What is the Reach of An Influencer?

By Ted Wright October 3, 2018

By Ted Wright

If you’ve been paying attention, you not only know who influencers are, you know what motivates them to share stories and how to encourage them to support your message.

But what is the word of an Influencer really worth?

A single influencer, according to Procter & Gamble, is worth one million brand-specific conversations, within that person’s social network, within a year.

One million conversations can be generated by a single influencer. So we have a single influencer and a buy-through rate of between 20%-92%. Functionally, this means you can dominate the US market in a category if you start out with a base of 1,000-10,000 influencers.

10,000 influencers x 1,000,000 conversations in a year… run it for a couple of years… you do the math.

The important thing to note here is that P&G is talking about real influencers.

If you’re not using real influencers, the results will look quite different.

Real influencer marketing works because influencers, at their core, love to share. Whether it’s with their small group of friends, coworkers, or thousands of people on social media – they share using word of mouth marketing.

It’s organic, authentic, and they are people who would share whether they’re getting paid or not.

Mistaking a faux influencer for a real influencer is like getting a motorcycle and bicycle confused and trying to go out on the highway. Pick the wrong one and it’s a disaster.

They look kind of the same – they both have a place to sit, a place to put your feet, handlebars… but you need to think through use and outcome before making a decision.

Just to be clear, everybody can be influential about something to someone. But the 10% of the population that are actual influencers share stories at a much larger rate than that of the normal population.

It’s important to know this when creating a Word of Mouth Marketing strategy and defining appropriate target audiences. And when trying to measure Word of Mouth Marketing and its potential effectiveness, it’s critical.

If you are going to invest money into a Word of Mouth Marketing strategy (and you should, because it’s super effective) it makes sense to invest money in a person worth one million brand conversation within a year, instead a few likes on Instagram.

Ted Wright is the founder of Fizz, the world’s leading word of mouth marketing (WOMM) agency. Ted is also an acclaimed WOMM keynote speaker and the author of Fizz: Harness the Power of Word of Mouth Marketing to Drive Brand Growth.