(Updated as we go)
Some of the Pollenizer team are live in the Sydney-side of the Future of Influence Summit and we’re keeping you in the loop.
As the day rolls on, we’ll keep adding more comments, content and maybe the odd photo/video or two (if you’re lucky).
It starts at 8.20am, so get some coffee and let’s get started.
7.43 – Mick – The room is being prepared, Randall is checking over his notes and you can smell the coffee in the air.
7:50 – Fleur – Doors open in 10 minutes
8:10 – Fleur – What are your thoughts on The Influence Landscape? Who are the major players? How is this going to change in the future? All this and more open for discussion today.
8:22 – Fleur – Room filling up. Not long now until we’re watching Howard Rheingold live from San Fran!
8:31 – Fleur – Howard’s the author of Smart Mobs, and credited with coining the term ‘virtual communities’. Today he’ll be discussing ‘The Future of Reputation’ – How much will trust be integral to the development of future virtual networks?
8:40 – Fleur – Video link is up to San Fran, and Howard about to begin…
9:00 – Fleur – Howard has come up with the term ‘Infotention’ – A combination of attention, information and intention, and a description of the way we digest information online. We’re bombared with so much news, opinions, images….How are we meant to trust everything we see online?
Today, influence is largely built on search. If you’re first on google, you’re top dog. But it’s increasingly important to be tell the difference between good and bad content on your own terms. Those who can differentiate will be ahead of the pack.
Information filtration tools are being developed to help us. These are of incredible value to the future of trust and reputation online.
9.06 – Mick – 
9:37 – Fleur – Does social networking = influence? Howard talks about the importance of building up your social learning network. Hook up with credible people you can learn from.
11:15 – Fleur – Sorry everyone, some internet issues. Catch up on this morning coming soon…
11:27 – Fleur – Cross-continental panel No. 1
Michael Brito, social media strategist, Intel
Intel is using social media to listen to cosumerers. It’s vital to take this information and act on it. Social media is an opportunity for innovation.
Paul Fisher, CEO, IAB Australia
We need to come up with an innovative way of measuring influence.
In the current model, engagement is being measured as time spent on a website, how many pages did they view, click through rate.
But as the investment of dollars into digital grows, advertisers wil want to know more. They will be buying influence, but what exactly is this, and how will it be measured? It has to go beyond simple audience measurement.
Brian Solis, Author, Putting the Public back in Public Relations
It’s hard to define influence. What is it? What does it involve? Brian defines it as the “ability to inspire action”.
He argues that twitter, facebook etc. is activity, not influence. To have influence, you have to figure out what you are doing with the data you gather on social media. What do you want out of this engagement with so many people? You have define what you’re going to measure.
Tony Surtees, CEO, iPrime
Does the buzz coming from social media represent the opinion of real leaders? It’s important that those in power are actively involved in the conversation. In this current confetti economy, how rationally can an organisaiton be actively involved in these conversations?
Erin Byrne, Chief Digital Stratgist, Burson-Marsteller
For comapnies to be able to reach people, they have to create a social brand. Which large companies can you think of which are engaged in social media? They are taking part in a great opportunity.
Erin advocates Quality over quantity. She tells her clients that it’s better to reach 10 people who really matter as opposed to 10,000 that don’t.
Companies can build brand awareness through advertising, and then use social media to connect.
In today’s market it’s less about having control over an audience, and more about having influence. To do this, you must find the people who are relevant to your brand, and create meaningful conversations with them.
Consumers aren’t as trusting of media anymore. They require more in depth information from both online and offline channels from credible sources.
11:30 – Fleur – Brian Solis says it’s important to remember there’s a world outside of this social media thing. There are huge networks that have no idea what twitter is. Are we making this into somehting bigger than it is?
Yes, it may interest and influence people in the digital industry, but is this enough evidence of real influence?
11:31 – Fleur – Erin Byrne: Reputation can take a long time to gain. Social media might not be the only answer, as it tends to only paint part of the picture. Important to now forget the greater vision.
11:36 – Fleur – Conversations…
Paul Fisher- interactive industry is in danger of reproducing old metrics instead of creating innovative ways of measurement. We need to understand dvertising is just one branch of strategy. Marketing and advertising barriers are becoming blurred.
Brian Solis- to have influence, you have to find the people that are open to it. Discover your brand personality, and figure out how you are going to convey that in a conversation.
Tony Surtees – companies have to keep informed of the communities that have conversations about them
Michael Brito – It’s about people. Respond, Listen and Engage in the community, and you become influential.
11:50 – Fleur – Cross-continental conversation Number 2
Stephen Howard-Sarin, VP Products, CBS Interactive – influence doesn’t come from the top down anymore. It’s horizontal network.
Duncan Riley, Editor, The Inquisitr – the line up of trust agents has changed. The individual is becoming more and more powerful. In the new world, the market has more power.
Steve Weaver, Network Research Director, Channel Nine – Is finding they need to focus on specific markets. Traditionally in charge of the broadcast, things have changed, and the viewer has more power. Broadcast channels are driving the message, viewes are receiving it, and then replaying it back in new ways.
Khris Loux, CEO JS-Kit – People are not fooled anymore. They can sort the truth from the lies. If you open up and give them the truth in the beginning, you win.
12:15 – Fleur – Panel: Tapping the power of influence in real life
Richard Bell, Marketing Director, Threebyone
What are the issues in engaging influence campaigns in real life?
People want to be a lot more responsible, and ethical. They want to find brands that have that as part of their personality too.
Larry Hedgles, Co-Founder, Brewtopia
Does word-of-mouth marketing work? How do those conversations transfer to actual financial transactions?
They risk looking contrived.
Sharyn Smith, CEO, Soup
Controversy creates conversations. But is success measured by the number of people talking about your product?
How can we ignite conversations? What do people want to talk about? These sorts of questions forces companies to think about their brands in new ways.
Mike Hill, Director, Holler Sydney
Digital marketing must be relevant, show a true value exchange, and be sharable
When we say trust and credability must be earned, this represents blood, sweat and tears. But this is where the money lies.
12:20 – Fleur – Marketers should invest in the long term, while working in the short term.
Short term involves constant contact with your consumers/audiences. Via iPhone you have access to them all the time. Use this for the big picture.
12:30 – Fleur – authenticity as king – Pressure is on brands to do everything right. Is this mentality time-specific (eg swayed by GFC) or audience specific?
Has marketing lost its sense of fun? We can’t mess around with people anymore, everyone wants honesty and truth. Does this mean it’s the perfect time for your brand to move in the opposite direction?
12:32 – Fleur – How do we use social media in a successful way?
- Listen to your target audience. Put the leg work in and use available tools.
- Don’t trust the average. Go to the leaders and get their reactions.
- Learn by mistakes. But go hard.
12:55 – Fleur – Roundtable Discussions…
- The ‘new’ agency – what will it look like? How will they function?
- How do brands protect themselves from the Hype Cycle?
- How can you tell the early adopters vs cool people?
- What is the future of twitter? Are we thinking of all it’s possible uses?
13:00 – Fleur – Questions to think about…
- What drives successful word of mouth marketing?
- How can publishers tap influence to build audiences?
- What capabilities do agencies need to build when influence is at the centre?
- How can you best use online tools for identifying and engaging influencers?
- How will Twitter be used in the future by influencers and marketers?
- What is the relationship between online and offline influence?
14:02 – Fleur – The Future of the Infuence Economy
Joe Talcott, Group Marketing Director, News Limited – The technology is taking a background place. It’s the great enabler, but what matters is what, and how, we communicate. It’s not just a blog – What are you saying? Are you making a difference? No one cares if you twitter 50 times a day. What did you say?
Trust online is based on the affiliation, or likeness, you see in others. If you think they’re like you in some way, you’re more likely to trust them
Wendy Hogan, Vice President, CBS Interactive Australia – Be in contextually relevant environments, don’t just throw it out there and hope.
Paul Bennet, CEO, Euro RSCG – Trust is something we have to nurture.
80% of communication is non verbal. How does this work in a digital environment?
14:05 – Fleur – Question: How do you reach the non-tech influencers?
14:18 – Fleur – Expert Workshop – Practical Steps to Identifying and Engaging Influencers Online beginning soon…
14:30 – Fleur – Brian Giesen, Director of digital strategy, 360degree digital influence
Why does social media matter?
Because it’s where the people are.
Trust is shifting. We’re looking to others to help us make decisions.
Content is consumed differently. Not only a website anymore. Expected social web presence.
Search is the new homepage –
Research on social media leads to smarter marketing
Can generate offline action
It is safe – Companies can open the barriers without worry
Builds preference – using influential bloggers to help you
Expands the reach of offline events – make it easy for users to publish at events – real time reporting
Employees are hungry for training – help them
14:45 – Fleur – Listening to social media
Companies should have systems in place. Discover the positive and negative word of mouth.
Develop conversation criteria – the keywords you’ll be searching for.
Free tools: google alerts, google blogs, technorati, blog pulse trends, dailyinfluence.com, facebook lexicon, search.twitter.com
Consolidated Monitoring: radian 6, buzz numbers
Advanced Services: nielsen buzz numbers, visible technologes, brandtology, buzzlogin, umbria, kaava, andiamo, biz360, ewatch, mediasource, crimson hexagon.
Use to:
- gather marcom insights,
- rapid response (crisis management),
- media optimisation – analyse key trends,
- measurement
- Product development
14:53 – Fleur – Assessing Influence – what do you look for when looking for an influential blogger?
- The number of inbound links
- Frequency of blogging – the more the better
- The number of followers or subscribers
- The number and content of comments. More than 10 is good, and the longer the better. It means the writer is engaging audience.
- Look at the about page to see their background
- Check their searchability – does it come up on the first page of google?
- Check their traffic
For other forms of media such as YouTube, forums, social networks – look for number of followers, links, downloads, views, relevant groups, community features, affiliations and peer assessments/ratings.
15:05 – Fleur – Influencing Mapper – Who are the influencers you’re after?
Do a influencer audit…
Look at them from a broad perspective, and then define the ones you want to research/target.
Then use tools to search for them – blogs, message boards, social networks, multimedia, bookmakring sites, consumer review sites, groups.
Use tools to determine influence (as above in ‘assessing influence’).
Here are Brian’s slides – very detailed. Have a flick through and you’ll have a thorough grasp of all things discussed during the workshop.