Influence is a hot topic in the industry today, but many marketers at brands and agencies are still struggling with how to define "influence" and target the right "influencers". To date web services like Klout and Kred have focused on aggregatting Twitter and Facebook data, assuming that people are influential in a certain topic or category based on how frequently they mention it. These systems also score people as highly influential based on the number of followers, fans, mentions, and retweets they receive. But is someone really influential if they have a large number of fans or followers on Facebook and Twitter? As time goes on marketers are finding out their content is falling on blind eyes, with the average Facebook post only reaching 12% of fans.
At Crowdtap we've found that the key to a succesful influencer marketing strategy is to focus on identifying and activating consumers who are passionate about your brand, and are willing to share their experiences with their tight-knit groups of friends, family, and co-workers. When making a purchasing decision, who do we turn to first? It's not someone with a large following on Twitter, but typically the geeky friend who knows everything about digital cameras, or your foodie cousin who can suggest the best restaurants.
To learn more about peer influence and five keys to influencer marketing check out the infographic below, and read Crowdtap's new report The Power of Peer Influence.