I follow Keller's point of view that you can't be influential in everything. Everyone influences someone on a certain topic. To be truly influential (and therefore interesting for brands), it is of course more interesting that such a person also has a large reach. 10% of people are influencers in multiple categories due to their personality, 20% of people are a category expert. If these people also have a large network, they can be interesting for companies. Of course, these people are not purely influential online, they are also seen as influential in their offline environment. Online and offline are the same world.
Keller discusses the Obama campaign. This campaign is seen as the campaign in which social media really made a difference. After analysis, the impact of social media turned out to be the icing on the cake. The real work took place offline. The campaign leaders sought out local influential people in almost every city and neighborhood. These people organized local meetings in their own homes and told their neighbors about the Obama story. In total, more than 4 million people supported Obama's campaign in this way. colombia phone number list At the moment that this movement became successful, it was also magnified via social media. After that, it indeed continued at a rapid pace. As is often the case, social media is the result of an offline movement.
There are different ways to target influencers. Of course, it can be done directly, where you address people directly and ask questions. In fact, that is applying the top-down media approach to people with a high Klout score or with many followers on Twitter. However, you can also reach influencers by purchasing media in a different way, says Ed Keller. The media behavior of influencers is different: influencers read more media, watch different TV programs. Media plans are now rarely tailored to reaching these people.
Customers first, influencers second
You feel, also based on the tweets during this day, that there is a lot of disagreement about this topic. Many people ask themselves questions when setting up a marketing strategy on influencers. Isn't it better to approach every customer in the same way?
My conclusion: companies focus best on their customers first. A customer who has a great experience still provides the most credible recommendation. Research that we have done at InSites Consulting also proves that the biggest online conversation starters are offline brand experiences. Good products and good service automatically ensure positive word-of-mouth. If that core is good and a company is genuinely interested in all its customers, I think there is nothing wrong with targeting influencers. Only when opportunistically using online influencers for campaigns, for example, do I have questions.