PART III OF THE “TREND WATCHING TO GAIN A COMPETITIVE EDGE IN MARKETING” SERIES:

Everyone talk’s about using “key influencers”. We hear these terms used in pitches for new campaigns all the time.

 It’s easy to think of businesses, celebrities, or high profile websites as “key influencers” or places “key influencers” frequent respectively, but today’s new media key influencers are far more powerful then any of their predecessors.

They have a platform – a large platform. They can create content hourly or daily if they like. They’re not like writers who created editorial content for magazines – they’re not beholden to anyone. They blog, vlog, twitter, or live broadcast their thoughts in the form of random thoughts, daily news, or even skits.

 More importantly, due to the strength of their personalities and frequently lack of corporate association, these new media key influencers are able to build long-term trusting relationships with consumers.

We need to leverage these key influencers with product placement or subtle endorsements. Notice I said subtle. These are inexpensive ways to get your brand out there. 

SMOSH is a great example. As of April 2008, they have over 337,000 subscribers on YouTube, making them the most subscribed “producers” on YouTube. Most of their videos have over 2 to 3 million views. Smosh’s most famous video, a tribue to the Pokemon Theme had more then 24,000,000 views on YouTube.

The reality is very few media buying companies are recommending these solutions to their clients. I haven’t decided if I think it’s because it’s their not social media friendly or if they’re just lazy and don’t want to look out of their typical comfort zone. Whatever the reason – there’s an opportunity for marketers here.