![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.freshnetworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/influencer1.jpg\" "\\"influencer\\"")
Let\u2019s face it\u2026 customers don\u2019t become influencers in order to champion brands out of the goodness of their hearts, or because of a brilliantly-designed logo or a couple coupons they can download from the internet.<\/p>\nLet\u2019s face it\u2026 customers don\u2019t become influencers in order to champion brands out of the goodness of their hearts, or because of a brilliantly-designed logo or a couple coupons they can download from the internet.<\/p>\n
Customers become influencers because something about their experience with a brand influenced them<\/em> first\u2026 and they want to continue that experience.<\/p>\n Influencers don\u2019t want to be told<\/em> what to do or what to buy, they want to have an experience<\/em> so amazing that they are compelled to share it with their networks.\u00a0\u00a0 It can be a product that proves to be everything it was advertised to be PLUS MORE, or impeccable and genuinely friendly customer service, or any other experience that was so out of the ordinary that it influenced the customer to form a solid opinion about the experience and then take action to encourage others toward that same experience.<\/p>\n Influencing someone means you are speaking to their personal interests and specific needs and engaging that person enough that it creates a change either in their thinking or their actions, or even both.\u00a0\u00a0 It expands their knowledge, or provides interest, or opens their thinking \u2013 all things that give influencers social power<\/a> as they pass the information\/experience on to their own networks.<\/p>\n When someone is influenced, they also gain a new story to share \u2013 something which also holds great power for influencers as anecdotes are an effective way to gather attention and to provide a message in a way that can be easily heard, remembered, and passed on.\u00a0 Influencers understand this value of new<\/em> and different<\/em>, which is exactly what they acquire when they are influenced themselves. \u00a0This is one area where giving someone a \u201ctaste of their own medicine\u201d is actually a valuable gift!<\/p>\n Emerging media tools now enable the voice of the consumer to be engaged in all aspects of brand management.\u00a0 From product and shopper insights to awareness, trial and loyalty, influential consumers can provide a huge competitive advantage for smart brands.\u00a0 Validating new product functionality through early seeding and usage can result in a much better item not to mention the benefits to refining communication from packaging to outbound media.\u00a0 Using influencers in the process builds a sense of brand ownership among the participants that reflects the \u201creal\u201d brand owner, the consumer.<\/p>\n Influencers want to be influenced \u2013 why not give them what they want?\u00a0 Your brand hopes you will! <\/strong><\/p>\n Ted Rubin<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Originally posted at CollectiveBias<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let\u2019s face it\u2026 customers don\u2019t become influencers in order to champion brands out of the goodness of their hearts, or because of a brilliantly-designed logo or a couple coupons they can download from the internet. Customers become influencers because something about their experience with a brand influenced them first\u2026 and they want to continue that … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,7],"tags":[1184,854,455,1183,32,30,1029,897,3,1185,1186],"class_list":["post-2868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-tedrubin","tag-collective-bias","tag-customer-experience","tag-influence","tag-john-andrews","tag-marketing","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-marketing","tag-social-media-strategy","tag-ted-rubin","tag-what-customers-want","tag-what-influencers-want"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2868"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2872,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2868\/revisions\/2872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}