After 4 years of waiting, Facebook was recently granted a patent entitled “identify influencers and experts in a social network”. It is a method of discerning which influencers are the most effective and then directly targeting them, charging companies a substantial amount of money on the process. In simpler terms, really really really effective Facebook Ads targeting.
The thing that sets this patent apart from other influencer marketing patents is that they base influence on the number of connections a person has, not how effective they are. We all know that having a ton of connections doesn’t mean much if they are shallow. Many people have the ability to gather a large number of followers, its the influencers whose followers are the most active in sharing content that are most valuable to advertisers. Facebook’s patent is for the method that actually measures whose followers re shared content , they watch the rate at which a particular piece of content is shared, and then track the content back to its roots to figure out whose post led to the abrupt increase in the share rate.
Unfortunately, the financial gain could come at a price, especially considering a large following today is not guaranteed to last. Influencers who continually succumb to company advertisements risk losing sway over their loyal followers.
Only time will tell if Facebook’s “hyper-targeting” could result in a backlash from influencers or a major financial gain from advertisers. In the mean time, contact us today for more information on how to find your major influencers.