July 21, 2016 8:53 am
Published by Kirsty Sharman
There’s no deny traditional marketing has evolved, shifting away from broadcasting brand messages through mass media, towards two-way communication.
But even back when there was no Internet to connect brands more closely with their target markets, there was an element of influencer marketing floating around in the marketing mix: peer-to-peer communication. Or simply put: word of mouth.
A housewife may have recommended the washing detergent she saw on TV to her friends - but there was no way for brands to track, measure or even prove that this communication took place.
Fast-forward to today, the rise of the digital media means that consumers can reject the uninvited, one-way brand messages they were once bombarded with. The opinions of their friends count for more. Word of mouth has become king.
That housewife? Now she has a parenting blog and is able to reach more of her friends than she ever did at bridge club. And thanks to technology like
Webfluential, brands are able to track and measure online conversations around their products and services.
Take a look at this infographic, taken from an article written by Webfluential’s Kirsty Sharman, where she explains the evolution of brand storytelling. It clearly shows how influencer marketing has come full circle. Click
here to see it.
