Connectors & Influencers

A large part of our work in building thriving private online communities revolves around identifying those social connectors, or Influencers, that can kick-start the community and spread the good word. The practice of spreading the word, or 'word-of-mouth marketing' as it has recently been defined, has born many books (notably Andy Sernovitz's aptly titled 'Word of Mouth Marketing') and an organisation called WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association). WOMMA's mission is to promote and improve word-of-mouth marketing through the definition of best practice, ethics and by evangelising.

Recently, WOMMA has launched their Influencer Handbook which helps identify who these people are, what differentiates them and how best to engage them. It's a concise and easy to use guide and one we recommend anyone interested in engaging connectors and Influencers digest.

My favourite part of the book is its identification of how Influencers aren't doing what they do to help your brand; they are doing it to help other users. This is similar to the approach of open-source development and one to keep a careful eye for the future, in all forms.

Categories: Co-creation.

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