Photo taken by ClintJCL, Flickr Creative Commons
When I first talked about SEO with Justin, he told me about the influencers, and what their power is on the web. Basically, influencers are folks that people listen to. They have huge readerships on their blog/site, talk at conferences, have many hundreds or even thousands of followers on Twitter, etc. When influencers talk, people listen. And not only do they listen, they also propagate what they heard, leaving ripples on the web (sometimes tsunamis).
Everyone who works in social media is aiming to be an influencer. The more influence you have, the more efficient you’ll be at promoting your brand. That’s a given. But how influential are influencers? Who are these people listening to them? But most of all, can an influencer promote anything to any public?
After reading Mack Collier’s post on the subject matter, I understood something quite critical – influencers mostly have an incidence on specific communities, and not the whole web. Collier talks in his post about his experience with Pepsi, and how inappropriate it was for them to pinpoint him as an evangelist. They should have turned instead towards an influential Pepsi fan, active in the Pepsi communities! If a whole community gets excited about a new product, not only is it good for the brand, but it might also be picked up by outsiders (which will contribute to the ripple effect).
That leads me to wonder if social media influencers have an actual influence outside the social media sphere, and if so, what’s the scope of it? Your input would be greatly appreciated!