After an amazing day at the Children’s Miracle Network Social Media Summit with @cmnhospitals and thought leader Brian Solis (@briansolis) the stark reality that not all friends, followers and fans are created equal is unfolding as a living metaphor before my eyes.
I’m writing this post from my iPhone at 2:20am while in line at the San Francisco airport. I’m waiting to reschedule my flight after the wonderfully aged MD-80 that was to take me home to Indianapolis puttered out. Now I find myself behind 80 other tired people waiting to reschedule my flight, hoping for sleep and perhaps some small token of apology in the form of a soft hotel bed for a few hours or a few thousand frequent flyer miles.
Tough chance though. I’m a nobody to them. With hardly any sky miles to my name I don’t command as much importance to them as one of their more frequent clients. And so we arrive at the brutal truth of the situation. As social media marketers an PR professionals, we don’t have the time to engage each and every fan, friend or follower of our brand. So, just as Delta is also dealing with a scarce resource ($) they, like us, will focus on engaging with and ensuring that the most important customers are the ones who remain happy.
This post isn’t a rant, it’s simply meant to highlight what we all do, every day, when faced with making decisions and allocating scarce resources. The difference here is that an airline has a built in method for identifying and engaging with their most influential friends, followers and fans (read frequent flyer points and customer loyalty programs.)
Do you have a way to identify your influencers? Is it built into your business model? How are you seeking your most passionate fans? 1500 miles from home at 2:45 am, the importance of finding my brand’s influencers has never been more clear.
