Comments on: Social Networks, Influencers, and Word of Mouth http://smallbizbee.com/index/2009/02/26/social-networks-influencers-and-word-of-mouth/ We're Making a Big Deal Out of Small Business Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:43:40 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: smallbizbee http://smallbizbee.com/index/2009/02/26/social-networks-influencers-and-word-of-mouth/comment-page-1/#comment-2230 smallbizbee Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:49:55 +0000 http://smallbizbee.com/index/?p=3307#comment-2230 @Monica You touch on something here that I should have expanded on in my post, and that is that an influencer doesn't have to be one of the "big guys", and can still have the same impact on your word of mouth efforts. A PTA leader can be just as influential in the peer group you are trying to reach as a Guy Kawasaki is (and maybe more so depending on the group). So, while the Guy's of the world need to be given cars for free to get their attention, that's not necessarily the case with more local influencers. And yes, gut plays a big role in understanding who the "local influencers" are for your target market - great point! And your second point is spot on. The knee jerk reaction to criticism is to get defensive, but the better part of our learning comes from negative criticism. The key is to discern what negative buzz you can mitigate and learn from, and what is just negativity for the sake of it (some people will just hate what you do and that's life). Two very good follow ups, thanks for keeping this conversation going! Matt @Monica
You touch on something here that I should have expanded on in my post, and that is that an influencer doesn’t have to be one of the “big guys”, and can still have the same impact on your word of mouth efforts. A PTA leader can be just as influential in the peer group you are trying to reach as a Guy Kawasaki is (and maybe more so depending on the group). So, while the Guy’s of the world need to be given cars for free to get their attention, that’s not necessarily the case with more local influencers. And yes, gut plays a big role in understanding who the “local influencers” are for your target market – great point!

And your second point is spot on. The knee jerk reaction to criticism is to get defensive, but the better part of our learning comes from negative criticism. The key is to discern what negative buzz you can mitigate and learn from, and what is just negativity for the sake of it (some people will just hate what you do and that’s life).

Two very good follow ups, thanks for keeping this conversation going!

Matt

]]> By: monica http://smallbizbee.com/index/2009/02/26/social-networks-influencers-and-word-of-mouth/comment-page-1/#comment-2228 monica Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:15:47 +0000 http://smallbizbee.com/index/?p=3307#comment-2228 You've highlighted two really great points that I can certainly vouch for as a small business owner. First of all, finding the influencers. This is CRUCIAL, but sadly, easier said than done. The big guns actually hire social media measurement companies to find the influencers mathematically (I happen to freelance for one of these companies and I can testify that it ain't cheap). The rest of us little guys have to go with our gut. Two simple things I look for are people who get a lot of comments on their blogs, or people who write a lot of posts on forums. Your second point about managing the conversation is also key. Basically, nobody's perfect. And if you put yourself out there, you're bound to get some criticism. But criticism can be GOOD. It can help you understand your users and improve your product. I had an experience with this early on in my product's life cycle... this thread on a pretty major journalism blog revealed that my marketing strategy wasn't quite hitting the mark: http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/09/25/writers-residence-et-al-just-how-stupid-do-you-think-journalism-students-are/ Instead of ignoring the conversation, or responding defensively, I (er, my partner, Tim) decided to LISTEN. We actually turned the blogger's rant into a fairly productive conversation and made our product look better as a result. You’ve highlighted two really great points that I can certainly vouch for as a small business owner. First of all, finding the influencers. This is CRUCIAL, but sadly, easier said than done. The big guns actually hire social media measurement companies to find the influencers mathematically (I happen to freelance for one of these companies and I can testify that it ain’t cheap). The rest of us little guys have to go with our gut. Two simple things I look for are people who get a lot of comments on their blogs, or people who write a lot of posts on forums.

Your second point about managing the conversation is also key. Basically, nobody’s perfect. And if you put yourself out there, you’re bound to get some criticism. But criticism can be GOOD. It can help you understand your users and improve your product. I had an experience with this early on in my product’s life cycle… this thread on a pretty major journalism blog revealed that my marketing strategy wasn’t quite hitting the mark:

http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/09/25/writers-residence-et-al-just-how-stupid-do-you-think-journalism-students-are/

Instead of ignoring the conversation, or responding defensively, I (er, my partner, Tim) decided to LISTEN. We actually turned the blogger’s rant into a fairly productive conversation and made our product look better as a result.

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