The Rise of the Online Influencer

Over time things change. No more is this evident than with the shift in the media landscape.

Most agency-side PR professional working over the last decade would agree that generally a national ‘piece of coverage’ would class as the big hit for most of their clients.

This is all because national coverage, for a long time, has been seen as Holy Grail of coverage, but just to stir things up a little here’s some figures to think about:

• The Independent has a circulation of around 62,000.
• My mate Sam, who started a blog a few years ago called FourFourTweet now has 104,000 followers on Twitter.

So, I ask you this, if you are a brand looking to engage with 18-35 year old football fans, who’s better to invite to your event, Independent Sport or @FourFourTweet? Sure The Independent may sound better, but the real question you should be asking is who is going to have the most impact?

We were recently faced with a similar challenge for one of our clients, Cooper Tires, sponsors of Arsenal Football Club. We had a nice stunt idea, but the KPI’s for the activity were to get video views.

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7HUwUU8Og[/youtube] Go on, give us another view

The end result was that the coverage with traditional media was great but equally as important to the success was the support from the social influencers (the micro bloggers who amassed large and loyal followings tweeting about Arsenal/football). The fact is that nowadays online campaigns truly come to life when the two combine & you’re a fool if you ignore either.

For us, Twitter influencers and traditional media joined forces to drive half a million organic views in less than ten days. Result. But, it wasn’t one media that outperformed another, instead traditional media like ITV Football, Metro Sport and Telegraph shared the limelight regarding Reach and Resonance figures with the likes of social influencers like @goonerupdates @arsenalnewsuk & @fourfourtweet – see for yourself:

But with any campaign, it’s important to be clear on exactly what you’re looking to achieve. To expand on why I believe social influencers now go toe-to-toe with traditional media I give you the three R’s: Reach, Relevance and Resonance & their relationship with bloggers/ micro bloggers.

1. Reach

Many bloggers now have mass and loyal following, rivalling that of traditional media. RT’s and shares act like ‘word of mouth’ between friends, far less offensive then straight-up advertising. It often gets the ball rolling at the tip, once the message is out others share.

Blogger of the year Zoella boasts a social network of 12 millions followers.

2. Relevance

Bloggers have a reputation for producing interesting, credible content and usually specialise in something. They therefore have a more targeted  audience, making the brand message more relevant.

Bloggers often work within a niche and build specific following demographics

3. Resonance

A survey conducted by Vocus and Brian Solis, reported 51% of the respondents said that they follow an influencer because they consider them as opinion leaders and 40% follow them because of their relationship with the influencer. These guys are now starting to sway sentiment & influence their own audience’s opinion of your brand.

To summarise, it’s irrelevant whether you’re dealing with traditional media or a social influencer, both now need to be treated with the same amount of love and respect. If they hit the ‘Three R sweet spot’ you need to sit up and take notice whether their home is print, online or social.

Here’s to change!

Adam