I asked my Twitter peers recently if they know any good places to stay in Barcalona or Madrid since I’m going on vacation in a few weeks and all I have at the moment are some plane tickets. A few Twitter friends replied with some good tips. Trustworthy sources; they have been to these locations and they are positive about the hotels they stayed. After visiting some of the hotel websites, viewing their photo’s on sites like Flickr and Picasa, and watching some video’s of these hotels, I made up my mind and put out a reservation. Simple as that. Would I have done the same if I would be approached by some traveling agency or local hotel? Maybe – I am a sucker for social media enthusiasts and participants – but probably not. This is exactly why you should have online influencers. People that recommend your products or services to their peers based on goodwill and without commercial interests.

According to Razorfish’ latest report about social influencers, there are three different kinds of influencers:

• Key influencer – usually creators with a huge (not personal) network in a niche market;
• Social influencer – participators that are commenting on blog posts, and write product reviews;
• Known peer influencer – peers close to the actual decision maker, usually friends or family members.

The last one – know peer influencer – is the most interesting, because this person is the closest to a potential new customer, and thus the most trustworthy from a consumer point of view. He or she will also suffer or benefit from the consequences of a recommendation.

Recommendations are usually done based on actual consumer experiences with a specific product, service, or brand - so this ‘known peer influencer’ is actually a customer of ours, someone already available through our network. These are people we can reach out to, thanking them for using our products and asking them for feedback or improvements, answer any questions they might have, or ask them to share resources like photo’s and video’s. Engaging with them (online) will result in increased brand affinity. If any of their family members or friends will request a recommendation, they will be happy to introduce us.

Moral of this post: do not focus too much on what everybody is saying about your brand – focus on your customers - engage with them, treat them with care, hug them. Let your customer spread your message.