Rise of the Micro-Influencer- Part 2
Continued from Part 1 of the Micro Influencer story (recommended reading for continuity)
I wrote about Micro-Influencers in the previous post. Who are these guys? These guys need not have a direct influence on millions. Or even thousands. They can have a following of a few hundred. That’s enough. Enough to have the influence that matters- in today’s communication overdosed, narrowly fragmented era. Not to mention that the indirect influence these guys might have- might rival that of a full blown major league celebrity.
I call it the “Circle of Influence” leading to the “Opportunity to Influence” (as compared to the metrics of “Opportunity to See” in media terms)
There are times when I go to a conference and people who I have never met before in real life, know me by my name (I read your article on Social Media Today! OR so you run ChasingTheStorm?) Oh! And if that comes across as pompus, it is not only me, I’m sure YOU have your own story to tell. There are many- who are regularly recognized, quoted, commented upon and referenced. Even if it is so by a handful few (as compared to, say, Robert Scoble or Seth Godin). Some simple examples here:
But since I have better access to data with regards to myself, I will go further to demonstrate the impact with me as a reluctantly pompous example. My Linked In profile for example has a 400 odd directly connected friends. And I have a reach of about 7 milion people through these 400 odd contacts. Add to the blog readership, twitter, facebook and a few other accounts, minus the duplication, I might have the indirect influence over about 15 million people all across the world. And it is not minus the personality. I have videos, people have tagged me in photos and write for a few other publications. Net net, let us say 15 million. In that case, in a world of over 1.5 billion internet users, I have a circle of influence of about 1%! Just within Asia-of 550 million Internet users, (taking my reach base as 60% of total) the circle of influence rises to : 1.6% of people who use the internet.
And then just because one has the reach, does not imply one has the influence. But it does imply having a circle of influence. Imagine you being a musician and given a stage to perform- with an audience of 30,000 (you will rub shoulders with the likes of U2 I guess then)- now just because you have a stage and an audience- is half the story. If you do not perform well, you do not have the attention of the crowds.
As a matter of fact, if you do not engage them and catch their attention in the way that is expected, you might get yourself a truckload of rotten tomatoes to take home.
So what defines a micro-influencer? To me, 3 things- reach, authority and consistency. And then comes the magic.You can argue there are other things at play- like charm, appeal, sharing spirit- well yes- but most should be covered in the three elements of Micro-influencing.
The story is long and I have too many thoughts on this one. What does it mean for marketers? What does it mean for you as a business owner? What does it mean for you as a micro-influencer? How CAN you become a microinfluencer- if you think you are already not one.
Will carry on in another post. Please subscribe to the feed to be updated as it happens!
Cheers!
