For the past year and half, we’ve hardly had a discussion with clients and prospects without questions about social media being asked. This trend is for good reasons. Social media technology, and online media in general, is changing every aspect of human communications, and thus commerce. But I think the bigger question for marketers is not how we use social media, but why we use social media. From our perspective, the answer lies in the term Influence Marketing.

By now most people understand that the world of marketing is changing and that the role of marketers is more about assisting people (whether B2B or B2C) with their buying decisions. Consumers are in charge of these relationships, and traditional broadcast advertising does not have the impact (influence) it once did.

With more and more information at their fingertips instantaneously, consumers rely less on advertisers for advice and more on other consumers. It is now the job of marketers to not only provide all needed product or service information in the channel desired by each consumer, but it is also about being reputable, responsive, available and to allow discussion to occur in the open. This establishes a good reputation, helps create fans in the crowd of consumers that will recommend you and thus influence the buying decision. That is influence marketing.

We spend considerable time helping clients create social media strategies and use emerging technology. The objective, however, is to create influence in measureable ways. We’ve used many social tools and platforms for several years. And we have helped pioneer the effort of integrating these platforms as bidirectional channels for our cross-media campaigns. But don’t just take my word for it. Here are several books on influence and influence marketing that I would recommend.

So what is influence marketing and how do I get some?

In “Influence Marketing: Who Really Influences Your Customers?” Duncan Brown and Rick Hayes help define the need to influence the influencers. The fact is, decision makers do not operate in a vacuum. Perhaps as much if not more effort should be on targeting individuals who are thought leaders in target ecosystems. They attempt to help you understand the dynamics of influence in your markets and not so much on how to exert the necessary influence. But understandind why influence is created is a necessary first step.

How do I earn the trust of influencers in the crowd?

The book “Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust” opens with the story of Joe Pistone, aka Donnie Brasco. Authors Chris Brogan and Julien Smith describe how Pistone spent years infiltrating the mob by establishing a reputation and earning trust. The level of influence his was able to exert on the organization eventual helped the FBI put over 100 mobsters in jail with him as its star witness. But they ask the question, would the Donnie Brasco’s cover be possible with the access to information the web provides everyone today? Their book provides insights on how you can become a trust agent in today’s connected online world. They observe that if we are unable to hide anything, don't try. Instead, leverage the web's connectedness and tell your story in ways to gain trust. Influence will follow. 

I want to be an influencer. How do I get an expected outcome?

The authors discuss the process of exerting influence in the book “Influencer: The Power to Change Anything.” This series of examples is not about marketing, it is about human interaction and how to make change. Changing minds is at the root of influence marketing. Enlisting social support and influencing opinion leaders is a technique as important to those want to save lives as it is to those wanting to sell products. Telling stores that are easy to remember and creating catch phrases that stick are means for both. That is why I think this book is an excellent resource if you want to use social media effectively.                                                                                                                             

Why do some ides, phrases and stories catch on?

Take a look at the popular book “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” by Chip and Dan Heath for a quick read on their experience in learning about the process of effective story telling. They use many case studies, especially those of popular urban legends, to demonstrate how to present ideas that are going to stick and get passed on. We tend to call that viral marketing. And it shows how not only good communication processes (and technology) is important, but also creativity and craftsmanship of the message, There citation of “Knowing what your listeners care about, so you can tailor your communication to them” is exactly what personalized one-to-one means to Trekk. But in the end, I love this book for telling me who ruined Halloween for all of us!

For a scientific view of stickiness…

Max Brockman has assembled a very interesting collection of essays from up-and-coming thought leaders in a variety of scientific areas. His book is called “What's Next: Dispatches on the Future of Science.” One essay that caught my eye is the one by Matthew Lieberman called “What Makes Ideas Sticky?” It is not only an interesting discussion on how the human brain gets affected (or infected) by memes but also theories about this very subject that are sticky and difficult to dislodge from the scientific community. He suggests that the language of some big ideas tend to structurally and functionally match the human brains symbolic processing capability, thus they are difficult not to believe. Cartesian dualism anyone?

So those are my book recommendations. These authors have something significant to say. Clearly, social tools are booming, but technology is only one part of the story. This is why Trekk is built around the trifecta of technology, creative and strategy. Please tell us what do you think about Influence Marketing and Social Media?

Posted by JA Stewart at 09/03/2009 04:18:24 PM |