A guest post by Bill Chamberlin
WOMMA (The Word of Mouth Marketing Association) has recently announced the publication of it’s 2013 Influencer Guidebook. This Guidebook is an educational resource for marketers to better understand the mechanics and metrics of influencer marketing. 
I’m excited about this new Guidebook because, I was part of a WOMMA committee that researched, developed, and wrote it over the past year. My fellow Research & Measurement Council members on this project were Neil Beam (Neil was our committee leader. He’s from MotiveQuest), Ashley Libby (The Anca Group), Bill Chamberlin (IBM), Jane Collins (BlogHer), Michael Fein (Fanscape), Amy Laine (IBM), Susan Emerick (IBM)and Dhara Naik (Social@Ogilvy).
With the rise in social media over the past five years, Influencer Marketing programs have become an important part of any social media marketing strategy. All types of organizations are looking for influencers who have the potential to change the purchasing behavior of the people who follow them.
The WOMMA 2013 Influencer Guidebook helps those that are developing Influencer programs in a number of ways:
- Definitions. Four critical elements have been defined and discussed: Influence, Key Influencers, Influencees, and Influencer Marketing and their relationship to each other
- Types of Influencers: The identification and description of five distinct categories of influences: Advocate, Ambassador, Citizen, Celebrity, and Professional/Occupational
- Program Considerations: A discussion of three levels of program considerations a marketer should consider when constructing their influencer marketing program
- Influencer Attributes: Picking the right influencers is important. A discussion and list of attributes that an influencer can possess is discussed.
- Metrics: The Guidebook clarifies the difference between “potential to influence” metrics from that of “actual/observed influence” metrics – there is a difference and different methodologies are required
These five areas are all covered in a single, easy-to-read’ PDF file that make the new guidebook an important read for anyone considering or implementing an influencer marketing program. To get the Guidebook, you need to be a registered WOMMA member (see below for a description of WOMMA). If you are not a member, but want some more detail on the guidebook, here’s a few links for you to get more information.
- June 6 Webinar: Influencer Marketing-Put it to Work!
- WOMMA Blog Post: Influencer Marketing: Put it to Work
- WOMMA Blog Post: WOMM-U 2013: Influencer Marketing – Put It to Work!
- WOMMA Blog Post: 5 Takeaways from the WOMMA Influencer Guidebook
- WOMMA Blog Post: Influencer Handbook Series: The Evolution of the Citizen Influencer
- WOMMA Blog Post: Influencer Handbook Series: How to Use Celebrity Influencers
- WOMMA Blog Post: Influencer Handbook Series: Finding Citizen Influencers Online & Offline
- WOMMA Blog Post: Meet WOMMA’s New Influencer Guidebook 2013
About The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA)
The Word of Mouth Marketing Association is a trade association in the word of mouth and social media marketing industries. The organization is committed to developing and maintaining appropriate ethical standards for marketers and advertisers engaging in such marketing practices, identifying meaningful measurement standards for such marketing practices, and defining “best practices” for the industry.
