{"id":11789,"date":"2016-09-14T10:45:05","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T05:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/?p=11789"},"modified":"2016-09-13T19:52:39","modified_gmt":"2016-09-13T14:22:39","slug":"decrees-of-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2016\/09\/14\/decrees-of-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"Decrees of Influence"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Influence’ as a subject has been popping up on this blog<\/a> since 2010, the last post sometime in Feb 2014. In about half a dozen posts, I wrote about influence in the context of the\u00a0landscape and complexities<\/a>, visibility-credibility framing<\/a>, the data driven approach and its challenges<\/a>, ‘micro celebrity’ price tags<\/a>, brands’ usage of influencers as media<\/a>, and my talk on influence at #WIN14<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Conceptually, I am all for “influencer marketing”. I know it can work in some contexts because of what we achieved with it in Myntra in 2012-13. But even further back,\u00a0in 2010, thanks to a\u00a0discussion on a post<\/a> by Palsule, I realised that\u00a0with web platforms, after a certain scale is reached, the culture starts resembling that of mass (media) and the \u2018influencers\u2019 as well as \u2018influenced\u2019 begin a relationship that\u2019s familiar from a mass media era<\/em>. (Influence Cycles<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since then, even as the balance of content on the web shifted towards hordes of individual creators, the tools to measure influence never really kept up. Most of the focus was on measuring the currency most familiar to marketers from traditional media – reach. The intent of brands of social became driven by this dynamic. A\u00a0Maslow’s hammer<\/a>, if you will. Trending twitter hashtags was<\/del> is a classic manifestation. Does it have its uses? Of course<\/a>, but the trouble is in assuming that reach is the same as influence.<\/p>\n

I must admit that I have had\u00a0very few additional\u00a0perspectives on ‘influencer marketing’ since the last post, but around me, I can see the cottage industry<\/a> of 2016-17 blooming, even as\u00a0the old\u00a0challenges<\/a>\u00a0remain unresolved. The hammer has invaded\u00a0my Twitter & Instagram feeds, with not even a semblance of relevance, and no pretence of a disclosure in most cases. Thankfully, as an audience, the relationship is easy to end.<\/p>\n

On the other side, the supply is busy creating itself. I have seen expertise being claimed\u00a0by the same individual in subjects as varied as automobiles and food, mostly overnight. Arguably, any consumer can create content about his\/her experience. That is qualification enough, and the market (consumers) will decide merit. That makes every ‘publisher’ an influencer.<\/p>\n

\"influencer_marketing_marketoonist_26_7_16\"\u00a0(via<\/a>)<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n

Such a scenario adds\u00a0quite a few challenges to the brand marketer’s already full plate –<\/p>\n