Online Influencers: Who are they and what do you do with them?

Do you know where your most valuable customers spend their time online? Do you regularly interact with bloggers and journalists who shape your industry’s agenda? Who are the people with the online “street cred” to influence people’s actions?

These questions (and more!) are at the heart of the PR industry’s recent focus on influencer relations. What exactly is influencer relations, you ask? At the most basic level, it’s the process of identifying and engaging with people who have the ability to influence others. It’s sort of like finding your brand’s online VIPs. Now, that doesn’t mean the list should include only “A-list” online celebrities. Rather, influencers could be loyal customers, bloggers who reach an audience relevant to your product, service or industry, referral sources, or even editors of enewsletters that hit your target audience.

We know that monitoring and listening are key components to a successful social media strategy. Part of this monitoring should include following conversations to help identify influencers and discover opportunities to engage with them. As we discuss on this week’s episode of PR 2.0 Chat TV, companies need to figure out what they want to say on social media and who they want to say it to.

Chuck Hemann, VP of Digital Strategy & Analytics for Ogilvy 360DI, is this week’s guest on PR 2.0 Chat TV. In our five-minute conversation, Chuck explains how to build influencer lists and then what to do with that information. Thanks for watching!