Creating A Healthy Influencer Marketing Program

Creating A Healthy Influencer Marketing Program A.Emre Erşahin 2007

The Brief

Identify and recruit “brand ambassadors”

Word-of-mouth objectives

Influencers who have influence

Circle of trust

Acquire, satisfy & retain “brand ambassadors”

Penetration & seeding power

Extract actionable insight from “brand ambassadors”

Constant feedback mechanism & measurement

Periodic meetings

Target Audience

12-24 age group

High schools

Colleges & universities

Global web culture

Networked & hyperlinked

Short attention span

High consumption speed

Music, Sports, Cinema, Dating

Distinctive profiles

Childish Teenies

Techno Savvies

Sociable Technophobes

Trend Seekers

Underlying Concepts

Social Networks

Social Capital

Sociometry

Influencer Marketing

A social network is a social structure made of nodes that are tied by one or more specific types of relations

In its simplest form, a social network is a map of all of the relevant ties between the nodes being studied.

The network can also be used to determine the social capital of individual actors.

Underlying Concepts

Social Networks

Social Capital

Sociometry

Social capital is created by a person's location in a structure of relationships.

The core idea of social capital theory is that social networks have value.

It explains how some people gain more success in a particular setting through their superior connections to other people.

“ The spirit of community”

Underlying Concepts

Social Networks

Social Capital

Sociometry

Underlying Concepts

Sociometry produces a view, where the attributes of individuals are less important than their relationships and ties with other actors within the network.

Underlying Concepts

Social Networks

Social Capital

Sociometry

Underlying Concepts

Influencer marketing is a form of marketing in which focus is placed on specific key individual types rather than the target market as a whole.

It identifies the individuals that have influence over potential buyers , and orientates marketing activities around these influencers.

Underlying Concepts

Social Networks

Social Capital

Sociometry

Underlying Concepts

Influencers by definition have high social capital

Influencer marketing is investment management for social capital.

It requires identification of individuals in the network with high social capital to invest and to better influence the whole network.

Underlying Concepts

Social Networks

Social Capital

Sociometry

Influencer Marketing Sociometry Social Capital

Program Itself Emre Erşahin 2007

Influencer Program Outlook

Measure & classify influencers according to their social capital

Identify & recruit potential brand advocates with high social capital

Create a multilogue sharing platform for influencers

Cre ate & nourish desired behavior with awarding

Seed products, services, opinion s & trends

Create motivation for discussion, sharing & increasing usage

Gain and measure performance indicators & v aluable insight from influencer s

Measure Execute Create Discover

Execution Phases Measure Execute Create Discover Discover target audience and identify & recruit influencers Create influencer concepts & program Program implementation online & offline Measurement of the results and evaluation

How To Discover Social Capital? Social Circles Online Survey References Sociometry Discover Social Capital

How To Discover Social Capital? Social Circles Online Survey References Sociometry

An a lgorithm to identify and classify influentials in the brand’s network

Connectedness

Level of involvement

Geographic coverage

Online presence

Social network participation

Discover Social Capital

Online social capital survey

Attitudes, interests , opinions and activities

Digital trace : B logs, social network memberships, twitter, groups, forum s…

Check status, number of peers, rankings, ratings , etc…

Classify & segment target audience

What role do you usually play in deciding what to do with your friends?

I prefer to hangout by myself, so I can do what I want

I usually go along with what my friends decide to do

I voice my opinion and we make a decision together

I share my plan and often convince my friends to go along

I plan activities and my friends come along

Ask the participants about their friends!

Let them invite and comment on their friends

Ask the coolest, the most social, most popular person they know and move up the ladder.

Sociometry is a quantitative method for measuring social relationships

"Sociometric explorations reveal the hidden structures that give a group its form: the alliances, the subgroups, the ideological agreements, the ‘stars’ of the show“

The end result is the sociomaps explaining the connectivity

End Result – Meet the Influencers

Connectors

S ocial glue of networ ks

High connectedness, with h ighest number of nodes

Variety of nodes, connected to d ifferent kinds of people

Mavens

O pinion leaders, information brokers, curious minds, expert s

They tip connectors with valuable information. They search, read, write, complain, create, and accumulate information

Salesmen

T he persuaders ,t hey talk more

H igher outgoing traffic and more nodes than average

Connector Childish Teenies Connector Techno Savvies Maven Trend Seekers

End Result – Meet the Influencers

Select and introduce the chosen influencers to your company for approval at the end of the 1st phase

500 hand-picked dedicated influencers

Interviewed preferably face-to-face

Classified & clustered

Signed the terms&conditions

Influencers receive program kit upon joining

ID granting access to events, company, meetings

Program manual

Limited series apparel

1st Phase Complete! Measure Execute Create Create influencer concepts & program Program implementation online & offline Measurement of the results and evaluation Discover

How to Create & Motivate Social Capital? Knowledge Gaps Anticipated Reciprocity Increased Recognition Sense of efficacy Create Social Capital

Social capital lives on knowledge & opinion gaps between individuals.

Any platform where social capitalists can feed on knowledge gaps attracts social capital

Your brand should feed the Influencers with semi-classified info and opportunity to try new products/services

A person is motivated to contribute valuable information to the group in the expectation that s/he will receive useful help and information in return

Discussion starts on brand’s current performance and ideas about what it should do next...

All contributors are allowed to create profiles and as their contributions are measured by the community, their reputation increases.

For example, points, rating, ranking systems etc.

These points gain access to invite-only events & resources, while contributors receive expected points & unexpected gifts

Individuals may contribute valuable information because the act results in a sense of efficacy, that is, a sense that they have had some effect on the outcome

Influencers try, test, give feedback & provide new ideas on products/services, etc via moderated or non-moderated discussions

Contributions must be awarded

Program Concept - “Backstage”

“ Backstage Pass” by definition creates...

Knowledge Gaps

Sense of efficacy

Increased Recognition

Backstage is also an invitation-only website

The subscribers are only invited after social capital qualification (1st phase)

It is the sharing and meeting point of Influencers of your brand

Backstage is an online platform where selected influencers share & discuss habits, tastes, choices, consumption with other influencers

Influencers can do a lot in the “Backstage”

Write, Comment, Rate, List

Share, Recommend, Invite

Try, test, review

Earn points in exchange

Redeem points by select from privileged offers

Harry Potter 6 premier! Watch before everyone. Join

Listen to Kasabian latest album in London. Go

Join Raikonnen press conference before the race! Join

Talk to the marketing team for your ideas. Talk

Hello Emre! Haven’t seen you for a while... Last visit: 3 weeks ago 304 points. 23 backstage friends Edit profile Your Exclusive Video Messages

Help us decide which product to launch first?

Try the new website for a week!

Review the latest & rate previous posts

Invite friends over...

We want you to join our meeting!

You won a F1 ticket, collect more for VIP pass.

Re: Backstage Meeting on Saturday

Your Messages Your opinion needed! Collect points with your opinion!

Cem has been writing on rates. Read it.

Murat visited the company for a meeting. Ask him.

Ebru tried the latest product before anyone. Read it.

Catch Up with friends...

Active friends : Murat, Cem, Ömer, Emre, See all .

Friends who need wake up call : Ebru, Selim. Send SMS

Friends invited : Kerim, Ali, Can. Resend invitation

Your Friends Read Watch Rate Write Try Invite Exclusive offers for you. Redeem Points!

Listen to unreleased albums

Choose the name of the upcoming service

Help design the university events

Be the first to try new products

2nd Phase Complete! Measure Execute Program implementation online & offline Measurement of the results and evaluation Discover Create

How to Satisfy Social Capital? Context Rewarding Redemption Privilege Satisfy Social Capital

The context is important in social capital .

Close knit groups have the power to magnify the epidemic .

Facilitating and nourishing “Circle of trust” is key

Influencers from a city

Those who tried one product

Blogger influencers

Critic influencers

Sense of efficacy is not enough

Influencers must get instant awards by filling up questionnaires, posting, commenting, sharing, and by inviting friends to the invitation-only backstage

Existing brnad loyalty schemes can be integrated

Attendance is also rewarded

Offline & Online

Expected & Unexpected rewards

Instant awards aren’t enough

Music, sports events tickets

Last minute free tickets by surprise

Joining a company marketing meeting

“ Once in a life-time” experiences during sponsored events, etc.

Invitations to movie premiers

Access to restricted areas

Hand-shake with celebrities

Meet with company C-Level

Fast-lane to events

Mini concierge

New service trials

Semi-classified info

etc.

3rd Phase Complete! Measure Measurement of the results and evaluation Discover Create Execute

How to Measure Social Capital? Reach Decisions Human Capital Measure Social Capital Quality

How to Measure Social Capital? Quality Reach Decisions Human Capital Measure Social Capital

Measure brand usage & attitude

Are influencers still influencing?

Did we invest in the right social capital?

Are there better social capital investment opportunities?

Check portfolio strategy in terms of composition

How to Measure Social Capital? Reach Decisions Human Capital Measure Social Capital

What is the impact of our influencers?

How many people are we influencing?

Can we utilize and direct our influencer network better?

Geographically

Campus based

Cluster based

How many more influencers do we need?

Quality

Measure to justify visionary opinions by asking them

Quantitative ideas about services, products, etc.

Growing numbers of backstage influencers will enable test marketing

Panel measurement allows for discussion around certain topics and provides qualitative actionable insight

Quality

Convert Social Capital to Human Capital

Backstage is also a trojan recruitment mechanism

There is a constant job interview going on

Dedicated Influencers may be your employees should they prove to “make the most of influence”

Quality

4th Phase Complete! Discover Create Execute Measure

Thank You!

Just wanted to share with all of you one of my well thought presentations with the hope of inspiring a few brands for doing better influencer marketing programs.