Online influence, socially speaking - Dave's Dispatch

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David Farkas

Online influence, socially speaking
June 18, 2008

bloggers meeting a Cleveland Heights coffee house

Influential: Bloggers meeting at Phoenix Coffee

Social influence marketing. A vague term to be sure. It refers to discovering what people who use the Internet are buying and who is influencing their purchases. At least I think it does. Here's how a marketing blogger describes it:

You can be connected to 500 people a mix of family, college friends, peers at work, acquaintances and neighbors. Who influences you the most depends upon what you're purchasing and how important or new that purchase is to you. For each of their products, marketers must understand who those local influencers are (if there are indeed generalizable patterns) and then find ways to reach them too. Otherwise, you'll just know that your customers are hyper-connected through the social networks and nothing more.

From there, presumably, a business devises an online strategy to influence those decisions. Given the millions who look at MySpace, Facebook and blogs, the topic is a hot one on marketing websites like ChiefMarketer.com, where I recently came across two useful articles on the subject.
The article I liked best concerns Harold's Chicken Shack, a popular chain in Chicago that apparently does little advertising:

It's no wonder Harold's doesn't advertise, and doesn't have an official Web page (although some of its locations have sites). Word of mouth about the independent chain has spread thick through social media.

The other piece explains a social influence marketing approach, observing:

The rise of social networks and blogs has allowed consumers to stay far more closely connected with each other. As a result, they are more intimately watching each other transact online and offline. They want to be in compliance. As they observe, they also comment and directly or indirectly influence purchasing behavior.

I happened to read both articles while in the Phoenix Coffee near my house, one of five units in Greater Cleveland. There's free wi-fi here and a laid back atmosphere. People are reading, staring into laptops and talking to the baristas. In fact, it's nearly impossible to order a beverage and not fall into conversation with them. Your coffee may well be cold by the time you're done talking.
In any event I wondered what consumers were saying about Phoenix and whether it would influence anyone to drop by. I Googled "Phoenix Coffee." I found this customer review on openlist.com.

It's a nice warm location with a fireplace with decent seating options. I wish there were more plugs for computers around the fireplace but maybe that's for safety. The service is friendly and helpful. I really feel like I'm at the local coffee spot where everyone seems to be a familiar face. The coffee was really good and since the atmosphere is so welcoming I think it's a great place to relax and catch up with a friend or do some work.

Another site mentioned Phoenix's sponsorship of an upcoming Shakespearean festival, where it would provide coffee and desserts; yet another described a meeting of Cleveland bloggers at one of the units. In short, word has spread about the chain via social media, presumably giving anyone who cares about local businesses a few good reasons to spend their money at Phoenix.

Posted by David Farkas on June 18, 2008 | Comments (0)

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