There is a new buzzword making its way around the internet… influencer marketing. The concept has been around awhile, but I’m seeing it pop up a lot with small business and network marketing in particular.

Wikipedia defines Influencer marketing as a form of marketing that has emerged from a variety of recent practices and studies, in which focus is placed on specific key individuals (or types of individual) rather than the target market as a whole. It identifies the individuals that have influence over potential buyers, and orients marketing activities around these influencers.

In a lot of ways, DMAI is more into influencer marketing then traditional marketing. It’s a given that our niche, analytics outsourcing and training, and our client mode, work being done in the Philippines for US and Philippines based business, is not something you will see on billboards and primetime TV commercials.

The majority of new clients and business opportunities have come to us because of a referral or someone we have targeted directly because they are an influencer.

Influencers can be clients, business partners, industry connections or just about anyone who can speak about you and your business in a positive and knowledgeable way. They also have to be credible. And it helps if they like to talk about things they like.

So who are your influencers and are they being correctly targeted with your social media marketing?

Big questions with important answers.