What's in an Influencer?
Michael Spencer
A.I. Writer, researcher and curator - full-time Newsletter publication manager.
I have been thinking a lot of late about the difference between brand advocates and social media influencers. Especially here on LinkedIn pulse, we have influencers who get automatically featured supposedly adding value to pulse channels. They even come ahead of channels and legit publishers on pulse's discover more.
When we talk about Influencers, we think of people with a huge viral following. But what really makes up an influencer on social media?
Has an
- Audience: a dedicated and targeted following. The key word is 'targeted', if it's 30k random twitter followers, who cares right?
Has high level
- Advocacy: A depth of conviction on a topic, brand or cause that is contagious to peers, followers and whose social authority has value.
Has credible
- Online reputation: An individual with a good search ranking who is highly influential in their field, has high social authority and displays a knack for putting out quality content
Premise
Key individuals can have value and influence over a particular target market. Social media influencers, in the best case scenario, can increase sales through brand advocacy. Benefits of a positive association with an influencer may be:
- Increased brand awareness
- Increased reach
- More followers on your brand social channels
- Creation of more brand advocates
- Increased online reputation
- Increased page rank
- Increased scommerce or ecommerce sales
- Higher email Newsletter signups
- Increased conversions and sales of your services and products
Types of Influencers
Blogger
Niche Pundit (freelance consultant)
Celebrity
Content champion
Rising artist
Politician
Public personality
Highly satisfied customer
Video blogger
Podcaster
Social Media addict
Emerging social channel Powerhouse
Influencer Prospection Considerations
- Content affinity: The similarity of the content of the influencer to your business and what your firm does.
- Targeted followers: The approximate reach of the influencer's follower base that could add value to your business.
- Value of potential conversions: The value of the audience and the likely number of conversions or sales boost potential.
Defining factors
- Size of audience
- Demographics and types of segments in audience
- How likely are they to recommend the brand
- What you can do for them?
- Types of incentives needed (free products, trials, exposure, help, $)
- Are they likely to drive action and CTAs or just brand awareness?
- Are the influencers sustainable brand advocates?
- How to develop rapport with them
- How to convert satisfied customers to brand advocates?
Tools
Test your influencers on Klout
Here is how my twitter faired, my Klout score was 45.
#BeCreative is part of this month's publishing series where professionals explain how to harness creativity in times turmoil and growth.
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Michael Spencer is a prolific copywriter, blogger and digital marketing enthusiast, to read more of his articles click on the following footer:
Compliance Specialist and IT, Computer, Internet Enthusiast
9 年Do people really strive to be an "Influencer" and what does that Really mean?
Director of Marketing @ Simform | Building marketing strategy for B2B tech companies
9 年Nice post!! Thanks for explaining 'Influencer' concept in a factual way.
HR Technology | HCM | Employee Experience Tech | People Analytics | Workforce Analytics | Future of HR | Future of Work
9 年Very insightful post...
Senior Underwriter at State Compensation Insurance Fund
9 年Good read Michael Spencer. I think that an "Influencer" also must be very active in whatever fields they wish to lead. I would have 0 comments on my first article if I did not reach out to you (and I plan to seek more readers as I expand my usage of LinkedIn!). You have to take the first step if you want to build an audience that respects your work and wants to see more.