Social Influencers: Digital Marketing's Most Overlooked and Misused Resource

SOCIAL INFLUENCERS DIGITAL MARKETING'S MOST OVERLOOKED AND MISUSED RESOURCE TECHNORATI Buyers are listening to what their key influencers are saying-sellers need to wake up to the fact that money talks 2013 Digital Marketing Report ----------------------------------- Brands spend the least on the outlets consumers trust the most. much louder than likes. WHO DO CONSUMERS TRUST WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR PURCHASING DECISIONS? 54% RETAIL WEB SITES (56%) of consumers report a greater amount of influence coming from communities of smaller size. BRAND WEB SITES (34%) BLOGS (31%) 31% Outside of the actual point of purchase, blogs are the definitive third-party influence online for consumers. of Internet purchases are influenced by blogs. HOW DO DIGITAL MARKETERS SPEND? MYTH 60% of marketers expect to raise NOW 40% their digital budgets by 40% or more this year. BIGGER! WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETING IS FREE ONLY 10% 11% will be invested in efforts of that budget will go to social media spending. involving social media influencers and bloggers. DOING IT RIGHT TAKES $$$. SO WHO IS A SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER? The Word of Mouth Marketing Association defines a social media influencer as anyone with above-average influence in the marketplace. DEFINITION BLOGGERS TWEETERS FACEBOOK FORCES People who actually convince other people to read more People who share, reply, link, and generate simple content that draws retweets and People who share what matters to them, getting likes, comments, and serious attention all along the way. than 140 characters at a time. response. MEGA INFLUENCERS SETH GODIN CHRIS BROGAN @chrisbrogan If you're even interested in marketing, you've been influenced by him. But he doesn't even tweet. A lot of people use the word guru, but Chris Brogan lives it. He also practices what he preaches, truly engaging and responding to followers. GUY KAWASAKI @guykawasaki GARY VAYNERCHUCK @garyvee The Alltop king and author/ publisher/entrepreneur extraordinaire. He's a human link sharer. Author of The Thank You Economy and energy and enthusiasm personified. ANN HANDLEY @annhandley BRIAN SOLIS @briansolis If content is king, consider Ann Handley the queen of content marketing. Visionary, author, and head of the Altimeter group. An expert on engag- ing audiences. ROBERT SCOBLE @scobleizer 117 STRAUSS alizstrauss Born in Silicon Valley, it's no surprise that Scoble has major influence in the If you want to succeed in business, you have to succeed in relationships-Liz Strauss expertly incorporates both into a social media philosophy that works. tech world. SCOTT MONTY @scottmonty MARI SMITH @marismith Like facebook marketing? Than you love Mari Smith. She is the Head of social media at Ford. It takes a special type of influencer to put a social media engine into the great granddaddy of the auto industry. quintessential facebook marketing mind. HOW TO FIND SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS Search who is following you. Try Sprout Social, Radian6 or Objective Marketer (or any social media analytics tool) to mine your followers to find the Get to know your most Find the most influential passionate fans. Reach out to followers already in your tribe. them-personally. most influential advocates. The shocking reality: most marketers don't accurately track the success of their work (if any) with social media influencers. PLATFORM COMPARISION FACEBOOK INDIA 1.06 billion active users population of 1.17 billion FOURSQUARE EPCOT CENTER 10.4 million active users 10.8 million visitors per year TWITTER BRAZIL 200 million active users population of 200 million TUMBLR CONTACT LENSES 125 million active users worn by 125 million people WORDPRESS.COM BLOGS ITUNES 25 billion page views a month 25 billion songs sold all time f FACEBOOK (47%) However, well over half of the social media marketing budget Fewer than half of social media influencers follow brands on the major social media outlets. goes toward those outlets. OR TWITTER (38%) HERE'S THE BOTTOM LINE 74% 81% of consumers are influenced by their friends' posts on social media when making purchasing decisions. of consumers rely on social media to influence their purchasing decisions. Forging partnerships and fostering relationships with key influencers will have consumer's minds made up before they ever see your offer. Plant the seeds even with bloggers of small to moderate influence, and watch the ROI on social media investments skyrocket. BIG IDEA SOURCES http://technoratimedia.com/2013/02/technorati- medias-2013-digital-influence-report/ http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resour ce-how-many-people-use-the-top-social-media/ http://www.marketingpower.com/ResourceLibrar y/Documents/Content%20Partner%20Document s/WOMMA/Influencer_Handbook.pdf [PDF] http://www.clspectrum.com/articleviewer.aspx?ar ticleid=12733 http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/08/02/blogging- statistics-facts-and-figures-in-2012-infographic/ http://www.thesaleslion.com/comments-social- shares-content-marketing-success/ http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2013/02/06iTun http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2011/11/social- networks-influence-buying-decisions/ es-Store-Sets-- New-Record-with-25-Billion-Songs-Sold.html http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2012/ 05/07/are-- brands-wielding-more-influence-in-social-media- than-we-thought/ http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2271- facebook-product-- comments-influence-buying.html WWW.MBA-IN-MARKETING.COM created by oBizMedia %24