Know thy influencers for they are not you.

In the new world of Web 3.0+, I found this so interesting that a measurable benchmark to calculate online Social Influence Marketing (SIM) success is underway, thank you Razorfish. Working in marketing over the years, metrics have always been the key to determining ROI when investing dollars into big advertising campaigns or other strategic rollouts. But how do you measure such an intangible effect as “social ooomph” and how far that gets you in terms of bang for your proverbial buck?

The findings from the recent SIM Report put out by Razorfish were pretty interesting, affirming that “traditional top-down marketing will become increasingly impotent as social media grows”…translation, the people own brands now and our own influence on each other (like Mom’s advice or Jimmy’s last Facebook comment) is more powerful than those big fancy ad slicks or billboards or commercials drummed up in board rooms. Why? Because you trust them, they experienced it first hand, and they’ll tell you the honest truth.

So what does that mean for marketers and us creative envisioners? We as the “keepers of the brand” have to really start digging deep and getting to know those key influencers, social influencers, and peer influencers and the roles they play along the road to making that purchase. To get there, we have to open up genuine CONVERSATIONS and ongoing dialogue with our customers, let them speak to us, engage us, participate and shape us. It’s just no longer a one-way stweet.

Great 58 page read if you want to see the whole report here.