April 28th, 2010 | Bill McIntosh, Founder

One of the least used methods to explode your brand is to identify and build relationships with Mass Influencers.

According to a recent report from Forrester research, 16% of all online Americans are responsible for 80 percent of the brand impressions in online social settings. “Social media has created a new type of influencer – one defined not merely by number of friends or frequency of dialogue, but by both,” said Forrester Research Senior Analyst Augie Ray.

The key is to not only to identify who these key 16% are for your market place, but to then make offers in such a way that starts to build a relationship with them. In turn, this turns into on-line discussion of your product.

Scott Voigt, VP of marketing at Silverpop said, “Start building goodwill by … providing them with special benefits. These persuaders can have a huge impact, so make them feel important. You’ll cultivate increased loyalty and give them further incentive to share even more.”

But be careful to what is said about your on-line, via blogs and on social media. Monitor what is being said and treat this as not only a survey, but an invitation to listen, change and adapt your product or service closer to what is needed and wanted.

By finding key influencers you can bring rapid and significant brand awareness. Not only that, you are entering an activity which puts you in the drivers seat of generating buzz.

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