2009 Industry Prediction: Influence Marketing Comes of Age

Adweek recently published an article titled "Brands Tap Web Elite for Advertorial 2.0," where they describe Panasonic's jump into blogger influence marketing at the Consumer Electronics Show.  As you may recall in an earlier post titled "Blogger Influence Marketing," I described HP's foray into influence marketing in their 31 Days of Dragon promotion.  Though it's hard to determine ROI from these programs, HP credited their influence marketing program with an 84% increase in sales of the Dragon notebook computer.  These early successes, combined with strong evidence of consumer ad blocking and the consumer's acceptance and trust of social media, will drive many more marketers in 2009 to adopt social influence marketing as part of their overall digital strategy.  This new focus on influence marketing will lead to growth, further integration and consolidation in the digital media environment.  In 2009, expect "social media" shops to pop-up and steal the spotlight, expect existing digital agencies to add social media and influence marketing capabilities and expect existing pure-play social media shops to be acquired. 

Here what it's all about:  Social media has made a permanent imprint on the customer journey as consumers now have the opportunity to expand their sphere of influence to guide them through the purchase funnel.  Think about it, in the past consumers had only a few friends and family to seek advice on their experiences or perceptions of products.  Now, consumers can reach hundreds, if not thousands, in a matter of minutes via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google, Technorati, product review sites, expert blogs, etc. 

Therefore, as you set-out to define your influence marketing strategy, start by mapping the customer journey; too many marketers ignore this important step.  Understand consumer touchpoints with your brand as they move through the purchase funnel and develop influence marketing programs that complement other marketing tactics.  Be sure to be creative in both your programs and in how you determine ROI as there are no rules or standards as of yet; expect these to come later in the year as more programs get under way and establish benchmarks.

To help to get you started, I've provided a definition of Blogger Influence Marketing, a subset of Social Influence Marketing: 

A systematic approach or process where organizations actively solicit and engage online bloggers or key influencers for the purpose of obtaining a predetermined marketing objective.  Blogger Influence Marketing provides the brand with the opportunity to engage with their target consumer through trusted and credible communications platforms, which influences the consumer's purchase decision.  Programs or campaigns often include prepackaged marketing material, products, contests, promotions, giveaways, etc. that are provided to key bloggers who then execute the programs at a fraction of the price that it would cost the brand to execute the program employing traditional media tactics.

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