Influence is a Skill:

Solving Problems with

Influencers

Joanne Jacobs, October 2011

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandnewbrain/67610989/

Presentation Promise:

I will show how influencers can be used effectively

I will show why inappropriate use of influencers is detrimental

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rooreynolds/3913174195/

Key global changes

• Less trust in professional images• Rise of classical anarchy• Fragmented media market• Less security, privacy• Increased reliance on immediacy of

information access, technologies• Focus on well-being, personal autonomy• Litigious society

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4662884851/in/photostream/

Significant forces

• Patents, patent law litigation• Mobile communication• Global economic volatility

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24961289@N06/5835605434

Influencer Definition

• Passionate• Self-driven, often innovators, entrepreneurs• Prepared to invest time in expertise• Prepared to respond to audiences• Natural leaders

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24431382@N03/5912946760

An influencer is NOT:

•An advertisement for a product•On the payroll of a brand•Sympathetic to marketers' needs to measure participation/sentiment/awareness•Open to instruction about how to engage

Additionally, a true influencer will only respect approaches from organisations that have done adequate research on them. They will not appreciate being offered rewards to which they have ready access or dislike.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zooboing/4676696849/in/photostream/

How do you find an influencer?

• Klout, PeerIndex, PeopleBrowsr

• SocialSeek, BlogPulse, MentionMap, IceRocket

• Twitalizer, Tweet Grader, TweetLevel

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/52798669@N00/3248483447

NOTE: Tools only provide an initial guide… You need to follow up and do ongoing research into influencer integrity over time.

How have influencers been used?

• POORLY: As advertisements• POORLY: Gratuitous pseudo-celebrity

endorsement• POORLY: For 'advice' which is then not

followed up

• WELL: Product design/adaptation• WELL: Customer advice/product support• WELL: Crisis management • WELL: Training

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/77961177@N00/71257761

Effectiveness of influencer campaigns

• Poor deployment of influencers inevitably fails to engage an audience, as influencers gain credibility from their impartiality. Reward oriented association with products/brands is regarded as ‘selling out’

• Good deployment of influencers increases both influence, and value of an influencer to a firm, because reputation of both parties improves

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31191642@N05/4178226353

Lessons

• Reputation driven economy• Brand/product awareness and recall need

less investment than reputation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66548401@N00/4053097146

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shishberg/2336460505/

Why do influencer campaigns fail?

• Marketers feeding influencers with rhetoric of ‘listening’ but then not following up with action

• Personal circumstances of influencers change, thus they are unable to commit time to a project

• Lack of authenticity/honesty

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34120957@N04/4199675334

Example: Authenticity fail

AMEX campaign capped the donations it would make to the Princes Trust in the UK in spite of claiming that £0.50 would go towards the charity for every inspirational story shared.

How should influencers be deployed?

As PROBLEM SOLVERS– Product adaptation– Product review/testing– Customer service/support

Don't mistake influencer contribution for celebrity endorsement. Celebrities are commercial entities, influencers are not.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/85763206@N00/2944376209

Example: AIDS enzyme structure

Nearly 10 year old problem of AIDS enzyme structure was solved in 3 weeks by gamers by embedding problem variables in an existing game, FoldIt.

See: Article in GizMag

Image Source: Fold.It - http://fold.it/portal/site_files/theme/science/competition.png

Process of deployment

• Approach ONLY AFTER conducting research on the influencer

• Outline scope of influencer engagement in conversation/email but NOT as a contract for service:– Product design/adaptation– Product review/expert commentary– Customer support– Key contact

• Report TO INFLUENCER about their contribution to firm

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/99771506@N00/4631871322

NOTE: Better to make reports to influencers about operational improvements rather than sales.

Why do you need a problem solver?

• Time saving: research, expertise, knowledge aggregation

• Cost saving: resource cost and 2nd level knowledge

• Creative thinking: divergent idea exploration rather than commercially constrained thinking

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34745138@N00/4966621857

Why do you need an influencer as a problem solver?

• Likely that the influencer will have greater expertise than you

• Influencer investment driven by passion, not by pay (staff), maximisation of ROI (client), or maximisation of a contract (contractor)

• Non-institutionalised thinking: tendency to absorb and automatically comply with processes of the firm among employees and contractors

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/90373251@N00/12638218

Benefits of influencer-driven problem solving

Besides reputational benefits...

• Reduction of costs in product development, and logistics

• More responsive to international trends and changing consumer behaviour than reactive, market research-driven approach

• Establishment of influencer-driven business partnerships

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andersrasmussen/2291387594/

Techniques for influencer-driven problem solving

• Product/brand review invitation• Pose a problem, then allow the influencer to

respond from an external perspective• Organise ‘hack days’ and ask influencers to

present• Organise games or immersive experiences

which include problem variables, and then allow influencers exclusive access before public launch

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39387762@N00/412594713

Example: Product adaptation/creativity

Allowing influencers to share their creativity is both social and increases influence

See: Instructables.com

Example: Influencer roundtable

Influencers can act as powerful sources of ideas in strategy development events and in coming up with ideas for tackling undefined problems

See: Augmented Reality Meets #sisu

Image source: http://www.franchisebusinessnow.com/free-financial-consultation-during-debt-difficulties/

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ta-graphy/5374382722/

Technique success: how & why

• Games– HOW: Gamers used to solving problems– WHY: Influencers get to play in a manner

that is unashamedly public interest

• Creativity– HOW: Creatives enjoy creative mastery– WHY: Influencers are perceived as masters

• Roundtable– HOW: Influencers enjoy thought process,

venue hospitality– WHY: Influencers maintain value for

independence

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/redglow/284914386/

What does success look like?

• Increased influencer engagement and high quality engagement

• Internal cost reductions due to influencer-driven supply chain process innovation

• Internal cost reductions due to reduced customer support

• Reduction in customer complaints/queries• Reduction in product development costs• Improved sentiment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13939889@N07/2254706702

What should you measure?

• Responsiveness to key global change– Trust, privacy, security, classical anarchy,

corporate social responsibility, technology access

• Responsiveness to significant market forces– Patent collection, Mobile communication,

Economic volatility

• Objectives of influencer engagement

DO NOT MEASURE

FOLLOWERS, MENTIONS.

MEASURE AWARENESS, 'SENTIMENT', CREDIBILITY AND CLOUT ONLY WITH EXTREME CAUTION.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/3638224583/

Should marketers be in control?

• Marketing returning to its roots in information access facilitation. Message creation and maintenance roles transforming into information archivist and external liaison roles

• Where marketers can make the transition from thought direction to service and information facilitation, then influencer engagement is possible

• Where marketers (consciously or unconsciously) seek to influence messages, they MUST not be in control of influencer engagement.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/istolethetv/121669444/

Key learnings

• Global conflict between information control (patents, traditional marketing, economic markets) and social responsibility and accountability

• Influencer engagement assists in addressing corporate accountability, cost efficiencies, reputation optimisation

• Marketing shifting from message management to service facilitation, including influencer engagement

• Problem solving with influencers will become a key skill of corporate managers.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36495803@N05/4370721677

Promise/Delivery

• To show how influencers can be used effectively– Through problem solving

– By allowing influencers to work independently

• To show why inappropriate use of influencers is detrimental– Reduces value of influencer

– Reduces perceived value of the firm

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrissy575/4810662834/

Questions

Joanne Jacobs

Technology and Interaction Design Consultant

Ph: 07 948 318 298

Email: joanne@joannejacobs.net

Web: http://joannejacobs.net/

Twitter: @joannejacobs

Skype: bgsbjj

Presentation Acknowledgements

‘Influence is a Skill’ logo and presentation cover image: adaptation of the image, ‘Eye 9’, by Oyvind Solstad. Eye 9 released under Creative Commons Attribution licence.

All other images used in the presentation were sourced from Flickr and Wikimedia Commons and were also released under Creative Commons Attribution licence.

Sources were identified on individual slides.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48509939@N07/5927758528/

Influence is a Skill:

Solving Problems with

Influencers

Joanne Jacobs, October 2011

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandnewbrain/67610989/