Posts Tagged ‘influence’

January11

Solving the “Measuring Influence” Problem

By: Spike Jones

Or maybe not. But I have an idea. Please follow the bouncing ball for a moment.

Working at a global agency and for big ‘ol brands, I can tell you this: in the real world, your online influencer rating will probably get you some sort of special treatment or a one-off sursey (that’s Southern for “free, unexpected gift”) every now-and-again. Apart from that, as you might have guessed, your Klout or Kred score isn’t worth much – if anything. And, as you also know, when it comes right down to it, brands engage in social because they wanna sell more stuff. That’s where all marketing and communications paths lead.

So when it comes to influence, I want to know how one person influenced another person to actually make a purchase. That’s the influence that I care about. Crack that nut and you’re on to something.

Using things that exist on the World Wide Web today, here’s a thought: The Klouts and Kreds need to hook up with the places where people leave recommendations or are actively making a purchase. Think Amazon or even something like OpenTable. Because these people are already raising their hand and actively participating to let others know their actions and opinions. So when they leave a rating or review – or make a purchase or a reservation – why not give them a field to “give credit” to the person that influenced them to make that purchase? This could be done by simply entering that person’s twitter account.

Yes, I realize that this is flawed idea. Because people aren’t going to volunteer their buddy’s twitter handle for fear a brand will spam them. That’s valid. But maybe by signing up for Klout you give permission – or even opt-in to a program- to contact that individual. Then people could really be rated on their true influence as it correlates to purchases. Because, while it’s nice for someone with 10,000 followers to tweet about my brand, I’d rather know about the guy who has 75 followers but his recommendation (online or off) led to people buying my stuff. That’s a person I’d want to engage.

It could work with anyone from Yelp to Amazon to TripAdvisor to Target’s website…and maybe has the potential to open up a whole new world.

Again, I know it’s flawed. But it might be a place to start. And if you do build on it and make millions, I have some requests.

Kthxbye.

Posted in: marketing6 comments

October10

They’re not influencers, they’re broadcasters

By: Spike Jones

Influence, influence, influence. We’re all talking about it – even if it’s only to complain about everyone talking about it (guilty). We’re trying to measure it. Quantify it. Identify it. Use it. Abuse it. Claim it. And the list goes on and on…

Of course, I’ve weighed in with my fair share of thoughts about how we’re making steps towards some sort of standard, but from the looks of things right now, we’re a long way off.

But I digress.

The point of this post is that I really don’t think that we should label those social media kids that brands try to get in front of as influencers. We should call them what they are: broadcasters.

If you haven’t read this gem of a post written by Zack Bussey that goes inside the mind of a typical “social media influencer” entitled “Social Media Influencers Suck,” you need to.

We feel we deserve it because of what we do after receiving it – we blog, tweet and share it on Facebook. Our blog readers read it, our thousands of followers on Twitter see it and our close friends on Facebook listen to what we say. Simply stated, we give you access to the people we know, and we’re giving it to you rather cheaply.

Read the whole thing. Seriously.

But when you read all the articles about what influence is and isn’t, when you dig into Klout and Kred and all the things written about them, when you get right down to it: these people are broadcasters. And that means that we’re back in a typical media placement cycle. Okay, maybe not typical, but you get the idea. There is an audience. There is a brand who wants access to the audience. A transaction takes place – sometimes paid, sometimes an experience, sometimes “gifted.” And then the brand is placed in front of audience for a limited amount of time.

Being on the PR/Branding/Marketing Communications side of the fence, I watch in awe at how a handful of these bloggers/influencers behave. And I’m fascinate at how these people – who claim to be marketing professionals – react and attack brands. Even at times holding them hostage. And they would never advise a client to act that way online. Yes, there are times when being outraged is warranted (like when they’re deliberately deceived) but other times, come on. They’re even attacking the very companies that have helped them get where they are. And on a side note, do they think that more brands will want to hire them because of this behavior? Do you think that more brands will even approach them in the future? Not likely.

I believe that they days of the social media influencer – as we know them – are numbered. A time is quickly approaching when brands will realize that there are other – more effective – ways to reach their audience and that in fact social media influencers are gatekeepers with no gates at all. They will be obsolete. And the playing field will be level.

Posted in: brands, Featured, lessons learned, rants10 comments

March10

Get Real With Spike: Episode 2 (w/ SocialFresh)

By: Spike Jones

We’re serving up the second offering of the new “Get Real With Spike” series with the good folks at SocialFresh.

This month? Klout, influence, passion and Muppets.

Get Real with Spike Jones – Episode 2: Klout, Influence and Passion from Social Fresh on Vimeo.

Posted in: lessons learned, marketing, rants, word of mouth0 comments

April23

The only thing that beats passion…

By: Spike Jones

…is deeper passion.

So I say quit it with the influence thing. It’s a debate that’s been raging on for years now. And you know on which side of the line I stand – I’ll take passion over influence any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Because passion is one of the things that fuels word of mouth. (The other is experience.) Influence is not sustainable. Influence is not long-lasting. Probably because the influencers that marketers are going after these days are having to make it their job to be influential. And people retire from jobs. But they don’t retire from experiences. And they don’t retire from being passionate about something. Passion has sticking power. You don’t have to work at it or maintain it like you do with being influential.

The only thing that can trump a passionate fan of your brand is someone who is MORE passionate. Not more influencial or who has more followers on Twitter. Remember, influence can be fabricated. But passion can’t. Social media influence can be built by almost anyone if they learn how to use the tools and dedicate time to growing and feeding their followers. But there are no tools to create passion. There are no tricks of the trade. There are no magic bullets. You either are passionate about something, or you’re not.

The other thing about passion is that it can’t be measured the same way “influence” can. As David Wilcox sings, “You can’t keep it in a camera. It’s not a trophy on a shelf. It’s not a tale to tell the children. Not a way to prove yourself. It’s much bigger than we are.”

So remember to look for the passionate ones. They might not be the loudest or the most opinionated or even the savviest. But rooted deep down within them is something special – a love for your brand and how it fits into their lives. And that is the acorn you need to grow that oak.

Posted in: lessons learned, marketing, word of mouth5 comments

March25

Who are you influencing?

By: Spike Jones

The latest thing that most social media types are complaining about is an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled, “The Social Media Bubble,” where Umair Haque (Director of the Havas Media Lab) launches into his theory of “thin” relationships via social media channels like Twitter. “Call it relationship inflation. Nominally, you have a lot more relationships — but in reality, few, if any, are actually valuable.”

As you might imagine, just about everyone who has tens of thousands of followers on Twitter and makes their living preaching about the importance of social media is disagreeing. And I’m not going to go there.

Instead, it got me thinking about those people that DO have thousands and thousands of followers. Many out there would consider those people “influencers” because of the followers they have amassed over time. And here’s my question: WHO are they influencing? We all know it’s quality over quantity these days, but what if you’re influencing the WRONG people?

The social media preachers on Twitter have large followings of, well, social media preachers. And really what’s the point of influencing them? They all are trying to get business. They are all service providers. And they all spend their time telling each other how great they are. When brands approach them to drive a car across the country for them or give them a new camera to use, they are just broadcasting those messages to a bunch of other marketers. And that really doesn’t make sense to me.

So I believe a key question needs to be inserted into your digital strategy: Sure you want to attract those who have “influence” (even though I’d argue for the “passion” model over influence). But we need to make sure they are influencing the right kind of people for our communications and conversations to be effective. Just because someone has a huge following doesn’t mean they are going to be effective.

Maybe we need to take a closer look at what influence really means in this brave new world.

Posted in: lessons learned, marketing, word of mouth2 comments

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