An Increasingly Complex Digital World
Practicing digital influence—that is, reaching a target audience or managing a brand online—used to be a relatively straightforward endeavor. People—or "users"—logged onto a few key mainstream media sites for the latest news. Conversations about brands, products, or experiences were confined to newsgroups and message boards. Search engine marketing meant adding a meta keyword tag to your homepage, submitting your site and hoping for the best. Bottom line: knowing where target audiences congregated, what was being said, and how best to influence was, frankly, just easier.

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No longer. Today, the digital world has grown increasingly complex. While industry observers devote much attention to blogs, wikis, podcasts and other forms of personalized media, these trends merely symbolize the complexity of the entire digital landscape. The complexity should come as no surprise - nearly every demographic is online or will be coming online by significant numbers. A study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that nearly every teenager is online. In addition, according to an eMarketer report, senior citizens are the fastest growing online demographic. At the same time, advances in technology - from blogs to text messaging - have increased the avenues in which people with similar passions can communicate online.

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In this new, more complex, digital environment there are exponentially more users. There are more conversations. And there are more places where users can congregate and where conversations occur. This environment allows for more opportunity to influence others and build brands, of course, but it also presents challenges. Detecting that one rumor before it snowballs into a brand-damaging crisis is more difficult when there are 5,000 rogue sites instead of five. Deciding where to seed a viral marketing campaign is harder when your target audience is dispersed across a larger number of channels online – or when those channels are in continual change.

Yet, overcoming these challenges is easier when organizations have answers to these questions:

• What sites or channels are the most often used by key audiences?
• Who are the key players online (e.g., bloggers, posters, reporters) in my space?
• Which conversations and stories are the most influential?

360 Degree Digital Influence
Ogilvy PR's 360 Degree Digital Influence program gives clients a clear understanding of what's important and relevant in the digital landscape—to both the client and their target audiences. The program is comprised of two parts, Digital Influence Mapping and Digital Influence Engagement. The mapping phase clarifies what digital channels and Web sites are most effective at reaching target audiences. It identifies the key players and the important conversations. The Engagement phase uses the insights gained from mapping and provides the "road maps" needed to engage and influence key audiences.

Digital Influence Mapping
Ogilvy PR's Digital Influence Mapping approach is unequaled in the marketplace, in large part because it is rooted in the research heritage of David Ogilvy who placed users and their needs center stage. For each client engagement, this approach permits us to identify who are users are, where they go online, and what they hope to accomplish when they're using the Internet – all the while focusing on the influential.

Through a combination of powerful partner technologies and Ogilvy PR expertise, we generate Digital Influence Maps (DI Maps), which outline what channels and activists are most influential for a specific client. The DI Maps provide a clear pathway for clients to engage target audiences online. In addition, because the Internet and conversations are constantly evolving, Quarterly DI Map Updates can be provided to ensure relevance.

Digital Influence Engagement
Engagement is where we take action. It provides the strategies and solutions necessary to connect with customers and constituencies across the digital landscape. The digital spectrum includes not only personal media such as blogs and wikis, but also search marketing, content syndication, Web site design, online contests and more.

Digital Influence Engagement may include a mix of:

• Search Engine Optimization
• Search Engine Keyword Marketing
• Content Syndication
• Viral Program Development
• Online Events
• Blog Development/Support
• Blog Visibility
• Web Site Assessments
• Web Site Design & Development
• Contests & Promotions
• Email Marketing
• Press Rooms
• Microcasting
• Digital Advocacy
• Discussion Boards

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