Jul 19

Written by: Myra Norton
7/19/2010 9:54 AM

I really like the way Michael Wu thinks.  He is the “Principle Scientist of Analytics” at Lithium.  I was particularly proud of his recent post on influencer myths.  It projects like Fast Company’s “Influencer Project” that dazes and confuses us about what influence means and what makes an individual an influencer.  Mike’s focus is primarily in the social media space, so his take on “marketing influencers” comes from a decidedly social media perspective, which is helpful to keep in mind.  Influencers in the broader marketing sense don’t necessarily fit the criteria he has laid out for a social media influencer.  Regardless, his point is an important one to remember – there are different types of influencers, and different approaches are required to identify each type.  So, I would suggest that the questions we should start with when trying to get our minds around this elusive concept of influence are:

1.       Who am I trying to influence?

2.       What am I trying to influence them to do?

From these two simple questions, we start to gain a deeper understanding of what influence means in our context.  Then we are empowered to reveal and harness it.

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