A colleague just sent me a promotional piece for yet another social media expert. I took the time to look at his promo and I was impressed . . . until I went over to look at his following on Twitter and, even more specifically, his grade on http://grader.com/ which is a product that HubSpot created. The score for his site was a 16 out of 100. HubSpot offers a variety of graders, and, not that I am bragging, but this will give you an idea of how it works:
- Networlding Website – (HubSpot Grader Page) – Grade: 95.5 out of 100
The website www.networlding.com ranks 85,748 of the 1,916,503 websites that have been ranked so far.
A website grade of 95.5/100 for www.networlding.com means that means that of the millions of websites that have previously been evaluated, our algorithm has calculated that this site scores higher than 95.5% of them in terms of its marketing effectiveness. The algorithm uses a proprietary blend of over 50 different variables, including search engine data , website structure, approximate traffic, site performance, and others.
- Networlding Blog – Grade: 94 out of 100
- Networlding on Twitter – (HubSpot Twitter Grader Page) – Grade: 98.5 out of 100
I am close to the top where Chris Brogan and Guy
For those wondering. Here are the Algorithm Factors:
1. Number of Followers
2. Power of Followers
3. Updates: More updates generally leads to a higher grade
4. Update Recency
5. Follower/Following Ratio
6. Engagement
The Grade Calculation: So, those are the factors that go into the calculation of a score. This score is then used to compare a user against all other users that also have a score. The grade is calculated as the approximate percentage of other users that have an equal or lower score. So, a Twitter Grade of 80 means that about 80% of the other users got a lower score. At the time this article is being written, over 2.1 million users have been graded. To get the whole scoop (which you should), go to this great Twitter article.
With the upcoming new year upon us, you may be asking yourself questions like, “What will my business revenues look like next year?” or “Where will the business come from in the new year?” To answer that question it is also good to figure out just how many new sales calls, leads or referrals you need to generate to develop your business.
Enter the big question everyone asks around networking. Just how many referrals could you get in one year? There are certainly a lot of number floating around out there, but according to a survey I have done with a number of the networking experts (see the article below) I have queried, the numbers that I am hearing and that I have witnessed are between 30-50 referrals.
But there is a catch! There is always a catch, of course. The catch, here, is that you need to set up some form of structured networking group to yield a return like 30-50 referrals. I would also add, coming from my Networlding world, that you need to first focus on the quality of the referral source amd second, on the quality of the referrals from your sources.
First, when choosing the quality of your referral source, consider the following:
- people have networks that reach wide a deep. If the people you are networking with are new to networking and don’t have a vibrant network, they are very unlikely to be able to provide many referrals.
- people who are ready, willing and able to make connections for you (and you are ready, willing and able to make connections for them). So, for example, if the people you network with are so busy on current projects or have personal issues that take up their time, they are not in a position to be good referral sources.
- people who are in some field that is complimentary to yours. In other words these people will be coming in contact with possible prospects they can refer.
In upcoming segments I will share more about how to ask for referrals and how to provide enough detail so that you turn your referral sources into a supplemental sales force. Of course you need to be prepared to do the same for them. But, when you have the right group of networking partners and have vibrant exchanges where you prepare your sources as to just what you are looking for you will find yourself creating a much richer and more successful pipeline. It’s all about the process.
- Melissa Giovagnoli, Networking Coach, Speaker, Trainer and Thoughtleader on the Science of Networking and Networks
For more information, email me at melissa@networlding.com.
