For years, we’ve witnessed the meteoric rise in the power of influence. First, it was social media. Then came new formats for ratings and reviews and, of course, the evolution of how influencers used the mediums to deliver their impact.
From the posting photos of restaurant food on Instagram to live-tweeting opinions of the presidential debates to creating and sharing mock videos on YouTube, Facebook, and other platforms, influence has become both an art and a science. Everyone has an opinion, and social networks have given everyone the power to share them. Now, science is giving new power to businesses, allowing them to play in ways not possible before.
It’s widely understood that peer-to-peer recommendations drive about twice the amount of sales versus paid advertising, and earned media typically returns seven to 10 times the ROI versus paid media because a third-party endorsement brings valuable credibility. Yet, despite all the change and the growing respect for influence, the ability to carefully measure its business impact has lagged. As a result, many marketers have both underutilized and undervalued influence in their marketing mix.
In response, MSLGROUP, in conjunction with Publicis Communications and Publicis Media, has launched an influence-to-impact performance platform to better realize the potential of influence to drive brand reputation and commerce. Called Conversation2Commerce, the offering puts MSLGROUP’s expertise in earned media and influence at the core and surrounds it with best-in-class services and technologies from Publicis Communications and Publicis Media.
Our new global solution provides scalable services in influence identification, content and idea creation, targeting, amplification, and measurement. It brings together creative, shopper, and media to reimagine the use of influence. It features industry-leading performance marketing data, technology, and analytics, making influence more measurable, transparent, and accountable for driving incremental impact and ROI for brands. The offering will continuously evolve with advancements in data, technology, and channels.
The Conversation2Commerce platform was initially developed to work for B2C consumer marketers who were looking to drive online and offline commerce as well as brand lift. The model quickly evolved to meet the growing needs of B2B and business-to-government companies and nonprofits. Called Conversation2Credibility, it precisely scales and targets influence to drive brand reputation and action. Specifically, we can use this version for corporate social responsibility, education campaigns, issues, and crisis management as well as nonprofit communications.
Regardless of which model a client runs, the fundamentals remain the same. Paid, owned, earned, and shopper all need to work together, powered by a data spine. This approach enables us to serve the best, most relevant content to expedite the consumer decision journey. It ensures a seamless path from influence to impact.
To learn more, visit http://conversation2commerce.mslgroup.com or contact Erin Lanuti at MSLGROUP,Erin.Lanuti@mslgroup.com