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Whether we agree with them in principle or not, the topic of digital influence is only becoming more influential. Almost anyone with a social media profile is already indexed in at least one of the many vendors on the scene today. Consumers are trying to figure out what it means. Brands are realizing the promise of connecting to connected consumers. Advertising and PR agencies are spending budget against it. So what is influence and what does it really mean?
Right now, there are more questions and theories than answers. Like some relationships in Facebook, it’s complicated. But, I can tell you what it is not. Influence is not popularity and popularity is not influence. It’s so much more than that.Since 2009, I’ve studied the influence landscape. After a few years and a few dozen articles on the subject, I concentrated my focus on developing a comprehensive report to take a deep dive into all things influence. One year later, I’m proud to publish my first report as part of the Altimeter Group, “The Rise of Digital Influence.”...
A recent study by Oglivy suggests that social media users aren’t showing advocacy or passion for most of the brands that they follow.
What I want to do in this post is take a look at the research behind that assertion and posit an alternative explanation for the chasm between brand advocacy expression on social media and its expression in real life.
Methodology This study looked at between 6 and 7 million social media mentions of 22 major brands and eight feature films in four countries (United States, China, Brazil, and the United Kingdom). They assessed five product categories: coffee, hotels, fashion retail, movies, and skincare....
How do we define true influence, the kind that leads to real ROI and sales for brands? Simple - put the customer at the heart of the influence circle....
The main challenge is the definition of influencer by today’s social web meaning. Sure, you can create great content, get a ton of followers, social shares, etc. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be any good for a brand to work with. There are way too many factors at play when it comes to influence that trying to gauge the term as a generic entity results in failure for the brands connecting with them....
Traditional media is on the decline and we can now identify "influencers" with relevant content pipelines to help us. Now what do we do about it? All the old “pipelines” for our content are drying up. So one viable alternative is to borrow somebody else’s pipeline. Today, bloggers, podcasters, and home video producers are gaining consumer mindshare through their passionate and entertaining content. No wonder this is the new media gold rush — influencer outreach. I have a 360-degree experience with this trend as I strategize with clients, advise agencies, and become a target for outreach programs myself. And what I see is not pretty. Sure we have tons of content. We have lots of wonderful new alternatives to identify influencers. Now, what do we do about it? I think the core competency that needs to develop is a mindset transformation from a “purchaser of ad space” to a “developer of relationships.” Here is a model to get you thinking about this in a new way....
In essence, influence means you're inspiring others without having direct control over whether they take action. Most seek to build influence; measure influence; and yes, some will even attempt to sell influence. Yet, few will achieve action-inspiring influence without planning and effort. Lesson 1: Influence Isn't the Same as Popularity A study revealed that most people see popularity and influence quite differently. Not much has changed since findings were published in 2010. If anything, in the age of authority and influence being generated though social....
The LinkedIn Influencer program is my everyday source for education and inspiration, giving me the insights I need to be great at my job as a social media strategist at LinkedIn. Here are 5 Influencers I follow (and you should too!) for the best social media insights....
... [Jeff] Bullas explains, “Blogs are one of the top online services to influence a purchase. When making overall purchase decisions, consumers rank blogs third behind retail and brand sites. Despite this influencing power brands are spending very little on blogging advertising and marketing initiatives with bloggers.” Nearly all influencers blog “If you want to be an influencer you need to blog,” writes Bullas. “Influencers have realized that to have their voice heard on a social web, they need to have a blog. The power of the reach and velocity of online publishing supercharged by social media cannot be underestimated.” According to Bullas, 86% of influencers currently blog, and a third of all influencers said they have been blogging for five or more years.”...
With the rise of Klout and other personal influence measurement tools, much of the talk around influence marketing has focused on how to best target and engage high-ranking influencers. But new research is showing that a focus on mid-level influencers is actually far more effective when it comes to engagement and driving earned media, and at a much more efficient cost than working with “professional” A-list influencers. This is the conclusion from a SocialChorus analysis of over 200 social word-of-mouth campaigns, which shows that large-scale social engagement is increasingly driven by a group of influencers the company refers to as the “Power Middle.” These influencers typically have a smaller but very loyal audience (2,500 to 25,000+ unique monthly visitors to their blog or other social networks). Because their communities are so loyal, these Power Middle influencers drive an average of 16x higher engagement rates than paid media and owned alternatives–and at a much lower individual cost than professional influencers....
Implications - Superbloggers, like supermodels, are online authors who are establishing themselves as authority figures outside of their initial industry. In today's information age, blogs are more influential than any other media outlet. This propels their owners to celebrity status, opening opportunities for smart companies to treat them as such with sponsorship deals and related merchandise....
An interview with author Danny Brown about the rise, and future, of influence marketing. Trust continues to be a serious issue, and deficiency, for brands of all categories. The 2013 edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer notes that, while trust in business has risen slightly, it is still at a lowly 58%. Globally, trust in business leaders, the traditional top-down influencers, is much lower among the general population – just 18%. Edelman attributes this partly to profound and repeated ethical and moral lapses in business, but also to the rise of other influencers – employees, activists and everyday people – empowered a the multitude of social media and technological opportunities. They describe it as a new “Diamond of influence.” The business of selling brands is starting to refer to it as Influencer Marketing....
Millions of updates are shared on social media every day and years worth of content is spread along with it. When we log in to Twitter we are greeted with “What’s happening?” On Facebook it’s with “What’s going on?” Social media demands content from us and is driven by user-generated content, but it adds a lot of noise across the social media channels we are using and on the social web. Some organisations sport hundreds of followers and unique visitors to their blog every month while others have thousands of followers and generate so much more unique traffic. Which one has more influence? Of course you will think that the organization with a larger audience has more influence, and in some cases, you might be correct. But, digital influence goes so much further than the number of people following you or the traffic you are generating to your blog....
Here's a valuable list of articles on discovery and influencers worth reading and following. Great way to get a look ahead at 2013.
The sheer wealth of social media monitoring tools available is matched only by the richness of practical uses that they afford users. Considering this, I thought it would be useful to list some of the key ways you can get the most out of your monitoring tool, starting with identifying influencers. ...You need to be looking at both relevancy to your search AND the metrics that help determine influence. Your approach may value one process over the other, but the essential part is that you undergo both of them in order to find a suitable list of influencers. This is just one of a series on the most effective ways to use a monitoring tool, so stick around for more insight.
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...Technorati released a great report at the start of 2013 showing that after retail and brand websites, blogs are the most influential for consumer purchases. The best part is that the majority of influencers blog, and quite a few have multiple blogs!So where’s the disconnect?
Why are brand marketers only spending 6% of their social media budget on INFLUENCERS? (Brands spend about 10% of their digital marketing budget on social, with 6% of it dedicated to influencers). It’s shown to be effective and that consumers trust blogs more than social advertising and other networks. Influencers have a community that’s built on trust. When they recommend something to their community, people listen and trust them.
Why are marketers still hesitant?...
One of the big focuses in social marketing today is influencer marketing.
The idea being that if you can get one person to tell something to their large audience, their audience will listen.
For organizations this is seen as less effort and potentially high response.
In reality, things aren’t that simple.Let’s take a look at a few things to keep in mind when you approach influencer marketing....
... Knowing the value of advocates versus influencers is key to making the right decisions when it comes to your marketing strategy. But most importantly, you need to be honest with yourself about the true purpose behind your marketing efforts. “Do I invest my limited budget into a one-time burst and get a lot of short-term buzz? Or do I build a bespoke network of advocates and engage, direct, and activate them long-term, which may require commitment beyond a three-month campaign?”
We see our customers struggle with this question every day. You need to be clear from the outset what your goals are before deciding whether to harness the passion of your existing fans or to turn to the broader--but arguably less committed--reach of an influencer. Both can be a hugely important part of a marketing campaign, but only if their capacities are used effectively.
My advice? Build movements, not campaigns! Don’t just stimulate buzz, ignite passions through engaging the true believers who “get” who you are and are fanatical about your brand. Identify them, listen to them, engage them. It is worth the effort.
It’s important that we make the distinction between Influence Marketing and Influence scoring. Influence Marketing has always been part of our lives, whether we recognize the term or not. Everyday, brands put their products in the hands of targeted individuals that have a clear impact in an specific niche. I think this quote from the upcoming book Influence Marketing, by Danny Brown and Sam Fiorella, not only provides a clear definition of what the goal of marketing is but it also makes it pretty obvious that influence is a natural aspect of marketing. The end result of any good marketing effort is to identify, engage, and nurture the most qualified prospects, ensuring the leads generated drive the highest customer acquisition rate....
Excellent Mark Schefer post... The Forbes "Power 50 List" of social influencers has become one of the most shared lists on the web. But it really has nothing to do with influence... I need to emphasize that there are tons of wonderful people on the Top 50 list and many legitimate social media titans I admire. But I’d like to highlight 25 amazing people NOT on the list to demonstrate that we need to take lists like this crazy Forbes mess with a grain of salt. You want some social media thunder? These are just a few of the truly great social media influencers of the world excluded from the Forbes list. I’ve linked to their Twitter handle. Please follow them so perhaps they can make this “prestigious Forbes list” in 2014. Heh....
@sree, @jasonfalls, @prtini, @shonali, @jaybaer, @peterhimler, @laermer and @prsarahevans are some of the top social media, PR and journalism experts to follow on Twitter…. but who do they follow? Last week at a Cision “Behind the Story” breakfast panel, Sree Sreenivasan was discussing how PR pros and journalists interact on Twitter and said, “I find PR people (and journalists) are generally using Twitter poorly. Some of them use it very well and those are the ones that succeed. The best PR people I work with are the ones who are connected, not because of Twitter, but because they read a lot, know the issues and have a great rolodex.” He challenged the panelists to identify some great PR pros on Twitter, people who are “doing it right.” In addition to the panel’s recommendations (I’ve included Sree’s below), I asked some industry experts – and my personal favorites to follow on Twitter – who in PR they thought did it right on Twitter. See below why I follow them and who they recommend...
What’s the difference between influence and advocacy? The differences are quite notable but the answers aren’t often sought. Influencers are individuals who’ve earned authority on any given topic and have built a community or series of communities around their body of ideas or work. They have the capacity to cause an effect on the character, actions or behavior of someone or something. Advocates are champions (and/or enthusiastic customers) who align with or embody the tenets or the mission of a thing (in this case a brand) or a cause. Advocates may or may not carry influence individually. When advocates unite, the concerted group can wield influence. On the subject of influence, Technorati recently released its 2013 Digital Influence Report. In it, I discovered some interesting stats about the various ways that brands are approaching influence....
Social marketing can be wasteful. Depending on how often someone checks their Facebook News Feed or Twitter stream, they might rarely see a brand's message unless it was paid to be put front and center. Facebook analytics firm PageLever (recently acquired by social marketing company Unified) said last fall that most Facebook page posts fade off into the ether three to five hours after getting published. But the promise of social isn't one-to-many broadcast-style publishing; it’s creating a ripple effect. Get something in front of the right people and they’ll push it onward and outward. Not only does that serve as a sort of audience-quality filter, but a side benefit for brands is that it can be as inexpensive as it is efficient. Washington Post-owned social agency SocialCode rolled out an influencer targeting tool last year with exactly that intent, and now the most high-profile arbiter of social influence, Klout, has unveiled an analytics dashboard to help brands pinpoint their influencers. "This is really the first step—but a meaningful step—towards a set of tools that will enable brands to more effectively understand and engage with their influencers," said Klout CEO Joe Fernandez. He maintained that Klout remains a consumer company, but Klout for Business definitely levels up the brand side of the business with the potential to become an enterprise-level marketing platform. At launch, Klout for Business aims to tell businesses who the influencers are among their Twitter followers and Facebook fans, including age groups, gender, location and of course what topics they're influential on. Fernandez said Klout rewrote its topic analysis system to give companies a dynamic look at those influencers’ interests. "Imagine Pepsi wanting to know who in their audience is influential about snowboarding and invite those people to a Pepsi competition at Aspen," he said....
New research study identifies Twitter Tribes by unique words As a Twitter power user, I couldn’t resist looking into this Twitter research study on word usage in my favorite micropublishing channel. It’s fascinating to say the least. It’s titled "Word usage mirrors community structure in the online social network Twitter." Researchers looked at more than 250,000 users to define some very interesting Tribes. Who knew Twitter users were forming such unique Tribes and speaking their own language? Academics really do provide a useful service for the rest of us. Pointing out the sociological implications of social media and everything else we do....
30 must read blogs for entrepreneurs to help you improve your business today. Each blog is reviewed and includes a link to a great introduction post...
As the old adage goes, the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. And with tax season looming near, there is no better time to get your finances in tow. To assist with this task, we’ve ranked the top 50 independent finance blogs in North America. The bloggers range in age, experience and ideology, rendering a well-rounded snapshot of the financial blogosphere. The list was created using Cision’s media database and blogs are ranked based on our Cision Influence Rating. Whether you’re after general market news or personal finance tips, these blogs have you covered with a wealth of information.
...According to Neilson Global trust survey back in 2009, only 14% of people trust ads while 78% of people trust consumers’ recommendations.
While the number may change today, the concept of consumers trusting their friends’ recommendations remains the same.
Recently, I wanted to watch a movie and I couldn’t decide if I should watch Wreck it Ralph or Rise of the Guardians, so I asked my editor Henry for his opinion, and he recommended me to watch Wrect it Ralph. I went with his suggestion and I didn’t regret it. But guess who just lost one customer here because somebody I trust pointed me the other way? The big question is how do you find these influencers or brand advocates? There are a couple of tools out there that can help you with that....
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Revisiting Brian Solis's "influence" post...