Social media “influencers”… less important than you think!

With  social media  taking more and more place in our daily lives,  we have come to declare certain people as “influencers” . These so-called influencers dictate the rules and indicate the trends of the moment. They are the ones who are supposed to tell you what is good and what is not, in particular they would even have a certain power over the masses. However, according to eMarketer it's quite the opposite:  The type of person who would be the most influential in social media would be the person with few friends, but with very strong ties.

Indeed, according to a survey conducted by Vocus and FutureWorks among marketing professionals around the world, asking to identify the type of influencer who would have the most measurable effects on results, 57% of professionals chose as the type person: Those who have a handful of friends, but who have very close ties. 

On the other hand, an eROI study of American marketers shows that 25% of  them consider the reach of the message as well as the key influencers to be more influential, while 65.5% consider the variation in subscriptions/fans/friends.  It is obvious that this situation is largely due to the fact that it is much easier to look at the variation of the metrics than to try to measure the reach of a message and the influence of this one on its receivers. An element that should change over time thanks to the power of analysis tools that are increasing more and more, thus aiming to be able to precisely measure the reach of a message.

It is certain that having a large number of followings or friends can mean having more influence. There is no evidence, however , that a magic number exists to signify that you are important or influential . There are still easy ways to cheat the numbers to appear more influential or to impress. As we often say: it is the quality, not the quantity that counts!  

Another proof that influencers still have a long way to go: According to a study by myYearbook and Ketchum, carried out in May 2010, among American teenagers, 52% of them chose their friends as their trusted source of information.  Bloggers and celebrities would make up only 3 and 4%, respectively . This gives food for thought as to who to seek to influence during advertising campaigns.

Why this distrust?  Due to spammers and the many instances of fraud that have occurred online, users are found to be suspicious of online sources and have become skeptical of anything said on social media. Even at the blog level, it is increasingly common to find sponsored bloggers, who are supposed to be independent, but who nevertheless write articles on products in exchange for gifts, money or other services, without always mention it.

If you are wondering how to increase this trust between your social network and your visitors, according to a study carried out in the United States in July 2010, by Invoke Solutions (shown below), you must open the dialogue to the right and to bad comments. In this way, you will be promoting transparency and demonstrating objectivity.

In a later article, I will explain which communication channel should be used in order to increase user trust in your product.

Thomas Daneau.