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President and co-founder of Spongecell, Ben Kartzman provides the strategic direction for the company.He is also responsible for sales and marketing of Spongecell.

Previously, Ben was director of Product Management for Guidester, Inc., a venture capital-backed Internet company. He led the re-development and re-deployment of Guidester.com and successfully created new affiliate relationships and developed new sources of revenue generation for both affiliates and the company.

Ben established himself as a formidable leader in global team building and developing highly usable software products through his experiences with Accenture, Morgan Stanley, Intel and several venture-backed start-ups in New York.As an executive at Accenture, he led the sales and delivery of high-value management consulting engagements. While there, he helped his client, Morgan Stanley, to quadruple the size of its onshore and offshore team. By significantly growing the team’s revenues, Ben experienced a meteoric rise in both title and responsibility at Accenture within a year.Prior to Accenture, Ben was a senior consultant with Bridgeline Software, where he increased sales by several million dollars within 18 months. At Bridgeline and also at C-bridge Internet Solutions, Ben built cross-functional teams to create next-generation portals for clients like The Bank of New York.

Ben graduated with honors from Carnegie Mellon University with a double major in Information & Decision Systems and Human-Computer Interaction. Ben was awarded the prestigious Merck & Company, Inc.Fellowship and the Capital One Scholarship.

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Influencing The Influencers: Joining the Circle of Trust

Written on
February 5th 2008
Author
by Ben Kartzman  |
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I challenge you to make it through a day without participating in a brand-related conversation. From what’s hot (or not) in music and fashion, to the best mp3 players to bad customer service (name any cable or telecom company), if there is a brand presence, chances are someone, somewhere is talking about it right this minute.

Americans have 3.5 billion brand-related conversations per day, according to a recent report by the Keller Fay Group. Added to that, nearly 80% of consumers trust recommendations from friends, family, and “trusted” sources over any form of advertising. With a population of 300 million, that means the average American engages in over 10 per day; 8 of which is likely more influential than any advertisement or paid sponsorship. 

The truth is, participating in word of mouth is fun, and people love being brand advocates – especially when they go online. Social networks, blogs, forums and the like thrive because they provide opportunities to share, engage, gossip, complain, and praise with likeminded others who have equally informed opinions. At a time when the “real” world is increasingly fragmented, brand-related conversations bring strangers together and become central to how people construct their online identities.

By understanding the social nature of the online consumer it becomes easier for brands to reach influencers and insert themselves into the seemingly closed circles of brand-related conversations.  Engage consumers in the places where they “live” online instead of serving ads that might disrupt their online experience.  Focus on why, where, and ultimately HOW your audience might participate in a conversation.  Empower influencers to become advocates by providing tools to move brand messages to friends, family and online communities.

Evolving Platforms, Evolving Communities

I remember sitting in a packed room at OMMA for a session on emerging media, and the panel leader opened with the question “by show of hands, how many people have clicked on a banner ad recently?” 

Nobody raised a hand. 

Years ago they may have. During the times when Internet navigation was more basic –people went into chat rooms to connect with others, the Internet seemed like an open frontier, and dot com companies boomed with great promise.

The Internet now is about sharing, sharing, sharing! Sharing is about being social, but sharing also establishes status.  Content “goes viral” when a person initiates connections with others and sharing “insider” information with their network of friends and family.  The most active influencers on the Internet establish credibility in online communities by way of actively introducing new threads into ongoing conversations and sharing freshly discovered content and opinions. 

An influencer will hunt through pages of search links and obscure websites like they are on a treasure hunt to find content that is relevant and new. By providing tools to easily share content – MySpace widgets, Facebook applications, videos, access to contacts in email, reminders via email/SMS, personal calendars, RSS feeds, etc.—brands can empower influencers to accomplish their mission and in doing so insert themselves into trusted networks of online communities. 

Maximum Choices, Maximum Impact

Key influencers spend a significant amount of time online to stay informed and they carefully police the boundaries of their online communities.

Brands should not think like rebellious teenagers – there is a difference between any attention and good attention.  Flashy banner and pre-roll ads risk annoying the most influential consumers who spend hours a day navigating websites. The use of interactive publishing tools maximizes engagement and encourages spreading “the word” (whatever that may be) virally. By offering multiple user-friendly communications tools, influencers can easily share information across email, SMS, personal calendars, websites and social networks. It’s about giving options to people in this age of “Me” media to let them express their opinions, while retaining control of the brand.  Let the influencers do the heavy lifting instead of trying to storm the castle they carefully guard.   

Influencers are always one step ahead of the curve.  Technology that is new to a brand is probably old news to such early adopters and avid Internet surfers who are often early adopters. An example of this is Facebook and MySpace. There were already millions on the network before brands began seeking out opportunities to market on the networks. By actively seeking out emerging media, brands can find new ways to move messages and provide influencers with vessels for sharing branded content. This key group is constantly searching for new “treasures”, and when they find something they like, brands should empower them with every opportunity to bring back the prize that will impress their friends and spark a brand-related conversation in their online communities.

The web is a powerful tool to reach and connect with influencers, but that’s only the beginning. Once you have their attention, you must keep it and engage your target again and again through a variety of mediums of their choosing.  It’s about holding their attention over a period of time and having these influencers not only interact with the brand, but become the brand’s ambassador. By doing so, conversations about the brand within the “inner circle” eventually become a defining characteristic of the “inner circle,” as the influencer engages his/her respective groups (and all the subsequent groups connected by each individual).



Reader Comments.

Indeed, the media landscape has changed and is still doing so. It is conversational and participatory. The latter already from both sides now, the consumers and the marketers one.

Posted by mediablogger | 1:16 pm on February 28, 2008.

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