I was watching a slick film on influencers and started thinking about how I make my buying decisions (watch the film at end of post). There is a lot of hype lately about “influencers” in social media as if it is a new and exciting concept. Monitoring platforms like Radian6 , Sysomos, Alterian, and Synthesio all tout the importance of detecting who is talking about your brand and how influential they are. Hootsuite includes Klout scores on their profiles, and Twitter makes recommendations on whom to follow based on a reputation score that they calculate on all users (they aren’t disclosing these scores yet, but if they do it might render Klout obsolete?). The value of influencers is nothing new, however. They have always been important, just ask Heather Locklear and Faberge from the 80’s
“Social” influence has always been everywhere, not only online (at least since high school). Elihu Katz and Paul Lazarsfeld wrote a book outlining the importance of influencers called “Personal Influence” in 1955. I have always developed and adjusted my tastes and opinions by having an open mind with others, especially those that I trust and admire.
When I speak with clients or friends about the importance of influencers online, they often think that it is complicated and difficult to develop a strategy targeting them. I would agree, because the strategy should be to listen and engage with them for mutual benefit, not to “target” them. An example I like to relate in my offline life is a friendship with Steve Moyer, who is currently a celebrity. Though he was a friend before the fame, I have noticed that for some reason I am more generous and open with people I meet through him. We recently went to see Pavement and Sonic Youth at the Hollywood Bowl with a few of his friends that I didn’t know and, though I don’t need validation of my tastes, I was very happy that we shared common interests. When I attended his wedding to Anna Paquin, I was a sponge for the opinions of others even though I knew nothing about them personally.
Though this realization makes me feel a bit superficial, I gained a great deal from my openness at the wedding. My wife and I were seated at a table with Anna’s sister Katya and her partner Russel Norman, who is a Co-Leader of the Green Party in New Zealand. He and I got into a conversation about the local and sustainable food movement here in Los Angeles, how his country views Americans, and farming in New Zealand. I was suffering from a bit of sensory overload so I hardly remember the specifics of our discussion. What I do remember though, is that he liked the book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan and I hadn’t read it. I was already interested in the topic, but had not planned on reading the book. I really liked the film Food, Inc., I shop at the local Farmers’ Market, and I keep threatening to visit local farms and buy meat and produce directly from them; I felt that was plenty of involvement. Because of my connection with these influencers, though, I immediately purchased the book and loved it. Now it comes up in my conversations with others pretty regularly. I’m sure some of them have bought the book as a result.
The key for businesses is to get people to try new things, or something they wouldn’t have thought of. For restaurants this can translate into healthy increases in revenue through new customers and regulars going more often. Millions of people share their thoughts and opinions online everyday. Research shows 80% of Internet users trust this information over any other media source. Once influencers are identified, the only difficult part for businesses is to really listen and make the commitment to the relationship. After that it’s pretty simple, really. I was influenced. And like Heather I told two friends and so on and so on. Enjoy the film.
INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.
