We live in the Age of Influence. I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again (I might even trademark it for posterity!). Yet influence comes in many flavours. Yes there’s the high-level, top-down political and social influence such platforms are becoming increasingly renowned for. A subtle yet obviously powerful form (to judge by the recent Facebook/ Cambridge Analytical affair) of manipulation/persuasion aimed at swaying our collective views and opinion — and available to the highest bidder.

But equally there’s the more benign influence brands and marketing professionals rely on social networks to help build — the “we need to create a ‘want’ for our product, and for you to aspire to it” form of thinking. And it’s here that advertisers have more options than ever. Well, three primary options at least:

1. They can ‘spray and prey’ a message out to the market — and pay to target a specific audience demographic in the hope some might actually engage

2. They can ‘go big’, and pay for a celebrity endorsement — or at least someone with a large following. This however can be costly, as the Kim Kardashians of this world don’t come cheap. Indeed, someone with 3–7million followers can typically expect to charge $187,000 for a post on YouTube, $93,000 for a Facebook post, and $75,000 for a mention on Instagram or Snapchat.

3. They can ‘go small’. Real small. Micro/nano-level small — which takes us into the world of true influencer marketing, and paying small amounts of money to individuals with limited followings (friends and family) to recommend and promote a product. The value here being that you can afford to pay a LOT of people to talk you up, rather than putting all of your eggs in one Kardashian-shaped basket (other celebrities are available!)

Putting a price on influence

All three approaches bring with them their own challenges.

Approach 1 is held back by the simple fact that very few users engage with ads on social media. Well, not with any real meaning or purpose. Yes you can get creative, entice with humor and intrigue etc., but the returns on offer do not suggest this is a long-term sustainable option.

Approach 2, the celebrity option, is also not quite as effective as the surface glamor would have you believe. Statistics point to the fact that just 3% of consumers are influenced by celebrity endorsements when making product-purchasing decisions. Further, it’s also suggested that 70% of millennials are actually more influenced by the recommendations of their peers.

Which brings us to the 3rd approach. Influencer marketing is now big business. We can all instinctively appreciate the importance of trust in a product recommendation — made by someone inside our inner circle. The challenge comes from the complexities involved in making this happen. Of getting the details of available offers to the influencer community, and then rewarding them for their efforts. To this can be added a lack of transparency, pricing issues, and fraud — which when combined with overall inefficiencies in the process can help account for up to 35% of an advertiser’s overall budget.

We should also not forget that the spending power of big brands has helped inflate costs in influencer marketing to the degree that it’s now difficult for smaller niche players to get involved.

Changing the game

So what can you expect from Howdoo?

Well it’s certainly fair to say you can expect something different — and by different I mean new options for monetizing content, simpler ways to connect brands to influencers, and a more community-driven approach to the whole process.

To us influencers are first and foremost content creators, and their brand promotion could encapsulate anything from a mention or a review on their own unique channel, to agreeing to list a brand’s banner ad.

The way it works is that advertisers/brands come onto the platform and search for their ideal audience (drawn from people who have agreed to receive promotional material). When this profiling is complete, and the brand has its target list, they lock in the campaign through our AdAuction capability — backed up by a smart contract (the benefits of leveraging the blockchain!). Once live, and once the advertiser has deposited the necessary uDoo cryptotokens, the details of what promotions are available, and what rewards they offer, are then sent out to all relevant influencers.

Simple.

As a result, Howdoo puts real power into the hands of the influencers themselves, whilst also removing any barriers to entry — thereby allowing any organization to get involved. What’s more, our ‘tipping’ micropayments function also enables value to flow between community members seen to offer the best recommendations — meaning that monetization of influence becomes a more personal, shared experience.

Such capabilities are also virtually limitless in their potential. For example, think of users looking to promote a charity or good cause, and being able to invite their communities to offer donations in the form of tips paid directly to the cause/movement etc.

This is Howdoo, and this is how we plan to revolutionize influencer marketing.