Happy New Year! At the beginning of the year (and the start of a new decade), it’s appropriate to acknowledge one of the year’s hottest trends: Influence Measurement. While many others at Forrester and elsewhere have approached influence from a consumer data standpoint or from a purely social standpoint, it’s important for Customer Intelligence professionals to learn about and measure influence using all of the data and channels at their disposal.

My new report, Defining Influence As A Strategic Marketing Metric, written with researcher extraordinaire, Zach Hofer-Shall, presents a framework for influence measurement. Here’s a brief snapshot: We see influence as the amount of power individuals have over your brand based on their individual characteristics and the size and quality of their networks. Based on these dimensions, we’ve distinguished three influencer archetypes: The Spider, The Sun, and The Source.

Spidersunsource

Because our definition of influence is flexible, it can be tailored to match the marketing goals, business objectives, and customer composition of a variety of Customer Intelligence professionals looking to measure, track, and exploit influence. And, this measure can be incorporated into the overall measurement scheme.

Look out for the next report in the series: Overcoming The Challenges Of Influence Measurement. And feel free to reach out with questions and comments. We’re more than happy to help you figure out how influence measurement fits into your customer profiles and your measurement plans.