Big brands make social-network influencers part of their marketing strategy

Big brands turn to influencers and opinion leaders for a new edge to their marketing, because they value their ability to spread the word about brands and services over social networks.According to a study taken by Technorati Media in December 2012, 65 percent of leading brands in the United States use such influence as a marketing tool. But even though a majority of brands devote part of their budgets to such strategies, their spend is limited. On average, brands invest only 12 percent of their budgets in outreach to social-network influencers and bloggers.Nonetheless, consumers are interested in what other consumers think, and those with the greatest reach have the potential to exercise considerable influence on friends and followers. According to the study, blogs are considered more influential on the decisions of Internet users than other social media including Facebook.It isn’t easy for advertisers to identify influencers. The number of likes or friends on Facebook and the number of followers on Twitter were some of the key indicators used by brands in the evaluation of these individuals.