Personal Influence Growth and Analysis

Posted on by Sara Wong

 

In the beginning of the semester, I had 77 followers on Twitter with a Klout score of 10. I created my Twitter account freshmen year of college for my Introduction to Information Technology course. At the time, I couldn’t understand Twitter’s importance. I wasn’t interested in sharing my thoughts online, I found 140 characters too limiting since I preferred blogging, and I couldn’t relate to anyone on my feed because I only followed celebrities that were recommended to me by an algorithm. Thus, I quickly became inactive and often posted irrelevant things just to say “at least I tried.” However, after being forced to post 2 – 4 times a week for COM347, I’ve gained invaluable insight to the importance of social media. By experimenting with various methods taught me how to engage with online communities and why it’s important to vocalize my opinions online. As shown in the screen capture of my Klout score below, my engagement have vastly increased from 10 to 44.08 with a peak of 44.86.

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Starting with 77 followers, I now almost doubled that amount with a total of 150 followers. To understand this engagement, I will then conduct an analysis on the techniques that worked and didn’t work for increasing my influence and network.

In the beginning I only posted things that were relevant to my bio: graphic design and technology. I figured if that was in my bio, I should speak to these topics and engage with people in the field I hope to be a part of after college. One of my highlight tweets in the beginning of the semester was “filter bubbles.”

This tweet was the first time I included a blog post and two images. Even though I only got two likes, this post still got 470 impressions and 8 total engagements. The feedback I received for this blog post was that it’s very well thought out but the voice and tone is too serious. Although I didn’t agree at the time, I understand why the tone should be more light-hearted. This reason for this is because social media is meant to be a personal interaction, a form of interaction end-users won’t be able to receive from well crafted publications. Thus, for the follow-up tweet for this blog post I included a funny picture to bring a personal feel.

The second highlight tweet I had was “Hi Moose.” Who doesn’t like dogs? This was the first time I engaged with video and since dogs are the most watched advertisements I quickly received a like and retweet the second I posted. This post also gained 368 impressions, 58 media views, and 11 total engagements.

 

The third tweet I wanted to highlight was the twitter poll. I didn’t know polls existed on Twitter but I absolutely love the idea of it. I wish more people voted but apparently VR/AR and Machine Learning is the most exciting design trend right now! After this post I began to notice other users creating polls with “tweet @” and hashtags. I found this really useful because you just eliminated an extra step for the user. By crafting the tweet for them and directly them you can increase you engagement by tailoring it to media that aligns with your organization’s goals.

The fourth tweet is about Sundance Ignite at Newhouse. I absolutely loved this event and wish more people showed up! VR is one of those geeky mediums that you won’t understand until you try it out yourself to understand it’s potential to impact. For someone who always forgets to take pictures when I attend events, I’m glad I did this time. The engagement I received for this tweet was 488 impressions, 18 media engagements.

The fifth tweet is for the Periscope hearts challenge. The challenge was so much fun and even though my team didn’t bring in donuts and yogurt we brought a in engagement just by picking a timely topic. At the time, Drake’s More Life album released a week ago and there was already a lot of dialogue online on the hashtag MoreLife, bringing in 713 impressions and 12 total engagements. However, I should of posted a photo or video of the Newhouse students mentioned this post would of been more effective if I showed the Newhouse students to

The sixth tweet is “Mondays” meme. This was the second time I made a meme and the engagement on Imgur is currently at a high 6,000 views. I loved the challenge of complimenting a visual with a short statement that is relatable to a wide audience. I chose Monday because of it’s ability to relate despite age, occupation, or personal hobbies. In order to combat the negative sentiment, I added a positive statement on my tweet in order to engage with people in #MotivationMonday. #MyBestEverDecision was a trending hashtag at the time. Even though the meme doesn’t directly speak to a “best decision,” but “do what you love and you’ll never have a problem with Mondays” is a worthy decision to make. This lead to 394 impressions and 21 total engagements.

The seventh tweet is Periscope live. This post was so daunting to be honest. I wasn’t sure what to say since I didn’t have anything to promote or have a following to answer questions. However, I’m glad I tried this feature out and would love to experiment more with live video now! Next time I would be more prepared; have a topic to discuss even if no one is commenting or interacting with the video because the purpose of live video is to bring an unfiltered announcement to a large audience. I gained 415 impressions, 15 media views, and 4 total engagements.

The eight tweet is “what are you thankful for?” I wanted to highlight this tweet because of how silly I look. As I mentioned in the beginning, I was definitely on the more serious side of posting. However, I realized it’s okay to be weird and silly online as long as it’s relevant and makes sense. This post is one of many steps I’m trying to overcome my perfectionist and anxious side. Letting go is good for the soul. This post gained 375 impressions and 35 total engagements.

The ninth tweet I wanted to highlight was the Taco Emoji Engine. Tweets like this is the reason why the internet is fun. I really enjoyed the interactive experience of tweeting at Taco bell and receiving a gif back. This opened my eyes to question what other ways can we engage the user further with twitter in order to serve a company’s goal. I’m intrigued to find out more. This tweet received  359 impressions and 4 total engagements.

The very last tweet I wanted to give a shoutout, even though it doesn’t have #Nhsmc, is my girl Arden Cho. I went to event mainly to support Asian American Heritage Month and my roommate, who is the moderator. I’m so glad I attended this event because I didn’t know Arden was a huge Asian American activist prior to it. Growing up in Texas, Arden was the only Asian girl in her neighborhood. She shared how she used to get beaten, wished she was white, and didn’t understand racism and representation until college. She really touched me and I wanted to make sure I tweeted at her to show my appreciation for her publicly because I knew she cares. This tweet ended up getting a retweet from Arden, who has 802k followers, 337 likes, 50,903 impressions, and 1,860 total engagements. Wow I finally peaked in my twitter game!

 

 

The final tweet I wanted to highlight, which also doesn’t have #NHsmc, is Ueno. I contacted one of the senior designers, Jenny, at Ueno to do a presentation for user experience class. My professor ended up tweeting at Jenny after I mentioned how receptive she would be in class and she responded “Thank you! I’m happy to meet smart and driven students like  .” This was amazing because I am now a huge fan of Ueno as a agency and Jenny as a designer.

Overall, I can officially say I enjoy using twitter now because I learned how to have a small conversations with people online! Prior to this class I always felt like tweeting was a public announcement. However, what I learned to understand with time is that if the message is tailored with a focus it will no longer feels like a announcement. I loved learning about voice & tone, thick & thin, gatekeeping, the best practices of social media, how to report media online, how to analyze data and find influencers, and why being yourself and silly is important! Within a semester I went from a awkward dork to a much more relax socializer online; getting over the hump wasn’t that bad after all!

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