I’m pleased to find that a new study validates what I’ve been seeing in client projects and industry conversations: social media is taking on a larger role in business decision-making processes. Social media is enabling decision-makers to reach out to larger numbers of people (the size of their unique influencer ecosystems) and to tap into their influencers through online as … Read More
Industry associations add interesting dimension to influencer marketing
Vendor-side influencer relations programs tend to focus on public relations, analyst relations and blogger relations. I’ve talked before (e.g. here and here) about the value of broadening these programs to include other types of influencers, such as the research leads at professional associations. Announcements today from CEA and ESA underscore why this makes so much sense. The Consumer Electronics Association … Read More
Edelman’s TweetLevel – measuring influence within Twitter
You can’t do influencer relations without a good set of tools for identifying influencers and measuring and tracking their influence. Here’s a new tool for your consideration: Edelman’s TweetLevel, by Jonny Bentwood. TweetLevel calculates an “importance” rating of 0-100 for anyone with a Twitter handle. And, it’s free to use. Most of the big agencies provide their clients with pricey … Read More
Harnessing the Groundswell – new book by Bernoff and Schadler
While the wildly successful “Groundswell” book by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff continues winning acclaim — most recently from the American Marketing Association — Josh has announced work in progress on a new book. This time, he’s teamed with Ted Schadler as co-author. The title is “Harnessing the Groundswell: Drive Your Business With Empowered Employees and Customers”. The authors say … Read More
Analyst relations – the historical archives II
The high tech analyst business seemed to be on the brink of imploding due to the tech recession in 2002, and in 2004 at least one Boston journalist was calling for Wall Street style disclosure. These are are among the links you’ll find on this page. This is what I call the AR historical archives, part 2. For the last … Read More
Analyst relations – the historical links archive I
Ten years ago 91 analysts and journalists went on record with their top gripes about vendor briefings and vendor PR representatives – in other words, “AR”. Jeffrey Tarter, then the mastermind behind Softletter, did the research and compiled the results. That report is still useful perspective for analyst relations professionals today. It’s one of the links I’m posting here, part … Read More
Building vision through influencer ecosystems
Britton Manasco sparked an interesting discussion over the weekend on PR, influencers and the caliber of a client’s vision messaging. Britton’s take: PR firms, too often, are letting their executive clients down. They are encouraging them to stroll out in the public square unclothed and unprepared. Result? Their clients are exposed as leaders without vision… It seems to me that … Read More
Marketing job: Influencer50 is hiring
Interested in working at an influencer marketing company? Good news – Influencer50 Inc. is hiring. The company is recruiting for a marketing manager to be based in the San Francisco office. They’re looking for an experienced marketing professional to manage one-to-one marketing outreach, influencer engagement programs for clients, and Influencer50’s online content. It’s a mid-senior level position suited for candidates … Read More
Influencer relations friday gossip
What’s up this week in influencer relations? Here’s what I’ve been talking about offline when the conversation rolls around to, “So what’s up? Anything I need to know?” This week the gossip has centered around analyst blogs, HP and Dell. Feel free to add your nuggets. EDS = HP. HP retired the EDS brand this week. Time to update your … Read More
Prep influencer marketing programs for US FTC endorsement guidelines
Influencer marketing is on a collision course with the US Federal Trade Commission and its new guidelines for endorsements and testimonials in advertising. The revised guides span consumer endorsements, expert endorsements, endorsement by organizations, and disclosure of material connections between advertisers and endorsers. The FTC has already said it expects the revised guidelines to affect most businesses that advertise in … Read More