19 May 2009 - "Power of Influence" Lunch The Insight Exchange (www.theinsightexchange.com) Brian Giesen's 8 minute statement presentation.

1. Engaging Consumer Influencers:
Listening, Planning &
Engaging

3. What is Influence?
Social influence occurs when an
individual's thoughts or actions are
affected by other people.
Social influence takes many forms
and can be seen in leadership,
persuasion, sales, and marketing.

4. Why does influence
matter now, more
than ever?

5. 75% of people don't believe
that companies tell the truth
in advertisements.
(Yankelovich)

6. What’s the most trustworthy
source for purchase ideas?
US 81%
Word of
Mouth WW 70%
Editorial 56%
55%
Advertising 55%
59%
2006 eMarketer

7. Can brands engage
online influencers?

8. Strategic Approach to Social Media
& Word of Mouth
Blogger & Influencer Engagement Programs
Conversation Maps Influencer Maps Co-creation Program Design & Management
Live Community Events
Video Content: Viral, Episodic, Channels
Community Design & Management
Social Network Activation
Search Reputation Management
Digital Media Relations

9. LISTENING
External Blogs Internal Blog Photo Feeds Video Feeds

10. Where Do We Look?

11. Start Listening
Monitoring Tools
Type
Free Google Blogs, technorati, IceRocket
Blogpulse, Quantcast, etc…
Consolidated Radian 6
Monitoring
Advanced Visible Technologies (enterprise & response)
Services Nielsen Buzzmetrics (outsourced reports)
BuzzLogic
Cymfony (cgm & traditional)
Umbria
Brand Dimensions
Kaava
Others: Andiamo, Biz360, eWatch, MediaSource

12. Listening: Message Boards, Blogs, Social
Networks, Opinion Sites…
I will not recommend Sleep Number to anyone again (and I have done so in the
past) and if it comes up in the conversation. I post on Epinions and Craigslist
and intend to mention this in my posts and on my Blog. Instead of using a little
common sense, looking at longtime customer satisfaction, you have lost this
customer for life.
We were sorry to read about your experience and hope to be able to
resolve this issue and regain your confidence in us once again. In order
for us to do so, we’ll need more information from you to access your
account and remedy the situation. Please call Select Comfort directly at
1-800-787-5230 and ask to speak with AJ Stewart.
Two days after my diatribe about the Sleep Number bed appeared on this screen,
I was apologized to and told to call a number and ask for a particular person.
When I called I got a nice young lady named Amanda who asked what the
problem was and then the poor dear had to endure my ire while I detailed the
trouble. She listened with patience and asked me to hold on to see what could
be done. About 2-4 minutes later she comes on and says “we’ll be taking that
charge off your Amex”. I rescind my cessation of possible future purchases of
their product. The beds are as good as they advertise.

13. PLANNING

14. Characteristics of An Online Influencer
An Influencer is an individual or Web site which
• Engages others in conversation,
• Inspires others to continue the conversation and to expand the circle of
engagement,
• Participates consistently to maintain a timely conversation,
• Is seen as credible by his or her audience to speak about the issue at
hand,
• Compels others to want to hear what he or she will say next, and
• Creates content that is “remarkable”/worth remarking on.

15. Assessing Influence
• Blogs & Microblogs • Message Boards & Forums
– Number of inbound links – Breadth of boards
– Frequency/timeliness of posts – Quantity and timeliness of activity
– Followers & subscribers – Search engine visibility
– Number and content of comments – Affiliation
– Affiliation of author – Membership numbers
– Search engine visibility – Traffic
– Traffic
– RSS feed subscriptions • Social Networks
– Membership numbers
• Videos & Photo Communities – Types of community features present
– Number of views and downloads (e.g., profiles, blogs, video, message
– Number and content of comments boards)
– Ratings/peer assessment – Activity level on features
– Relevant groups – Affiliation
– Number of subscribers – Search engine visibility
– Number of inbound links

17. Inbound Links
RSS Subscriptions
Site Traffic
Conversation Index
Recency & Frequency
Identity & Affiliation

18. AMPLIFYING THE QUAKER LIVING PROOF BLOGGER WEEKEND
One weekend. 16 bloggers. Getting smart on Oatmeal! In November 2008, Quaker hosted 16 of
the top health and wellness bloggers to begin a dialogue about heart health and Quaker
products. Attendees were provided WiFi and a registered Twitter hashtag to use with their
coverage. As a result, participants posted a total of 139 times on their blogs, Twitter, Flickr and
YouTube accounts – generating an estimated reach of 6.6 unique monthly visitors (UMVs), more
than 3,000 blog comments, and 705 click-throughs to a product.

21. To Sum Up...

22. RSS Dashboard
Grab it: www.theDailyInfluence.com

23. To Sum Up...
• Trust favours' word of mouth over mainstream media
• Social media (the technology) makes it easier for
WOM to spread farther, faster, and to a wider audience
• When looking to engage consumer influencers online:
1. Listen first
2. Plan by identifying people who are influential
3. Engage

24. Thank You!