you may have if you’ve done your psychographic targeting.
• Draw the eye
  Facebook ads that have simple images generally perform better. Use people’s faces where possible as it can help create a more personal connection – but keep it relevant. Avoid using images with hard to read text. Again, try to keep it simple. 
• Prepare for landing
  Keep your landing page in mind. Where are you sending your audience? Your landing page should reflect what’s being advertised. It may seem a bit obvious but if you’re asking your audience to enter a contest, the landing page should allow them to enter a contest…and so on. Keep it consistent.
• Analyze  the performance
  The real beauty of Facebook advertising is that you can stop ads and launch new ones…in a blink of an eye! In order to do that though, you need to create many alternative ads in order to test them and analyze which ones work, which don’t and why.

As marketers, we already know the power of Facebook and what it can do for customer engagement and brand loyalty. We know how we can better integrate our brands into our customers’ daily life through Facebook – keep them talking about a brand by asking questions and through constant engagement, stay in front of their eyes and at the top of their mind.  Recently, Facebook announced that it would include ads in the news feed – making ads even more integrated in customers’ every day Facebook activities.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Facebook ads are effective– any success stories that you’d like to share?

Click here to follow 3H Communications on Facebook!

Remember when offering friends and family discounts to your staff was the whole internal brand initiative companies employed? By doing this, companies provided employees with a way to “advertise” their product. In today’s social market, employees’ friends and families cast a wider net! Internal branding allows the potential of each employee becoming a proponent of your brand. They can and will be your best PR campaign. Word of mouth has taken on a whole new meaning.

Whether your business is in CPG (consumer packaged goods), b2b, medical, financial or non-profit… the ability to engage your personnel with your product, brand and service goes a long way in creating a complete brand experience. Organizations need to walk the talk.  Today’s savvy consumers/customers expect and want more from their purchasing experience. In order to buy into a brand, to endorse it and select it, the complete 360 degree brand messaging must be consistent… and that includes your internal people. But how to do that?

To start, develop a clear company vision: Just like a brand positioning statement, this doesn’t have to be elaborate, however, it needs to be succinct. This isn’t anything new. Companies have always had a visions statement…. however, what you do with this company vision must be considerably more than framing it and placing it on the wall.

Identify key personnel to be the “internal brand ambassadors”, to motivate  colleagues to embrace the vision: This is imperative. Identifying leaders within each department of your business will go a long way in creating a holistic experience for your brand. Empowering these ambassadors will ensure that within their department that the brand vision and premise stay strong and in line.

The company vision needs to be communicated to the internal team and “adopted” by senior management: The old adage “Do as I say…. not as I do” doesn’t work anymore. The culture of an organization needs to deliver on its brand promise. Actions speak louder than words. Management must get in line and be expected to tow the mantra.

Develop clear goals and measurement metrics, to assess along the way. (ie: sales mix % per sales person, customer service process and goals). This goes a long way in engaging employees and making them part of the process as “part of their job”. This assists in establishing the expectations and tying them up to the brand experience.

And lastly, but definitely very significant in the adoption of internal branding, is the ability to establish goals and reward personnel who demonstrate that they have embraced the culture.

In order to propel a cultural shift within an organization where employees are more client focused and more business focused, a developed and organized plan is essential in order to lead to the desired outcome. Just like everything else in business, a strategic plan identifying key goals is the first step. This will enable all key employees, and key stakeholders to be more engaged and relevant in the business process. I don’t remember where I read this but it did resonate with me: “There is a difference between communicating a message, and getting it understood, and changing behaviour.” So next time your are in a marketing meeting ready to establish your brand deliverables, don’t forget to bring those chocolate covered mashmallow cookies!

The short answer is that it is no longer important only to get visitors to go to your site… your site is now the basis of the total social media umbrella. Your web site should be the gateway and the destination through your other social media properties such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Branch Out, Pinterest…. How to do that?

Here’s a quick list:

1. Navigation should be intuitive and make sense. Make your visitor comfortable, it should be easy for them to find what they want from the home page. It goes without saying that you need to look at your competition and see what they are doing. However, you must determine what will provide optimal user experience for your target.  The faster and easier the navigation, the more customers will return to your site and stay longer.

2. Content is king… it is important to address your customers’ pain. Do this visually for greatest impact…. and do this copy wise for clarity of position as well as keyword optimization. Find out what keywords are “key” to your industry and speak to them.  I am not suggesting that you place every key word on every page… that’s not going to do well. Exercise judgement and common sense. Seasoned marketing professionals and writers will know how to do this well. Make sure you provide your target with a clear understanding of what their pain is, what their needs are and how you can help eliminate their pain. Connect with them on an emotional basis.

3. Again….content is king… it’s important to get in your target’s radar by providing them relevant and timely information. Gone is the the brochure-type of web site. Sites that don’t allow for fresh updates, new posts or tips are losing a huge opportunity in engaging with their customer base and developing a dialogue and relationship with customers.  Write tips or mini articles…. share them on Facebook, tweet….regularly and consistently. This will to a long way in gaining the trust of your customers and convince them that you can answer their pain. Blogging is great for keeping your content fresh, so you are found more often.

4. One more time….content is king…. it is no longer important to only get visitors to go to your site… your site needs to motivate them to spend time browsing through your pages withe information that is relevant to them, so much so that they feel compelled to provide their information on your website so then you can engage them on a one to one, or digitally or as part of your community. This is what is called inbound marketing. Create relevant information that lives independently of your site… but still adds value to your potential customers… and adds value to your brand. Web sites need to be built integrating forums or blogs, and providing fresh and diverse information on the home page to continually improve SEO (Search engine optimization) and get found. More importantly this provides a very effective way to generate leads and integrate sales initiatives.

5. Create buzz and excitement driving people through facebook, LinkedIn and traditional and digital media. We are currently running a campaign for Kressmann Wines through Facebook, Twitter, digital and print ads. In less then 24 hours  we received over 1400 likes on Facebook and have now started engaging with our community. We are constantly commenting and interfacing with our customers and of course, driving them to the web site as well!  This can easily be done in the b2b arenas, niche markets and for community businesses. The digital arena allows for such precise slices of target segments  so every dollar you spend is accounted for and relevant!

6. Information, not data, is key as success is in the measurement….! Track your site’s and social media progress and traffic, and respond accordingly. It’s not about just creating a promotion and just leaving it alone. You need to work it! It’s important to set your google analytics properly so you can respond and react to the information you are receiving. Metrics are important to evaluate where your visitors are coming from, why, and what actions they have taken once they land on the site.

7. Keep it fresh… is not only a good adage for food, but for web sites too.  Monitor your site on a regular basis. Monitor every page of your site, catch broken links or improve on the elements, make sure pages load quickly. Revisit the site with fresh eyes and fine tune accordingly. Don’t let it go stale. Too often, sites get all the attention when they are being developed and then left alone. That’s a sure way of not being in harmony with the market!

Simple, compelling, engaging, fresh, exciting and trackable. Make your site work for you! Achieve inner peace with your site… Ohmmm.

As any designer knows, Pantone provides a collection of numbered spot colours that cannot be reproduced in CMYK. It is device independent, thus ensuring solid, accurate colour reproduction every time. Basically, it means “I want this colour – I get this colour.”

Pantone guides are now a staple of the graphic design industry. In fact, most designers can easily name their favourite swatch; mine’s 485.



Humble beginnings
It’s hard to believe Pantone has only been around for 50 years. The organization started out as a small print company in New Jersey, and was propelled forward with the help of a then temporary employee, Lawrence Herbert.

Herbert was hired fresh out of university and had originally planned on going back to school to study medicine. His plans changed, and in 1962 he bought them out. A year later he introduced PMS (Pantone Matching System) and, in doing so, revolutionized the business of colour.

Today, Pantone is known as the global colour authority, with millions of brands banking on Pantone ink to ensure consistent identity colour.

Drool-worthy

As with any successful brand, the company expanded – and somewhere along the way came the swag.

I remember when I received my first Pantone mug as a gift. I was thrilled and, of course, wanted more. With a heads-up from a colleague, I visited my local Chapters store and was overjoyed to find a colourful pyramid display of bright, shiny Pantone mugs. It was like a little piece of designer heaven against a backdrop of lattes and magazines.

While I was standing in line to purchase the second piece in what would surely become an abundant and drool-worthy Pantone collection, the question occurred to me: “Pantone in Chapters? Has Pantone gone… mainstream?”

The Pantone Universe
Today, what was once reserved only for designers, creatives and the print industry has now indeed become part of the mainstream. Perhaps even more quickly than the introduction of additional colours, Pantone is now churning out consumer products.

It’s become much more than a standardized colour system, and enveloped a market far greater-reaching than it initially intended. In fact, anyone with an appreciation for colour and branding can get their hands on scads of Pantone-inspired items courtesy of the fast-growing “Pantone Universe“.

The universe expands

The Pantone Universe – as one would expect by the name – is a full-fledged cosmos comprised of products from the Pantone brand.

In addition to clothing, accessories, electronics and housewares, the Pantone Universe also includes the Pantone Hotel, which is as brand-infused as you’d imagine. (Incidentally, if you happen to be headed to Brussels and book far enough in advance, you can stay the night for under 100 Euro.)

Then, of course there’s Pantone’s newly introduced line of cosmetics. Partnering with Sephora, the Pantone Universe is banking on the lure of its booming brand – as well as its colour of the year, Tangerine Tango – to entice cosmetics buyers to open their wallets.

Zero to hero
I don’t know about Tangerine Tango, but I’m okay with just my Pantone mugs for now. I don’t really need a whole universe.

But my thoughts are mixed about whether or not it’s a good thing that this universe even exists. In one respect, it’s amazing to the see the complete transformation of a brand from zero to hero. In another, I do hope it keeps its roots intact and holds strong to the goals on which it began.

Either way, no one knows how far the universe reaches. But as long as the Pantone entity remains true and authentic, the sky’s the limit.

What are your thoughts on the rise of Pantone?

This post concentrates on Personal Brand. I will expand on Inward Branding in a separate post.

Whatever industry you play in… or work in, Personal Brand and Branding are increasingly important for you to achieve business success…but what does Personal Brand really mean anyway?

Personal: it’s you. It’s your personality. To bring up The Donald again, he IS his brand. In the world of social media and constant communication, it is increasingly important to brand yourself. You don’t have to be a public speaker, or a blogger, looking for a job or a celebrity, and still you need to brand yourself. Branding yourself personally provides you with a point of differentiation from others in the business arena.. so when you will need it, you can draw upon it. You need to build awareness of you.  In short, you are the product. It’s your game face!

I believe marketers not only always knew this but they knew how to work their own style to create a personal brand. However business and sales managers and executive, although very business focused may not have been so personal brand savvy.

In today’s communication era the need to have a defined personal brand is no longer a nice to have… but a need to have. In order to stand apart, to get ahead, it is no longer okay to just have a name with a good solid handshake!  Just like a product Brand….you have to have a persona, a way to make sure that you do not blend into the background.

Are you among those that are mystified by this new brand adjective? As I browse the my LinkedIn network, I find a lot of discussions about “personal brand”… What is it? How to own it? How to achieve it? It’s really not that hard, (says the marketer!). Think of yourself as a brand… Lululemon, Nike, Channel or whatever Brand gets you excited. Now take that excitement and turn it onto yourself. Ask these following questions: What makes me different (what talents do I have?) What do I want others to remember about me? How do I make myself stand apart?

Here’s a 3-step approach to creating your, yes, very own, personal brand:

1.  It’s all about the first impression…. at first.
The informality of business has allowed for a multitude of possibilities to set you apart. Maybe it’s a certain style of clothing, or like me, wearing a distinct colour. Yes, I wear purple every time I see a client.  Initially I started doing that to assist in branding my firm. I accomplished that but it has also become synonymous with me! Be careful not to go too overboard. Always be cognizant of whom you are meeting, what their style is like and what the “acceptable tone” of the company is. Standing apart doesn’t mean making a spectacle of yourself,  it means you have to be assertive in your statement, without overpowering your statement with props and fanfare.

2. Leave something behind…with that first impression…
Top the incredible first impression with a business card to leave behind. This business card has your coordinates and a positioning statement that succinctly states what you can deliver on… on what sets you apart in the business arena. This is probably going to be a lot harder than deciding what clothes you have to wear! It’s difficult to describe yourself, your abilities and what you do in one sentence. Start by asking what makes you different from others? What experience can you state  (professional and personal) that provides you with an edge? Reach out to your colleagues and business associates and ask what they see as your biggest strength.

 3. As with product brands… you have to deliver the goods….
Each one of us has bought into a brand promise, whether it’s a service or a product, and have been disappointed. You know what I mean? The brand just didn’t live up to to its sizzle (brand promise). So be sure that doesn’t happen to you. In other words, you could look great, exude all the energy that sets you apart from others and make that first impression count. Top that fabulous first impression with an equally fabulous designed business card with that concise positioning statement and you have it made…. Or almost. You have to live up to your promise and to your uniqueness. You have to deliver on the sizzle and maintain the reputation that your Personal Brand is based on. And that’s the most important step in developing and establishing a Personal Brand and ensuring your business success.

Keep posted on the second part of this series about Inward Branding. I invite you to join in the conversation! If you got here via a link from a friend, or LinkedIn, I invite you to join the conversation on marketing, branding and design… sign up on  3H hoopla! here.

When my colleague Sal mentioned that he had been invited to join BranchOut, I wasn’t familiar  with what it was. Was it a Facebook app? Was it a new network? No… it’s actually a free application that allows you to create a professional profile on Facebook!  But, that’s not all it is… it offers Facebook users much more than that. Now that I was aware of it, I started seeing it everywhere. The Internet was buzzing with headlines about BranchOut being LinkedIn’s biggest competition. But back to our initial question, what exactly is it? Is is a LinkedIn me too?

With BranchOut, users can use their Facebook friend networks to find jobs, recruit employees, and strengthen relationships with professional contacts. BranchOut is quite simple. Users can find connections through their extended friend network. When users search for a company on BranchOut, they get a list of friends and friends-of-friends who work at that specific company and they can request to connect with them.

It differs from LinkedIn quite a bit, but there are some similarities as well.

The similarity to LinkedIn: Although it offers a networking opportunity, BranchOut seems to push the user’s ability to access jobs and recruit talent more than anything – building on the idea that landing a job depends on who you know.

The difference with LinkedIn: LinkedIn also has the job-recruiting element and also allows users to have and make an online professional network but it differs by encouraging users to participate in online networking through interest groups and company pages. This is also where brands and companies tend to have the most presence and the most success on LinkedIn.

What does BranchOut offer and what doesn’t it offer?

BranchOut, for now, does not seem to offer the ability to create interest groups or company groups. So, aside from recruiting, how can brands and marketers benefit from BranchOut?

For one, it’s worth having a presence on BranchOut. With over 400 million professional profiles, presence marketing on BranchOut is key. If you are an individual and you represent your brand, it’s worth expanding your reach…it’s another place to promote your brand and yourself while connecting with potential new clients or like-minded professionals. 3H is on BranchOut, you can connect with my colleague, and 3H CCO, Miriam Hara here.

Like all social media, I’m sure BranchOut will grow and evolve. The seeds have been planted but we’ll have to stay-turned and see how it evolves to meet our brand and marketing needs. What features do you think BranchOut should add in order for it to grow to benefit brands and marketers alike?

Join the conversation! Leave your comments below and subscribe to 3H hoopla! here!