Social media marketing has quickly dominated the conversation in the marketing world as it has become more and more entwined with all elements of traditional marketing. Social media marketing on the other hand is somewhat a misnomer in the fact that the term itself doesn’t truly qualify much of anything. A more appropriate term would be influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is less about the social assets (Facebook, Twitter etc..) and more about the traditional method that we as marketers understand. Most business owners who have jumped into the social media space have been disappointed with the outcome initially. The reason for this disappointment stems mostly from the lack of any clear process flow and the frustration that comes with not really understanding the proper metrics that determine progress and ultimately success. Influencer marketing however is something that we all can understand it has to do with the simple idea that people have influence over those around them, some more than others. To social media market you throw a message out to the vast numbers of people that use social assets in hopes of connecting. To influence market you find influencers around key terms that relate to your business and you target those individuals. The stats are pretty clear and compelling we trust our peers more then we trust brands and more importantly our peers effect our decisions more than any other external source. The idea that a business can become the peer that one follows and becomes engaged with and thus gives their business to I believe is proving out false. A brand is not a friend no matter how compelling the content. However a brand can leverage social media to reach out to influencers by rewarding them with inside knowledge, good content and more influence. This in turn will affect the people they influence. This is the most effective way we’ve found to do “Social Media Marketing,” and we find the most impact out of selective targeting. Having a path is a large part of what makes marketing successful. The path as we see it is targeting influencers and marketing directly to them, and letting the idea of marketing to anyone and everyone through social media go.