Defining an influencer in today’s world

We deal with them every day. We spend hours crafting pitches, preparing background documents and making sure they’re happy. But how do we decide who is and isn’t an influencer?

I was fortunate to be able to attend the Social Fresh conference in Portland (for some other takeaways, you can read them here)  recently and I wanted to know how some of the attendees defined who they considered an influencer.

As you can see, the definitions covered the spectrum. In a world where everybody is a publisher, we need to be wary of who we call an influencer. As PR practitioners, we are trying to maintain gold standards while making sure we are getting our clients the best results possible.

Time management

The biggest challenge on PR pros in a world where “influencer” is a fluid term is managing our time asks. Sometimes it’s the smallest of outlets that take the most time.

So how do we decide where to spend our time? In my opinion, we can look at some simple metrics to determine how we allocate our most precious resource.

Impact: This isn’t about eyeballs. This is about action. When this person publishes an article, do people listen and act? Do they generate traffic, signups or sales? Spend some time with them.

Engaged: If they seem to genuinely care about the announcement, chances are they can become a champion for you. Spend some time with them.

Audience: There are two parts to this: Passion and interaction. If the person’s readers are commenting and a conversation generally happens around each post, this helps the “long tail” of an announcement. Spend some time with them.

So, who should you not spend some time with? Quite simply, anybody who can’t help you define your goals.

Now it’s your turn: How do you define an influencer? What effects your perception of a potential pitch recipient? What causes you to say no?