When Kodak wanted to increase participation in its "Time to Smile" branding effort, which launched this past summer, the marketer recently looked to influential bloggers, Twitterers and Facebookaholics to move the needle for its push. But with so many voices buzzing on the web these days, how can a marketer be sure it has found the right group of "influencers" to help it get the word out?
--> Tapping the power of an influential consumer has long been a practice of marketers. Once, that simply meant looking for the coolest kid on the playground or in the mall or in the club that everyone else was trying to emulate. But with the explosion of the blogosphere, it's no longer just the cool kids that are tagged as influencers; everyone and their mother -- mommy bloggers are now some of the biggest influencers in the consumer space -- can be needle movers. The upside of that for marketers is a bigger pool to choose from, but the downside is identifying the right one. Cue the agencies and their social-media platforms, which they claim can identify the perfect blogger or Twitterer for any campaign.
Kodak, with the help of one of its PR shops, WPP's Ogilvy Public Relations, which recently launched its influencer relationship management platform called Insider Circle, identified 10 bloggers they deemed influential within the markets they were looking to target. John Bell, managing director 360 Digital Influence at Ogilvy PR, said the influencers range from parent bloggers to photography enthusiasts. Mr. Bell said using bloggers helps stimulate authentic word of mouth that's relevant to the consumer and brand, and builds long-term relationships with these influencers
"We call it social influencer relationship management," he said. "We provide them with new content and values they can pass along to their readers to get them involved in the program."
Some of the bloggers are soliciting their readers to participate in a contest asking readers to post photos with a story explaining why they are smiling. The blogger decides which story is best and will give a new Kodak HD camera to the winner. "We're giving some bloggers access to people at Kodak for stories they'll post on their blogs," Mr. Bell said. The bloggers disclose their relationship with Kodak to their readers.