I've got all my flags unfurled
…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.
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.
A post I wrote while working at Brains on Fire:
A post I wrote while working at Brains on Fire:
