Month: January 2018

INFLUENCER MARKETING 2018: THE RISE OF THE PERSONAL INFLUENCER

Guest post by John Andrews

My business partner Ted Rubin deftly points out in his book The Age of Influence that “everyone influences someone”. I’ve heard him say this at countless speeches and presentations around the world to leaders of marketing and retail and I agree with his statement wholeheartedly. In fact, personal influence has long been the most powerful marketing force in existence. Proof of the statement can be found in the rule of five. Your wealth, health and most other factors about you can often be predicted by your five closest friends. It’s even a little deeper than that, we share 1% of DNA with our closest friends, the same amount as our 4th cousins. We unconsciously find those most like us and tend to think, act and behave as they do. Everyone influences someone, personal influence is a powerful force that can literally affect human behavior. Marketers know how powerful this tool is, they just aren’t sure how to harness it.

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USER-GENERATED CONTENT: BUILDING CONNECTION, CONTEXT AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS WHO SHARE

When you’re trying to learn the real story about a product or service as a consumer, do you turn to the people who market that product or the people who actually use it? Do you build a connection with a brand because of the way that a product is pitched to you, or because of the benefits that product provides when it is in your hands? Sometimes, the most important questions from prospective customers are best answered by other customers, and the longest-lasting relationships are seeded by personal experience. User-generated content is one of the most effective ways to tap into that consumer-to-consumer mindset, and earn some social proof in the process.

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