Corporate Motivators, The Power In The Middle

With the rise of social media, consumers demand compelling, relevant content, developed internally or through a community of key influencers. While they appreciate product information from brands, what influences their purchase decisions the most are opinions from people just like them. New moms want to know what products other new moms prefer and marathon runners want product feedback from people familiar the pains of racing. Socially savvy, business influencers, corporate motivators and directing advisors represent something a brand cannot, and that is the perspective of another consumer.

Marketers can authentically tap this trust by partnering with influencers who show a natural affinity for their product and brand values. For instance, Udi’s, a national provider of gluten free food products, works with dozens of bloggers who specifically create and share content about gluten free recipes and products. Their readers trust their opinions and the products covered and a partnership is win-win-win for the Udi’s, the bloggers and their readers.

Finding, engaging and collaborating with influencers used to be a very manual process and only allowed marketers and web marketing pros to coordinate and manage the efforts and content of a handful of influencers. That, combined with the assumption that big numbers meant big influence, motivated web marketers to just want to work with bloggers and influencers who had high monthly unique visitors or millions of followers on Twitter or YouTube. This meant that the same bloggers ended up working on programs over and over. Those top 5% might represent big numbers, but they don’t necessarily represent the millions of consumers who have targeted needs and therefore follow niche influencers who produce highly targeted content. These include marathon runners, cat lovers, military families, cancer survivors and those with allergies or special diets. Collectively, the millions of influencers who cater to these audiences are impacting exponentially more consumers than the top 5%. This is the power of the middle.