Got Whuffie? Then You’ve Got Social Cred

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The Whuffie Factor, written by Tara Hunt (@missrogue)I probably didn’t need to buy this book.

I’m serious. I probably didn’t. I’ve heard so many good things about Tara Hunt, the author of The Whuffie Factor, on her speaking and presentations and how awesome they are. So when I finally got a chance to hear her speak, it was about five of the components to generate good “whuffie”. What exactly is Whuffie? I’ll get to that a little bit later on. But let me get back to my story.

I had first heard Tara speak about her book during a Social Media Club event featuring three authors of published & upcoming books, although it wasn’t all that detailed as the next time I heard her speak at this past edition of WordCamp in San Francisco. It was here that I heard her expound on what she’s talking about in The Whuffie Factor and how folks can build up their social media campaigns and brand awareness using what she calls “whuffie”.

So I thought to myself that after hearing that and automatically learning the secrets to creating whuffie, I didn’t need to buy her book. It would have saved me at least $20, right?

Wrong. I bought her book. And I loved it.

I’m a fan of Tara’s and when I heard she was publishing The Whuffie Factor, I immediately added it to my “wish list” of books to get. It’s taken me a while and I thought that once I heard what she had to say during WordCamp San Francisco, I didn’t need to read her book because she practically gave it all away for free. But I kept my convictions and ultimately bought the book to read on a long trip I took recently and found it quite compelling.

So let’s get back to the question that was asked earlier: what IS this “whuffie” and how can it help you?

Whuffie is basically street credibility that you have when dealing specifically with social media. There’s no direct monetary value to whuffie. I doubt you can go to your bank and ask for a loan on whuffie. It’s a non-tangible form of value that you earn from being online and interacting. As Tara puts it in The Whuffie Factor, whuffie is “the residual income – the currency – of your reputation.” Like with all forms of currency, it’s entirely possible for you to lose or gain it based on how you behave. There are five key components that Tara lists to help you become a superstar and build significant whuffie (I’ve covered this on my blog post for Network Solutions that you can read here):

  1. Turn the bull horn around.
  2. Become part of the community.
  3. Create amazing feelings.
  4. Embrace the chaos.
  5. Find your purpose.

I’m not going to cover the meanings behind these here but you can read my thoughts on them on this blog post. However, while you might think that all you need are these five steps, you need to still read the book. Why? Because there’s much more wholesome goodness that you’re not going to get by simply blindly following these steps. You don’t truly understand the meaning without reading The Whuffie Factor.

Tara’s book is filled with definitions, meaning and plenty of real-life examples that you can take with you to the bank to learn how to properly create whuffie. Also, there’s advice in her book on how you can lose all your whuffie in the process as well – oh yeah, it’s a two way street. You can gain it all but also just as easily lose it in a heartbeat.  Find out how folks like Gary Vaynerchuk and companies like Threadless, 37Signals and even the Library of Congress have embraced whuffie and become a success.

Reading one of the reviews on Amazon about The Whuffie Factor, I found this one statement about the book totally true:

The fundamental concept is that marketing to your customer has changed.

This statement is from James Beswick and is very true. There is so much noise going on in the industry that every marketer & advertiser is practically SCREAMING to be heard. I guess Tara’s meaning behind it all is to try and stop the screaming and instead focus on the individual relationships and if you have enough whuffie, you’re able to have enough credibility that people will trust you more than someone who is constantly pushing and pushing their message to you – which you’d probably automatically assume that they’re just interested in the sale.

What this book is NOT: it’s not a guide book giving you step-by-step instructions on how you can create a social media campaign. It’s not going to give you tips on which applications to use to help generate more sales or traffic to your website. It doesn’t offer any real best practices on using Facebook or Twitter or even YouTube. But what it DOES offer is a strategic look at your engagement with your communities and customers online and how you can properly take advantage by building relationships. I suppose if you think about interacting with people in real life, how are they going to take what you have to say seriously? You need to be able to not only “talk the talk”, but also “walk the walk”. Are you prepared to do that offline AND also online?

No? Well let Tara Hunt help you out. Read The Whuffie Factor and get a better understanding on how you can earn incredible street credibility in a social media setting.

8 responses to “Got Whuffie? Then You’ve Got Social Cred”

  1. gravity7 Avatar
    gravity7

    Ken,

    Nice post man. I haven't read the book and hope to some point this summer. I think one of the interesting things about social capital is it increases as its spent/used. Like many other kinds of influence (political capital, institutional power, whatever) — when the influence depends on an audience for its value and fungibility (spendability), it increases when the audience takes part. Like giving, W ought to be something that grows with use and benefits all. Yes?

    1. Ken Yeung Avatar
      Ken Yeung

      @gravity7 – thanks for the feedback. Glad you liked it. I think you're on to something when you said that influence depends on an audience for its value and spendability and also that it only increases when the community/audience takes part – otherwise who are you trying to influence. If you're not engaging with them, then what are you doing? You're just participating still in that shouting match with the rest of the marketers and brands who want to be heard in the social sphere. Having whuffie is probably better than having money because who really has more influence? The one with money to dish out to buy votes or customers? Or does the person who has more “street cred” that everyone loves and trusts get more engagement because they're honest and tell customers exactly what they want to hear truthfully?

      1. gravity7 Avatar
        gravity7

        Well the interesting thing about social capital, if considered as a power to influence, is that the power belongs to audience. The moment the audience loses faith, interest, in the influencer, that influence evaporates. For brands it's a shift in the balance of power. Not the brand, but the audience, decides what's credible, desireable, etc… Is it better than money? Dunno — money can be spent at will, and has the same value every time it's spent. Whuffie or social capital is spent only when the audience is paying attention, and it doesnt have the same value all the time (over use it and you just may lose it!)…

        1. Ken Yeung Avatar
          Ken Yeung

          I agree with you that power belongs to the audience. They're the people buying what you're selling after all, right? But it also boils down to credibility and trust as well and a new way of “selling”. I hate to use that word “selling”, but basically that's what it is. With all the shenanigans that marketers are pushing out these days, I'm guessing that social capital is a powerful tool in bringing people to at least pay attention. You said something about influence works if they're paying attention. Well who would you have a better chance of paying attention to? Someone who enters into the scene and just pushes and pushes their product onto you or perhaps someone who has been in the trenches, understands who YOU are (not specifically speaking, but your personality and demographics) and has spent time listening and slowly engaging in your community?

          It's like I said earlier in the post. I would “trust” a marketer who walks the walk AND talks the talk.

          But what I think Tara is getting at here is just that. It's about building trust and driving significant interest to a marketer and his/her product. By understanding where your customers are coming from and showing that you care, that respect is basically influence. That respect is whuffie. Not someone shouting to you through a commercial or anything that you don't pay attention to.

  2. darius Avatar
    darius

    Nice post, Ken. I've been thinking I should pick up this book.

    By the way, the whuffie concept is a creation of Cory Doctorow, from his book “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.” It's a fun read if you're looking for something. I also recommend highly my favorite by Cory, “Little Brother”.

    1. Ken Yeung Avatar
      Ken Yeung

      @Darius – appreciate your comment. Glad you liked the post.

      Good point on the whuffie concept. Tara has mentioned that every time I've heard her speak and it's even in her book – so the whuffie concept isn't a new thing, but the way she phrases it and defines it in her book probably is. Either way, the whuffie concept is still a good thing.

      Thanks for the book recommendations. I'll add it to my continuously growing “wish list”.

  3. darius Avatar
    darius

    Nice post, Ken. I've been thinking I should pick up this book.

    By the way, the whuffie concept is a creation of Cory Doctorow, from his book “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.” It's a fun read if you're looking for something. I also recommend highly my favorite by Cory, “Little Brother”.

  4. Ken Yeung Avatar
    Ken Yeung

    @Darius – appreciate your comment. Glad you liked the post.

    Good point on the whuffie concept. Tara has mentioned that every time I've heard her speak and it's even in her book – so the whuffie concept isn't a new thing, but the way she phrases it and defines it in her book probably is. Either way, the whuffie concept is still a good thing.

    Thanks for the book recommendations. I'll add it to my continuously growing “wish list”.

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