SXSW 2011 - Influencer #Throwdown: Defining Influence Once & For All

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Influencer Throwdown: Defining Influence Once & For All

Influencer #Throwdown

»@saulcolt

»@prblog

»@kristaneher

»@dbinkowski

Influencer #Throwdown

»Introductions

»Let’s Define Influence

»Panel Discussion

»Q&A

Influence is…

“being able to inspire action – with or without a large following.”

- Radian6

Influence is not…

»popularity

»achieved on a single site (like Twitter)

»just about the biggest numbers

»determined by a single site (like Klout)

»unrelated to sentiment

Kenneth Cole

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frugalbinx/5415033651

Kenneth Cole

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremiah_owyang/5456085972/

Fast Company

Influencer Tip

“Instead of counting the people we reach, focus on reaching the people who count.” -- Jessica

Types of Influencers

»Peer: Family, close friends• Yer Mom. Srsly! Or friends (pre-2004 definitions)

»Pro/Expert Influencer: Immersed in the topic w/ proven/demonstrated street cred• Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki

»Social/Ambient Influencers: Secondary peers in your broader circle of social contacts• The SXSW mob, customers

Measuring It

»QuantitativeShare of ConversationReachLevel of Engagement

»QualitativeBrand SentimentRelevanceConnections StrengthTrust

The customer drives the entire focus.

Influencer Throwdown

»Panel Discussion

All Influence Is The Same

Online Influence Matters

Measurement Tools Areas Simple as Using _______.

There Are Adequate ToolsTo Measure Influence

How Do You Find InfluencersFor Your Business?

Give Us a Case Study

ShawShaw

Flooring the InfluencersFlooring the Influencers

Flooring the Influencers

»Tigressa Softstyle – so soft and resilient, need to see and feel to believe “carpet matches curtains.”

»Paid media needed earned media support; WOM validates product attributes/claims.

»Blogs focused solely on flooring? None.

»Tigressa taken to DIY, Design blogs as part of a larger discussion.

Flooring the Influencers

»Influencers selected using a combination of tools, time and talent.• Five stage, 26 step process; bulk of which is human vs.

automagic.• Starts with audience insights/creative brief• Looks for

• Relevancy: on-topic, sentiment• Reach: socially active, level of following• Content: relevancy, frequency of posts• Engagement: number of comments, links

Celebrity Guest Speaker

Evening Affair

Voice of the Blogger

From Inspiration to RealitySee How It’s Made

Test Your Skills

Takin’ It to the Streets

Flooring the Influencers

Influencers Results»Influencers testified to Tigressa’s effectiveness

• Increased volume of conversation; multiple posts per blogger

• Increased positive sentiment• Search impact• Blog posts increased uniques and time on site• Built relationships with bloggers

Influencer Results»341.5 million impressions

• 329 million ad impressions• 12.5 million WOM impressions

»Sales goals reached for product launch• “Best product launch in history of company”

Flooring the Influencers

»Shout Out To• Ashley Walters, @ashley_walters

• Taylor Wiegert, @twiegert

The FutureA Five-Year Prediction, from 2005Facebook will have 600MM members – and a movie. The newly launched YouTube will get more searches than Yahoo.

»Foursquare: 2009

»iTunes App Store: 2008

»Twitter: 2006

»YouTube: 2005

»Facebook: 2004

»LinkedIn: 2003

»iTunes: 2001

The Future»Microtargeting,

more sensitive to the sales funnel

• Tools will improve to help understand subtlties

For illustrative purposes only©Empower MediaMarketing 2011

Brand Participant Map℠Strong awareness, weak consideration/purchase.

Activate advocates via social media; enable them to tell their “switching” stories and share promo/coupon incentives

Awareness, loyalty & advocacy weak relative to competitors

Increase mix of social media, PR and WOMM to raise share of voice in discussion

For illustrative purposes only©Empower MediaMarketing 2011

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