As you browse through any of the internet marketing blogs, or even the more conservative business journals, you will see the term “Influencer” being used. Many times the word “Social” will precede it indicating the person, place or thing resides mostly in the Social Spaces thus is an influence on how people online think, say or feel.
Formally an Influencer is:
“Someone who Influences others”
Informally, online influencers are usually:
Hired guns…people, places or things who are paid to influence their following to buy something.
Influence marketing is being showcased in nearly every social media experts slideshow presentations as the ‘Best Practice’ EVERY business needs to adopt into their digital marketing strategies.
Get Use To It!
I can’t disagree with the need for having a mouthpiece or a person who represents the brand but will argue the need for banking on an “Influencer” to hold the consumer’s attention for more than one or two blog posts or video reports. Playing the number game online has never resulted in the ROI businesses require..so why do business marketers keep playing the number game?
Consumers are becoming very savvy to what they see online as being produced by a social influencer and know that someone who has hundreds of thousands of followers in their social space is more than likely hired by the businesses who cannot get away from the need to feel their message has to be forced upon a large number of users profiles for consumers with a lot of money to buy their product or service. I mention the phrase ‘user profiles’ because in the more popular social spaces, lead by Facebook, a large percentage of the user profiles are created by the mystery people, places and things…or, in some cases, created by the ‘Influencer’.
Yes, there is a dark side to Influencer Marketing.
Become the Influencer
The best method of using influencer marketing effectively is for the business marketer to become an influencer. It is not hard to do. For a business to become influential it needs to understand the change Marketing has made and the change Social Media has made to meet the changing online-savvy consumers.
A business can become more influential in the social space by letting go of the notion that Social Media is a fad…can not produce a ‘real’ ROI, or only for B2C businesses. Influence Marketing done correctly will meet the consumer’s needs which are lead by their quest to find trustworthy businesses to do business with.
That is what it is going to take to become influential enough to attract sales lead. Create your on influence in the social space and consumers will come.
Let me know how I can help.
