WOMMA launches Influencer Marketing handbook

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) has just launched its Influencer Marketing handbook for comment. It’s worth a look.

I’m hugely relieved to see that WOMMA has resisted much of the nonsense that is talked about influencers, especially in the consumer markets. No paid “brand advocates”, no Big Seed Marketing, and no celebrities. Instead, some straightforward advice to get firms thinking about influence, and who might have it.

WOMMA tends to be very consumer-focused, and I’d like to have seen more reference to B2B influence, where the dynamics work differently, but that will come over time. More importantly, it ignores the subject of how to identify and rank influencers, since (I assert) some influencers are more influential than others. My guess is that measuring influence is in the ‘too hard’ tray, certainly as far as proposing a standard that works across all markets and sectors.

In all, the handbook is a useful source for those considering Influencer Marketing, and its bibliography is the most comprehensive I’ve seen. It certainly introduced some blogs that I’d not heard of, so I’ll check these out.

The handbook is available for public comment until Oct 20th.

Daft question #1 – Who owns the influencer?

My commercial director Scott sent me a link to this post by Pete Blackshaw. Pete is a founder member of WOMMA, of which Influencer50 is a member. So Pete must know what he’s talking about, at least in a B2C context.

But the question – Who owns the influencer? Oh, please. This is so 1990s. I remember endless (and pointless) debates about who owns the customer and various organisations getting upset because their partner firms claimed customer ownership. Completely pointless, because NOBODY OWNS THE CUSTOMER. Customers are fickle and are as able and likely to change suppliers as change their underwear. Especially these days, when your competitors are one click away.

So, here we are again, ten years later. Same question, even more pointless debate, and the same answer:

NOBODY OWNS THE INFLUENCER

What a crazy concept. True influencers have their influence largely because they are not affiliated to anyone. In fact, the more someone tries to “own” them, the less influential they become. That’s why rent-a-quote analysts lack substantial influence – they’re paid for (“owned”) by a vendor to endorse a product or position.

The only value I can see coming out of asking “Who owns the influencer” is the shock – similar to being hit in the face with a spade – of realising that, more than likely, the influencer owns you! Or at least access to your market (which amounts to the same thing).

Treat your influencers not as peasants on your land but as royalty, to whom you need to pay dues.

Word of mouth marketing needs influencers

Influencer Marketing and word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) are inter-related. I’m a big fan of WOMM, Influencer50 is a member of WOMMA, and I’ve just read Andy Sernowitz’s book on WOM. Andy is the CEO of WOMMA.

But WOMM by itself lacks a key ingredient. As Seth Godin says in Purple Cow, it is useless to advertise to anyone except sneezers (i.e. talkers) with influence. I’d go further by extending advertising to all forms of marketing. People rarely buy just because they experience marketing. The marketing message is corroborated, enhanced and personalised through WOMM. And WOMM needs sneezers with influence.

In a B2C context, WOMM happens primarily at a peer level. That is, consumers talk to other consumers, and the message spreads.

In the B2B environment, things work differently. There are good reasons for this. There are competitive issues: if we are in the same field, passing on recommendations may erode the competitive advantage my firm has over yours. There are community issues: companies tend to be insular and don’t often communicate with other firms.

Instead, WOMM is mediated (often informally) by influencers. Recommendations, experiences, gossip and stories from the field are all related by various influencer types. Some of this communication is overt, published in analyst reports, journalistic articles and blogs. But much of it, up to 80% we estimate, happens in closed circles. These can be private meetings, invitation-only events, on the golf course, in lifts, over lunch, and so on.

Influencers are influencers because they have expertise and because they like to influence. So they are more than willing to pass on messages that reinforce their influence.

The crux of Influencer Marketing is to communicate your messages to influencers, such that those messages are then communicated by influencers to your customers and prospects.

Remember, though, that your product or service will only be talked about if it is worth being talked about.