Social Technology

“By focusing on key individuals — or types of individual — rather than markets as a whole, companies can selectively "seed" products, services and ideas into otherwise hard-to-reach markets, as well as target specific individuals who are likely to inspire a vast number of potential buyers. “ Target Marketing

Trend Influencers:
This is the group that will help to drive a product into an industry. There must be a program to develop this sphere of influence. These include:

Journalists,
Bloggers,
Academics,
Industry analysts and professional advisers.

They are well-connected, have large social networks and are looked up to and trusted by their peers.

All we need is a simple question answered to determine our Trend Influencers - How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or business colleague?

To accomplish this we need to implement the following programs:

(Not necessarily in this order)
• Increase sales and awareness within the Trend Influencer community
• Increase sales and awareness in target markets
• Field-test products, ideas and initiatives
• Turn Trend Influencers into advocates
• Give Trend Influencers the tools to share what they like with their peers
• Build valuable relationships with key Trend Influencers

Social Technology Pyramid

There is a pyramid of influencers within any market. These are broken down into three groups that range in size and influence over a market.

Social Broadcasters
Mass Influencers
Direct Influencers

Social Broadcasters are smaller in number but greater in scale — they make up around 10% of the pyramid. They are the top bloggers, most well-connected individuals, and have a lot of followers looking to them for news and advice on the latest information within a social space. They have influence but lack trust, in the sense that their followers will click on the links and recommendations they share but still perform their own evaluation of the data — this makes Social Broadcasters better suited for awareness than preference.

In the middle are the Mass Influencers, who make up only 15% of the pyramid but account for 80% of the influence impressions about products and services (See graph below). This group is vital because you can’t ignore the minority that creates the majority of the influence.

At the bottom of the pyramid are the Direct Influencers — this is where the trust really is. These are the proverbial “average consumer” who have primarily networks of people they actually know and interact with online or offline. These networks are centered with trust, and make up 75% of the total population of the pyramid.

Reaching these groups:

Social Broadcasters. The secret to dealing with them is to build relationships. This group doesn’t want to hear from someone only when you need something, and they want to be respected for their audience. It is necessary to develop customized offers for them that they can’t refuse that reflect an understanding of their uniqueness and their point of view.

Reaching Mass Influencers in the middle involves giving them something to talk about. Understand their characteristics and give them more content they can’t resist sharing. This part of the pyramid includes the people their friends and family turn to frequently before making important purchases. They have significant offline influence.

Direct Influencers need to have things very easy. This group is not as motivated nor is it as technically savvy as the people higher on the pyramid. Product and marketing ideas need to be relevant so the defined audience can’t help but spread the word. This needs to be an ongoing program to keep people engaged over time by reaching out and addressing them over and over.

Impressions: How it relates to numbers

1. Influence impressions: these happen on social media and networking sites: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace ( ), LinkedIn ( ), and others. The people who make them know generally who they’re connecting with and who will read them (people they know).
2. Influence posts: these are more permanent data points in blog posts, ratings and reviews sites, and in discussion forums. These tend to be less directed, in that when putting a post online it’s not usually known how many or who will be reading it.

Forrester Research Study

In the first category, the research study found 256 billion influence impressions occurring per year. Influence posts were numbered at 1.64 billion per year, which accounted for generating another 250 billion impressions. In other words, people are making 500 billion influence impressions on one another about products and services every year.

The research also looked at where those influence impressions are happening. The following graph captures the results of where people are sharing influence online in both of the above categories:

Summary:

There are steps that can be taken to become an integral part of any market. The idea is to gain the trust from those that can create the awareness and influence in choosing products and services.

Using new and intriguing marketing programs that create interest and recognize socioeconomic status can be very important when introducing new products or services into a market.

The data represents the trend Influencers and provides obvious areas to target. If we think outside the box our chances of success are much greater. Out thoughts must become part of the Face Book generation or iPhone generation. (Not the Apple II or IBM Pc generation). It is critical to recognize social technology and the influence it really has in today’s markets.