Who are the influencers? Ever since the New York Times Sunday Review published an opinion piece on the rising relevance of influencer metrics, that's been the burning question on every marketer's mind. But, as an innocuous comment from Beth Harte reminded me, the reality is that influencers are often not the people that immediately come to mind.

Beth wrote, "As the research shows, it's the quiet ones we all need to look out for, not the flashy rock stars." That reminded me of a slide I once saw at an early WOMMA conference. While I don't recall the presenter, I've never forgotten the actual slide and have often used it to demonstrate our misconceptions about what makes someone an "influencer."

The slide was very simple: just a headline and photo. The headline was a simple question: "Who is the most influential person?" The photo featured a group portrait of the typical people who inhabit the modern-day corporate office:




  • The Type A sales guy


  • The cool and steady senior executive


  • The quiet admin


  • The serious lawyer


  • The young marketing hotshot


  • The IT geek



Most people immediately assumed the most influential person was either the senior executive or the sales guy. Both certainly looked the part: $1000 suit, slick hair, cool air of confidence, etc.


The answer? The quiet admin.


'''The immediate reaction was shocked disbelief. But in hindsight, it began to make sense.




  • Who makes everyone's travel arrangements and thus constantly makes referrals to restaurants, hotels, and other area attractions to out-of-town visitors?


  • Who has worked at the company for 25 years and knows exactly who to ask in order to get things done?


  • Who makes sure you get 10 minutes of the CEO's time when her calendar is booked solid for six weeks in a row?


  • Who knows where emergency funding can be found when everyone else is telling you "there's no budget"?


  • Who do you ask when you need a decent pen?



If we're going to seek out influencers, our job as marketers is to make sure we find the right influencers. It's all too easy to just find the people with the  highest Klout scores or half a million Twitter followers, and call it a day. We must resist that impulse to rely on one magic number and not do our homework.  After all, it's the quiet ones who are most influential, not the most flashiest or loudest.


What do you think? Agree or disagree?

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'Influencers'? What's That? (Not What You Think)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

With his mantra “it’s about the people, not the technology,” Michael E. Rubin serves as the Social Media Strategist for Fifth Third Bank. As one of the first employees of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) and the Social Media Business Council, Michael has made his career helping Fortune 500 brands put Social Media to work.

With more than ten years experience in marketing and PR, Michael has partnered with the world’s leading marketers and industry experts to develop Social Media and Word-Of-Mouth into a mainstream marketing disciplines.

Michael serves on the Advisory Committee of the Institute for Social Media at Cincinnati State University, and has lectured on social media at both the University of Cincinnati College of Business and Leadership Northern Kentucky. He resides in Cincinnati with his wife Pam, dog Ruby, and cat Chainsaw (long story). Last but not least, Michael remains a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan and proudly eat hot dogs with ketchup.

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Michael E. Rubin
Call me: 847-370-3421
Email me: merubin@gmail.com
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The views expressed in this post are my own and not those of Fifth Third Bank or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries or of any person or organization affiliated with or doing business with Fifth Third Bank.