How 10 women on Twitter influenced skincare purchases of more than 9 million in just four weeks – and why it pays to know who’s going to influence someone to buy (or not buy) your product.
We are 12 times more likely to trust someone “like us” than a brand, politician or business. And when 82% of us don’t buy anything without validation from non-interested ‘people like us’ on social networks – no one can afford to ignore the social intelligence that helps you become ‘besties’ with your influential customers.
Knowing who is influencing the conversation about your brand, product or service is as vital to win them as ‘word of mouth ambassadors’ who will amplify your message and drive conversions and sales.
Not knowing – and not engaging them as individuals – is bad for business.
Just ask Estee Lauder.
Last spring, Verifeed analyzed social conversations on Twitter about self-tanners, moisturizers and other skincare products. What we found was startling.
Estee Lauder had 121,100 followers at the time. Kona Tans had 3,450.
Guess who engaged the most people?
Some 50,260 women amplified Tweets from or about Kona self-tanners directly linked to digital shopping carts to influence almost 272,481 purchases, while women shared Tweets about Estee Lauder tanners just 648 times to reach 13,272. Extrapolate that over 12 months assuming same rate of activity and engagement strategy, and Kona “ambassadors” trump those sharing Estee Lauder messaging 20:1.
Could Estee Lauder learn some new tricks from newcomers using social intelligence?