Much has been talked about the influencer – individuals, normally a 3rd party, that have a media platform and, in most instances, a sizable audience, or one in which they can get to take action.
That form of the influencer won’t be going away, but it will continue to evolve and get more refined as time goes on and research tools get more advanced.
But, there’s more to the influencer picture, and I’d like to introduce you to version 2.0.
Introducing the Influencer 2.0
I was recently having breakfast with a friend that handles PR for Oscar De La Renta, many (120k+) know her as @OscarPRGirl, when we casually started talking about how she uses Twitter for the company.
Very few companies have figured out how to give their Twitter handle a voice, but Oscar (the brand) has done a great job of essentially developing a character (a real person) and letting her live the company online. She shares photos of herself and outfits. She takes people behind the scenes. She’s social. She engages. You get it.
Along the way the Twitter handle @OscarPRGirl, and the person behind it, have gotten more and more influential. And, I’m talking to the point of where people buy what she wears and ask for $20k+ wedding dress advice (and take it).
The brands Twitter handle and its presence in social media in general, impact buying decisions and prompt people to take action (sound familiar?). The primary reason this has been achieved is due to the success of the character (again, this is a real person) created for the brand online – without that, results and engagement would be wildly different.
With that said, the Influencer 2.0 is not a 3rd party, but instead, it is the brand themselves. Only brands that crack the code, and learn the difference between being social and doing social, will achieve this level of influence.
