Influencers, key players in companies’ e-reputation

To better control their Google pages, companies increasingly need to identify influencers in their industry. With the rise of the internet and social media, influencers can indeed make or break brands. That’s why it’s worth identifying influencers and turning them into brand ambassadors.

Who are influencers?

“Influencers” are active internet users, sometimes “anonymous,” who have built genuine communities around specific topics (sports, health, tourism, fashion, etc.) to become experts in them. They quickly gained a larger-than-average audience. And through their positions (recommendations, reviews, etc.) on a brand, its services and its products, they have become highly influential among other internet users, particularly in their purchasing decisions.

According to a Technorati report, 86% of influencers are bloggers. They’re called “e-influentials.” They have the advantage of being active on several social media platforms, which multiplies their audience tenfold. In addition to being bloggers, they can also be tweeters or ultra-specialized digital journalists. Their power of influence is sometimes greater than that of mass media. For Olivier Cimelière (Heuristik Communication agency), “the influencer is the buzzword ( editor’s note: a trendy word that means both everything and nothing ) since the rise of social networks.” Above all, they’re a connected personality:

• 79% of them are able to shift opinions and spark reactions on a specific topic
• 73% have audience potential within a community or on a topic
• 62% produce content and take part in conversations on a given topic.

This hierarchical pyramid by Karim B. Stambouli and Eric Briones(2) identifies the typology of influencers:

• prescribers find the ideas and the new trends
• classic opinion leaders (celebrities, journalists, political representatives, etc.) are the targets of public relations
• e-influentials are the bloggers
• e-arrivistes spread the buzz if they find a personal interest in it
• late adopters follow the e-influentials

This infographic identifies 14 types of influencers(3).

To identify influencers, companies also have a choice of many tools or techniques(4) such as: Twitter, traackr, Alexa, technorati, ebuzzing, Klout… (non-exhaustive list).

What powers do influencers have?

“An influencer is the mutual friend connecting your brand with your target consumers,” American Danny Brown(5), an innovative thinker in influence marketing, points out right away. That’s the positive definition of the influencer. But the influencer can also become the brand’s enemy. Because of their audience’s loyalty, an influencer has the ability to generate traffic to your site, increase your visibility on social media, and even sell your product through their recommendation or review. But they also have the ability to harm the brand through reviews and recommendations that run counter to the brand’s interests. And all of this fully resonates on the company’s first Google page.

What purpose do influencers serve for companies?

Companies are increasingly concerned about the power of influencers. For a little over two years, they have been implementing strategies to, according to a study by Augure(1):

• identify the influencers relevant to their brands and their campaigns (61%)
• successfully capture the attention and spark the interest of influencers through their interactions (56%)
• accurately measure and assess the return on investment (ROI) of their influence marketing activities (44%).

These strategies justify the power that influencers have gained over companies’ Google pages.

74% of companies(1) consider it essential to include influencers in their communication strategy. Most brands therefore call on influencers for:

• product launches (in 76% of cases)
• content distribution (in 57% of cases)
• organizing events (in 50% of cases)

Even though only 22% of companies place the influencer at the heart of their communication setup, 46% admit to sending them press releases. The whole challenge for the company is to build a climate of trust with the identified influencer. The brand must recognize the influential user’s status, and the exchanges must be win-win. Some companies go so far as to set up a brand ambassador program that encourages participation while championing rewards. To be well received, the brand’s approach must be transparent. The ultimate goal, in this relationship of trust, is to turn the influencer into a partner, or even a brand ambassador. Here’s yet more proof that, since the start of the 21st century, we’ve been witnessing a real rise to power of influencers!

Sources:

(1) Augure influencers is the first influencer search engine. Access to the Augure study: Etude-Augure-Marketing-Influence-20141.pdf and Guide-strategie-Influencers.pdf

(2) What future for online buzz

(3) The Future of Marketing and The 14 Types Of Influencers

(4) 3 techniques to find influencer bloggers in your field and 5 tools to identify influencers on social media

(5) Danny Brown’s blog: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/guideo-influencer-targeting/