Andrew Grill has quite a resume. He is a former resident of Sydney, Australia, where he ran PropertyLook, the country’s largest mobile property website and he also held senior marketing and business development roles with the Australian companies Telstra and Optus. Since 2005, the entrepreneur has been active in the European market and most recently was head of International Client Strategy and Business Development for Visible Technologies based in the UK. But that’s all in the past. Andrew’s latest gig is being CEO of a real-time community based social influence platform called Kred. And just to keep himself extra busy, he’s also a very popular speaker at technology conferences and is editor of the social and mobile networking site LondonCalling.co.
Andrew Grill took some time out of his very busy schedule to answer some of MethodShop‘s questions about his new adventure with Kred.
Name, Occupation, Home Base?
Andrew Grill, CEO of Kred. I’m based in London, but I travel often to New York and San Francisco and work with our teams based there – social is global so it no longer matters where you are based.
What is Kred?
Kred is the authoritative measure of community influence and outreach. We’re the only social media measure that offers score by community; dual measures for influence and outreach; real-time updates; and a fully transparent algorithm.
Why did you decide to start Kred?
We have been storing, indexing and filtering the social web since 2008. Our clients told us that they wanted to have metrics that allowed them to easily find the relevant people in their markets, for engagement. Kred can do this instantly for any keyword, phrase or hashtag they can dream up.
Why should people choose Kred over other similar apps like Klout or PeerIndex?
Kred is real-time and transparent, which should give marketers confidence that they are finding the right people at the right time for their messages. Influence and Outreach means that we can identify not just people that are most talked about, but also the ones most likely to engage with others and spread a message.
Finally, once Kred gives scores by defined communities rather than topical keywords, it assures that people are influential about things that are relevant to a target market rather than seemingly random terms like “Houston,” “avocados” and “cheese.”
What is the most important thing you want people to know about Kred?
Social influence measures are most useful when they can be audited to assure that you are reaching the right people with the right message. Kred is the only influencer platform that is totally transparent. The market sees this as one of our greatest strengths, and clients are flocking to Kred as a result.
Why is Social Media important in our world?
The ability for people with shared interests, expertise and things in common to connect across the physical world instantly is incredibly exciting. Participation can help us learn more about our interests and each other. It may even bring us together to address some of the world’s most pressing problems. One of the refreshing outcomes of Kred has been people that have discovered shared interests as a result of being shown as influential in our communities. I have heard countless stories at conferences when running our Kred Events leaderboards. “I only knew you were here because of the Kred leaderboard” has become a common theme over the last year.
What are your favorite Social Media tools and apps?
Well, Kred of course! I also run my own blog at LondonCalling.co so I practice what I preach. As a result, I’m a big fan of WordPress and run a number of my own services in my own “cloud.”
Who inspires Andrew Grill and why?
The next generation of marketers really inspire me. I was fortunate to meet some students from St. Lawrence College, Ontario, who were attending the Pivot Conference in New York recently. They asked me to participate in a Google hangout to provide some insights into Kred, influence measurement and social media generally. Spending just an hour with thee talented students inspires me to make sure we craft the next group of social savvy, 100% digital leaders.
We heard that you’re a MethodShop reader. What is your favorite article?
As an avid Foursquare user (I have more check-ins than founder Dennis Crowley), I really liked the article Turn Your Foursquare Check-Ins into a History Lesson with Fourstalgia by Bill Hartnett – as I also love knowing about the history behind cities I visit.
What are some of the new projects that you are working on?
CRM and influence is a huge opportunity for companies, and we’re just at the beginning with our Salesforce application. Clients are also demanding we integrate with their favorite platforms and tools, and we’re well advanced here. An internal influencer is also something that clients want to see – using internal messaging clients, who have influence in particular topics inside an organization, and who are the “go-to” subject matter experts.
These are early days for influence measures, and we are just starting to tap their potential. We are always looking for new applications for Kred and our deep data mine of social data. I am constantly amazed by the inventiveness of our clients and the different ways they dream up to use influence in their work.
The Hungover Pumpkin
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