Alia Outarahout
MBA 2 a
MID TERM – INFLUENCE MARKETING
1. In YOUR own words, what is the difference between traditional word-of-mouth marketing and Influence Marketing? - Traditional word-of-mouth is a certainly good way to communicate in marketing, but the difference is that it can’t be controlled whereas influence marketing is a more structured way of marketing. People who spread word-of-mouth can only do it within their close circle of acquaintances, or sometimes on forums for a wider audience, but social media influencer are more trusted and have a specific audience that follows him/her. The content of the message is more precise, and the audience is targeted thanks to the level of influence the person has. The other aspect that differentiates these 2 ways to market is that the Word of mouth is an unpaid non-promotional way for a person satisfied or not, to talk about her opinion, thus it is more credible, because we assume that there is no link between the company/brand and the person. That is less the case for influencer marketing, we are not very sure if the person is not promoting a company in exchange of services, discounts, or even if she is paid to do that! To sum up: WOM is a good way, it is very credible, but more limited to spread ideas, Influence marketing, is a growing trends, people are keen on it, but we can verify the honesty of the sayings. Though, as it is become more and more ubiquitous, people trust more and more these influencers. 2. Post a link to the article you read, in addition to the Slideshare. Highlight the key quote. How did the article expand your understanding of the assigned presentation? Support - contradict? Please be specific. Article: Link to the article
Alia Outarahout
MBA 2 a
3. What is the relationship between communities and your social brand - give your insights for Slide 23.
You are considered as a Social brand once the brand recognition is not to prove anymore. The link between community and the social brand is that the Community Build the social brand, but the Social brand is also taking care of its community! It is a win win agreement, and both (the community and the brand) are gathered in a more intimate customer relationship. 4. What is the relationship between Klout scores and Influence Marketing? Is a Klout score meaningful?
Klout is a tool that gathers all your social medias pages. It enables companies or brands to know how big influencers they are, and who are their best influencers. It is based on the number of tweets, posts, comments, the velocity, the audience etc… and calculates you a score ranking from 0 to 100. So as a Hotel, you can see how influential you are, but also what other influencers (i.e.: with a high Klout score) are saying about you. It is very important to monitor the online reputation for a Hotel since everything is done through internet nowadays, very few goes to a travel agency to get reviews about a hotel, but everybody Google it, and read about what is told. As social medias are ubiquitous today, Klout is a good tool for a hotel to know which place it takes in the social networking universe. But be careful, the Klout score doesn’t mean everything, since it is just created by an algorithm. Justin Bieber has the greatest score possible on Klout (100), but his tweets are not particularly deep, full of sense, and enriching his followers’ lives! I want to say that it represents the flow generated by your online activity, but it is
Alia Outarahout
MBA 2 a
mostly quantitative, and not enough qualitative. Klout score is an indicator, but is not 100% representative of “what your worth is as a social media influencer”.
5. Choose one of the two hotels below: HOTEL MISSONI • Create a SIM action plan The hotel already has a twitter account, and a Facebook page, and both seem kept actively! But to implement an action plan, the company has to avoid a common mistake: putting tactics before strategy: Many brands do it, they focus more on launching a twitter account, or a fan page on Facebook, but they often don’t realise that it can be unsustainable. In order to be perennial and to keep going with a efficient communication, they have first to implement a strategy, mid-term and long-term oriented, and to have settled a stable brand image, but also to show a engagement online. This engagement has to be shown through a brand personality, and a customer service, diffused via social media tools. In exchange of which, the Hotel will benefits from a growing loyalty, feedbacks, and products insights. The coverage the Hotel will have is earned. For social Influence marketing, you have to deserve your success, you can invent thousands of fans, if your are not attractive, fans just won’t follow you. The first guidelines would be: - Be pro active: Someone needs to be in charge of keeping the hotel social media content current, and consistantly pointing that the website, twitter account, facebook pages is kept frequently! - the Process: Everything you want to accomplish must be written down, mapped out, and passed out. Strategies must be drawn before tactics are implemented. • Clearly state your objectives: •
Create an engaging platform (pleasant, visual)
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Provide engaging content: contests, video, photos, blog posts, discussions, etc.
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A part of the Facebook Page and the Twitter posts should be about "Deals" and "Sales"
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Involve the other department of the Hotel in this communication as much as possible: Management, Sales, Restaurant, Services…
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Try to attract attracts a different audience
Alia Outarahout
MBA 2 a
• Select at least 3 Social Media as tactics (no points for Facebook) Twitter – of course is a tool unavoidable these days! Foursquare – location based service are good for a Hotel, so people can use it in addition to other application to stamp their position, etc… Linkedin – it can be a great differentiation tool in terms of human ressources! The recruitment can be lead on linkedin, and the Hotel can be active on this tool. • Show how the selected Social Media have synergies
• Explain why you selected these specific media How will you measure the results of the Influence Marketing?