Vocus webinar on influence

Yesterday Vocus hosted a very interesting webinar regarding “The Influencer Poll” featuring Brian Solis.  I first learned about the poll via HARO, which is a great service for matching journalists with sources, and the webinar presented the results with some analysis. I’d recommend watching it, available at clk.st/hx8hxx.

The poll determined that the recipe for a successful social media campaign embodies:

• relevant content
• measurable outcomes
• connected to right individuals & networks

An overwhelming 81% of respondents believe a post-click action (purchase, registration, vote, download, etc.) is the most important criteria for evaluating the success of a campaign or content.

This was reiterated by a quote from the audio track– “if you’re not driving an outcome, you are just competing for the moment … and there’s just no way to win”.

Obviously here at Clickst we have a strong vision on what it means to be an influencer, and it was nice to see that vision reinforced by an independent survey. We have always known that popularity != reach != influence, and are happy to see other marketers appreciating the difference. As Brian noted, “the ability to get someone to retweet something isn’t as important as to get them to DO something”.

We predict that the coming year will further the trend towards measuring performance across all aspects of a campaign, and tying it to measurable business objectives. This transformation will initially overwhelm but eventually transform the practice of marketing (including media, brand, direct response, social, etc.).

Update: Corrected 91% -> 81% (typo in original post)