Social Graph and Peer Influence Pyramid
24 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
Mark Zuckerberg coined the term Social Graph as “the global mapping of everybody and how they’re related”. Now businesses are using Social Graphs to connect with potential customers, and extend their brand connections. With more and more people using the mobile web to keep up to date with their social network means real time information is now essential, consumers are influenced by their peers on a daily basis, and they can act as brand ambassadors.
Example of a Social Graph using Facebook Social Graph App
Facebook is still the largest Social Networking website; however there are thousands of other networks which mean we have overlapping social graphs – this social data is of great interest to businesses that are trying to connect with you and your network. Currently, you need to have different log ins for different social networks, but if there was a universal social graph we could link all our social networking together, and utilize our Social Graph much more affectively, and make our online experience more engaging and connected, and keep our Social Graph accurate.
Augie Ray outlined a Peer Influence Pyramid that breaks down influencers into three types: Social Broadcasters (at the top), Mass Influencers (middle), and Potential Influencers (bottom of the pyramid).
Social Broadcasters are the top bloggers, most well-connected individuals, and have a lot of followers looking to them for news and advice.
The Mass Influencer breaks into two types, the Mass Connector and the Mass Maven, as shown on this Forrester Blog. A statistic from the US demonstrated that Mass Influencers make up just 16% of the US population, but are responsible for 80% of the influence impressions and posts about products and services in social channels.
Forrester's Peer Influence Pyramid
These Influencers create and share content about products, brands and services via social networking websites, or other social channels such as YouTube, blogs and review sites. They have an extremely powerful voice, and may already have a strong, loyal following online. Brands need to consider who they are marketing to as an important factor, if they can get their message across to a Mass Connector or Maven then they can spread the brand message using their online influence.
Potential Influencers are the well-known “average consumer” who have primarily networks of people they actually know in an offline context (friends, family, peers). These networks are rich with trust, and make up 84% of the total population of the pyramid.
Macala Wright Lee wrote an article for Mashable which has some great advice for reaching key online influencers, and keeping it relevant to your business.
Businesses can use their Social Graph to make all their online content accessible and easy to share. By reaching the key influencers outlined in the Peer Influence Pyramid tis can excel a businesses online profile to help them become more successful and trusted by consumers. Being trusted is one of the main challenges of online marketing, and if this can be tackled on social media then the business has added value.
