Comments on: Leverage existing social networks or find an influencer to do it for you

By: Public Relations Strategies: Sifting Through the Clutter of Social Media

Public Relations Strategies: Sifting Through the Clutter of Social Media — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:43:20 +0000

[...] space. My advice is to prioritize: start with a handful of the ones you feel are most important, leverage those and go from there. Do not hop onto every new social media tool that launches, that will only dilute [...]

By: Shannon Paul’s Very Official Blog « Sara Sinnard’s Blog

Shannon Paul’s Very Official Blog « Sara Sinnard’s Blog — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:24:19 +0000

[...] those specific individuals use your product/content to create, promote and leverage their content.Shannon Paul’s Very Official Blog, Dec [...]

By: Levysoft » Gli influencer del Web: chi sono e come agiscono. Quando le aziende studiano come conquistare chi influenza le decisioni del popolo della rete

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:37:52 +0000

[...] rappresentazione, più visiva, che mostra gli influencer nei social network è possibile trovarla qui, dove, però, li si dividono in 4 macro [...]

By: » Evangelism, Influencer Marketing und die Nutzung sozialer Netzwerke im Tourismus

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:03:09 +0000

[...] ein Artikel in diesem Blog beschreibt, scheitern viele Social Media Kampagnen momentan daran, dass sie sich auf technische [...]

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:36:54 +0000

Shannon, great post! Love David’s Influence Ripples graphic.

You said something a few things that strike me as really relevant to where marketing & marketers are today.

“…but I’m sure there will be plenty of situations that call for marketers to jump in and try to figure out very quickly who the influencers are that they need to meet.”

That is a problem in my mind. Because when you need to jump in and figure it out, it’s already too late, mistakes are made and that one shot at the influence you are seeking last minute is lost. I have seen it where marketers are under the gun and they just rely on their traditional know-how and I really just don’t think that works in this space. I think we need to shed the notion of always having something to market/sell and just be real. If that happens, you know all about me and I you and we know what each other’s goals are in an unspoken fashion. Am I being naive here? Maybe I am not looking at it correctly?

The other comment of interest was:

“The only problem with this simple, yet effective strategy is that most companies are not hiring based on candidates’ content-generating activity in social networks. I believe this will change.”

I so hope you are right, but I think we are a long way off…especially with companies blocking employees from FaceBook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. I know of cases where marketers engaged in social media, even on their own time (!!), are being watched and intimidated by marketers higher up on the food chain. It’s sad, but that’s the reality of it.

BTW, love Ann’s diaper analogy…I think I ended up with some “goop” on my hands when first using Twitter.

Thanks for the insights Shannon!

By: Mission Creep | Neil Williams » Blog Archive » Stuff I’ve bookmarked from 26 October to 28 October

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:00:21 +0000

[...] Leverage existing social networks or find an influencer to do it for you « Shannon Paul’… – "Influencers are usually pretty easy to spot, so why do so many companies still insist on building their own social networks?" This is totally in line with my thinking, and where I will be focusing our SM efforts. [...]

By: annhandley

annhandley — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:17:24 +0000

Shannon — Great post and I do love Shannon Nelson’s analogy. My first few Twitter or blog posts were like the first few tentative diaper changes on my newborn… “This can’t possibly be right! I could screw this thing up… for life! I am so clearly a poseur here!! I am not to be trusted with so big a job!!” LOL.. love it.

By: Karen Swim

Karen Swim — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:58:35 +0000

Shannon, I believe the low success rate is also due to the mindset. Everyone wants the “quick hit.” People and companies rush in looking for drive-by success and it just does not happen that way. You say the key words, “work it.” Social networking works when you work it. It takes a bit more effort to cultivate relationships with influencers than to simply blast through cyberspace gathering “followers.”

By: Utilizing Social Networks « SalesJabber.com

Utilizing Social Networks « SalesJabber.com — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:35:36 +0000

[...] October 25, 2008 Utilizing Social Networks Posted by SuperDave under Social Media & Networking http://veryofficialblog.com/2008/10/24/leverage-existing-social-networks-or-find-an-influencer-to-do... [...]

By: Paul May

Paul May — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:10:51 +0000

The subtext that I’m reading here is “don’t make things more complicated than they really are.” I think this is spot on. With the proliferation of social networks and social tools, I think it’s easy to get overwhelmed and feel like you need to build the perfect social media strategy. The reality is that the 80/20 rule applies, and just getting in the game puts you ahead of most (i.e., you don’t need to build your own network, participate in every channel, etc).

A bit of a tangent…I sense the same thing happening with the “how do you measure influence” meme. There seems to be this focus on finding the perfect measure for a person’s influence so that you can identify the perfect list of people to engage with. This seems like overkill to me and the cost of this outweighs the value. Seems so much easier to just look at some high-level metrics (e.g., traffic, PageRank, etc.) and set some basic guidelines for what you view as “influential.” Certainly not a perfect approach, but it avoids the analysis paralysis that comes when you make it more complicated.