The Importance of Social Influence on Businesses

What is social influence and why is it so important to businesses today?
Influencers are talking online and we are definitely listening. The question is,
how much are we letting the advice steer us to greater business heights?

Measuring influence

Measuring influence, from a social media perspective, is a trend that has
gained a great deal of momentum lately. The top influencers are the very same
people who are valuable from a marketing perspective and these are the people
who have a very positive impact on the rest of the population. The definition of
influence is the power or ability to affect someone’s beliefs or actions, a
person or thing with such ability or power, the power arising out of status,
contacts, or wealth and the power to produce a physical change. When it comes to
social influence, however, the concept that a small number of top individuals
have the ability to steer others is quite extraordinary, considering how many
people there are in the world. Remember, influence is based on trust and
engagement models that endure are critical.

How social influence affects business

An influencer is a person whose knowledge and ideas impact the way other
people conduct business. There are many different ways in which a person can
achieve influencer status. If a person has been in business for a long time, it
is common for others to regard him or her as a person of influence. By virtue of
the fact that the person is older, automatically, he or she is wise. Another
type of person who might be considered an influencer is the person with whom we
have been connected for a long time. Subject matter experts are also considered
influencers. The higher their credibility level, the stronger their influence.
All of these influencers have the power to affect people’s businesses in one way
or another. Their opinions drive other business people to make decisions in one
direction or another.

The responsibility of the influencer is to create buzz, drive sales and
increase traffic. There are other methods of achieving those goals, however,
influencers accomplish this on a much grander scale. When businesses work with
influencers, the end result can be incredible. The effect that social media has
had on social influence is phenomenal. It causes influence to spread at the
speed of light, no matter where the people are around the world. Influence flows
to every person everywhere.

How is influence measured?

It is not difficult to apply online metrics to social influence. It can be
measured by Likes on Facebook and by retweets on Twitter. Interestingly enough,
the size of a network does not necessarily have anything to do with the strength
of the influence. When gathering metrics, it is important to look beyond simple
counting to see how engaged people are with the content that you are sharing
with them. The proportion of content is a strong driver when it comes to
people’s influence. The biggest metric is if a person has read content and takes
some sort of action as a result of that.

How should businesses engage with the most appropriate
influencers?

First of all, the business owner needs to identify exactly what he or she is
trying to accomplish by engaging with influencers. Once they have done that,
they should pinpoint which metrics they want to use to determine how much
progress they have made toward accomplishing their goals. After that, comes the
identification of the influencers who can help their businesses in the most
effective manner. When it comes to social influence, it is important to leave
the guidance in the hands of the influencers. When building a relationship with
an influencer, it is important to remember that they are people and should be
treated that way.

Conclusion

Social influence and influencers are critical elements when it comes to the
success of businesses. It is very interesting that social influence measurement
has the potential to turn into a real time business application. You, as a
business owner, may be the most intelligent, creative, experienced person in the
universe but that does not mean that there is nothing that anyone can teach you.
There is always more to learn and the business world is so fortunate that there
are social influencers who can offer guidance and help so that goals can be
accomplished successfully.