Marketers, Social Media Makes YOU An Influencer, Too.

If there's one thing in social media that the marketing community analyzes like crazy--and marketers target like heat-seeking missiles--it's online influencers. In building relationships and respect with online influencers, marketers work to gain entry to the communities of prospective customers within which these individuals hold influence so as to increase brand awareness and brand sales. So it's a strategy with much merit.

But as I often tell my clients, it's FAR from the whole story of “social media influence.” While the trusted, popular people that have amassed large followings are no doubt important, they are not the only influencers wrought through social media participation. Nor do they wield the only type of influence that aids marketers in their efforts, and impacts their company’s success.

You see, marketing executives have to serve and persuade several target audiences, not the least of which are their company’s management teams. When rallying for change in their companies, or advocating management's support behind a new marketing program, media investment, product improvement or product solution, marketers need to build a strong business case—and in order for that case to be strong, it needs to be steeped in solid rationale.

That rationale can be in the form of growth forecasts, statistics on emerging trends, benchmarking ROI against past initiatives or success metrics from programs launched by competitive entities. And among these various types of data, the strongest rationale we can submit, and build our cases upon, are customer-centric insights that come straight from the mouths of our markets.

Whether or not you subscribe to the maxim “The customer is always right!” one thing is sure: Without customers you have no business model. So if you want to influence positive, profitable changes within your own organization then data reflecting changes in customer behavior, attitudes, needs, wants, preferences and buying patterns are among the strongest points of support you can provide. And that’s why the findings from this recent survey by The Creative Group are so revealing:

"More than six in 10 (61%) US marketing and advertising executives believe that marketing teams within organizations have greater influence on business decisions now than they did three years ago, in part because of their leading-edge use of social media.”

The survey creators go on to further illuminate...

"Companies increasingly recognize the value that marketing and creative teams can provide in terms of finding innovative solutions to business problems," said Megan Slabinski, executive director of The Creative Group. 'In the current economy, especially, many businesses must reinvent themselves, and marketers can play an instrumental role in helping their firms identify and fill emerging needs.'"
 
Slabinski added that social media programs, which are often overseen by marketing and communications professionals, may increase the pull these staff members have in an organization. 'Many marketers are interacting directly with customers and clients through Twitter, Facebook and other social media, which gives them immediate, firsthand knowledge of how the firm's products and services are perceived and can be improved upon.'"

Here's the takeaway: While marketers should externally target online influencers to improve ROI for their brands, the feedback that they glean through their own social media interactions is equally important to Brand ROI because it can be leveraged internally to improve brands to make them more attractive to buyers, or to create new solutions that will be profitable among buyers.

Said another way, by interacting with their audiences through social media tools, platforms and programs, marketers can gain more influence among management teams and other departments inside their companies (which are sort of like their own "communities").

The fact is, when you’re active in The Social Web you’re on the front lines. You gain a direct line to your market due to actively monitoring, discussing and learning about your market’s interests, actions, preferences and needs. That front line position should not only be used to market your company to prospective customers, but to also use the information and feedback that those prospective customers share with you to influence needed changes within your own company.

Trust me, it’s really hard for management to argue with “But the data reveals that a significant percentage of our target audience is asking/saying/demanding that we [fill in here] and they're saying it in public ... on a world-wide stage.”

So the whole story on "social media influence" is that marketers shouldn't only focus on targeting online influencers as a way to use these media to gain market share, but to also focus on the vital information that their markets share with them through their use of these media--and how that, in turn, makes them influencers, too.

Social Media Tips • Social Media *Extras* • Social Media Training • Contact CK

Comments

[Akash Sharma]

Great post thanks for sharing,you are right how influence matters today in the social world but has to be positive one and that's built with some loyal customer service.