Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Veronika Šlogar, junior adviser, DIALOG komunikacije
In the communications industry the importance and influence of bloggers and influencers has been on the rise over the last few years. Their online platforms such as blogs and social networks are becoming new communication channels for different brands from various industries.
Four years ago, a famous digital analyst from the Altimer Group, Brian Solis, coined the term “Pillars of Influence”, describing them as reach, relevance and resonance – the three Rs, which are the fundamental principles in relations with influencers. Scott Guthrie, Digital Director of Ketchum London, expanded the lexicon of relations with influencers and added four new R’s – reception, relationship, reality and relinquish control – as a paradigm for working with influential digital audiences. What’s it all about?
REACH:
Reach represents the size of the audience. It’s defined by the number of people that can be reached through the follower base of an influencer.
RELEVANCE:
Relevance corresponds to the question of how relevant an influencer is to a particular topic, or which influencers have appeared in the search of keywords and key phrases that are important to you.
RESONANCE:
Resonance is the result of reach combined with relevance. Resonance determines how much activity the influencer will spark with the publication of content. It refers to the level of engagement of the people following them – the number of shares, likes and comments.
RECEPTION:
How much does the system of values of your brand coincide with that of the selected influencer? Communicators who work exclusively with reach, relevance and resonance will identify influencers by the size of their audience, the topics they discuss and the engagement on the content they publish. If you only take that into account, you can’t determine with certainty whether the influencer likes your brand or your competition. It should be noted that influencers are not necessarily fans of a brand. They are neutral, but they are agents of change that can do as much harm as help.
RELATIONSHIP:
Relationships are built on mutual respect and understanding. As relations with influencers mature, a market for the best influencers is created (they decide when, with whom and for what remuneration they will cooperate). Communicators who work with influencers are increasingly turning to building long-term partnerships rather than short-term campaigns. For this to be possible, it’s necessary to reject traditional ways of cooperation that are reduced to just measuring the size of the audience and superficial information. A brand can get a lot more value from a quality, long-term relationship with an influencer based on trust, because they eventually adopt the values and understand the motivation of the brand. To achieve such a relationship, it is necessary to find out about what the influencer writes, what their keywords and phrases are, who their audience is, who they address and whether they are the best for the brand they would represent.
REALITY:
Not all influencers are equal. An increasing number of communicators work on campaigns that involve relationships with influencers and thus transmit to them the power of the brands. They thus create a market in which they can decide whom they will work with and at what price. In working with influencers you need to be realistic. Rather than targeting famous influencers, consider the rising stars that may not have a range as large as that of the most influential influencers, but are committed to creating consistent, quality content and, more importantly, have a loyal audience.
RELINQUISH CONTROL:
Smart brands don’t use an influencer’s range to promote their corporate content. Smart brands are co-creators. Brands and influencers collaborate in the creation of content. Influencers know their audience. They know what their audience likes and build their follower base consistently, by publishing high quality content that is interesting to them, and in turn their audience becomes loyal. Brands must learn to relinquish control and provide editorial and creative freedom to influencers, to encourage them to produce authentic content that is a big hit both for the brand and for their audience.
Communicators who work daily with bloggers and influencers find these pillars of influence very welcome reminders that should be borne in mind. At the same time, it is necessary to further educate brands on how and with whom to collaborate, and move away from the assumption that any blogger or influencer can represent the values of your brand.