Chapter 2 People Are  Media  Companies

They call us gamers, influencers, internet famous, but we  know something that they don’t. 

Core Principles 1. Media dollars follow attention. 2. Democracy decentralized attention. 3.  Knowledge is a commodity. 4. Creativity is the only gatekeeper.

The study found that Generation Z members were  not as interested in ads that featured celebrities, but receptive to ads that  told an interesting story (56%), with humor (72%) and great music (58%).

The Impact of YouTube

Six in ten YouTube subscribers would follow advice  on what to buy from their favorite creator over their  favorite TV or movie personality.

Seven in ten YouTube subscribers say that YouTube  creators change or shape culture.

70% of teenage YouTube subscribers say they can relate  to YouTube creators more than traditional celebrities.

86% of viewers on YouTube say they regularly turn to  YouTube to learn something new.

A few years ago, the eyes were on Blogger, WordPress, Twitter, and  Facebook. Today it’s Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat.

Chapter 3  Influence Is an Outcome, Not a Profession

It’s unlikely that a specific individual would exert a generic influence on your deci-sions. There are, however, levers you can push, pull, or move in different directions to change the outcome and strategies that you can apply to set things up to be in your favor.

The three levers of influence

Influence = Audience Reach x Affinity (Expertise, Credibility) x  Strength of Relationship with Audience (Engagement).

Audience size 

Make sure that the creator you’re working with has an audience that  overlaps with your audience. Assure that you understand how many  creators there are in a specific follower range and your market. 

Key questions: Who is our target audience? Who has an audience  that can help us reach this audience? How large audience should  each person we’re working with have?

Affinity

Key questions: Affinity: Is there a natural liking for my brand or sympathy for the  marketing message? Expertise: Is this person knowledgeable in my particular  field? Credibility: Why is this person trusted or believed by their audience, and  what’s the “reason to believe” in the marketing message or your promise?

Strength ofrelationship

Key questions: What target engagement rate should I aim for? Is this  number rea-sonable with the former two strategies in mind? 

how do you identify key opinion leaders relevant to your marketing  objec-tive?

1.\ Opinion leaders have greater exposure to mass  media than their followers. 

2.\ Opinion leaders are more “cosmopolite” than their  followers. They are “people on the edge” and can bring  new ideas from outside their social group to its members. 

3.\ Opinion leaders have greater contact with change  agents than their followers. 

4.\ Opinion leaders have greater social participation  than their followers. 

5.\ Opinion leaders have higher socioeconomic status  than their followers.

6.\ Opinion leaders are more innovative than their followers. 

7.\ Opinion leaders are more innovative when a social  system’s norms favor change, but when the  system’s norms do not favor change, opinion  leaders are not especially innovative. 

Finding the right creators

Owning your talent pool 

clear definition of what you’re looking for in  terms of style, diversity, sentiments, values

identify who’s responsive and share your core values along with a clearly  expressed interest in working with your brand.

the long tail

First, there’s  a greater supply of content creators found in the long tail. Secondly, their  audiences are paying closer attention to what they’re doing. On the flipside,  you’d have to collaborate with a much larger collective of creators to make up  for the lim-ited reach and sheer size of each individual audience.