We're All Connected: The Power of the Social Media Ecosystem PDF

Business Horizons (2011) 54, 265—273 www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor We’re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem Richard Hanna a, Andrew Rohm a, Victoria L. Crittenden b,* a Colle...

Business Horizons (2011) 54, 265—273 www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor We’re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem Richard Hanna a, Andrew Rohm a, Victoria L. Crittenden b,* a College of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, U.S.A. b Carroll School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, U.S.A. KEYWORDS Abstract Consumers are adopting increasingly active roles in co-creating marketing Social media; content with companies and their respective brands. In turn, companies and organiza- Traditional media; tions are looking to online social marketing programs and campaigns in an effort to reach Online ecosystems; consumers where they ‘live’ online. However, the challenge facing many companies is Marketing that although they recognize the need to be active in social media, they do not truly communications; understand how to do it effectively, what performance indicators they should be Marketing metrics; measuring, and how they should measure them. Further, as companies develop social Consumer engagement media strategies, platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are too often and interaction treated as stand-alone elements rather than part of an integrated system. This article offers a systematic way of understanding and conceptualizing online social media, as an ecosystem of related elements involving both digital and traditional media. We highlight a best-practice case study of an organization’s successful efforts to leverage social media in reaching an important audience of young consumers. Then, we conclude with several insights and lessons related to the strategic integration of social media into a firm’s marketing communications strategy. # 2011 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. All rights reserved. 1. Marketing myths revealed rise in interactive digital media has catapulted company and consumer contact from the traditional Consumers are no longer merely passive recipients Web 1.0 model to the highly interactive Web 2.0 in the marketing exchange process. Today, they are world, where consumers are dictating the nature, taking an increasingly active role in co-creating extent, and context of marketing exchanges. As everything from product design to promotional mes- Garretson (2008, p. 12) so aptly observed, ‘‘Con- sages (Berthon, Pitt, McCarthy, & Kates, 2007). The sumers increasingly use digital media not just to research products and services, but to engage the companies they buy from, as well as other consum- ers who may have valuable insights.’’ * Corresponding author. Dramatic developments in interactive digital me- E-mail addresses: [email protected] (R. Hanna), [email protected] (A. Rohm), [email protected] dia are revolutionizing marketing, and social media (V.L. Crittenden). has fundamentally altered marketing’s ecosystem of 0007-6813/$ — see front matter # 2011 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.007 266 R. Hanna et al. influence (Walmsley, 2010). For example, consider connected consumer marketplace. In Section 2, the following generally-accepted product and pro- we describe the social media platforms that can motion beliefs that are now almost mythical in be used in the influencing process. These myriad nature: tools have allowed consumers to connect, share, and collaborate. As such, following discussion of the  Traditional product/service belief–—>21st centu- available platforms for influence, Section 3 de- ry myth: Brand managers own and orchestrate scribes the way the spheres of influence have un- their brands folded over time. In Section 4, we describe a social media ecosystem in general, followed by a detailed  Traditional product/service belief–—>21st centu- illustration of how the social media ecosystem was ry myth: Phones are for making phone calls utilized to catapult the 52nd Grammy Awards to its highest ratings in years (Section 5). Finally, lessons  Traditional product/service belief–—>21st centu- learned from the implementation of the Grammy ry myth: The Web is for finding information Awards social media marketing campaign and im- plications for practice are offered (Section 6).  Traditional promotion belief–—>21st century myth: Companies use marketing communications to control their message 2. Platforms for influence  Traditional promotion belief–—>21st century According to Hansen, Shneiderman, and Smith myth: Consumers purchase products promoted (2011), social media technologies have engendered by marketers radically new ways of interacting. To this end, Harris (2009) notes that there are literally hundreds of  Traditional promotion belief–—>21st century different social media platforms (e.g., social net- myth: Providing a forum for customers to talk is working, text messaging, shared photos, podcasts, dangerous and risky streaming videos, wikis, blogs, discussion groups), and Anderson and Wolff (2010) highlight the impor- How these myths have altered marketing coincides tance of mobile devices for accessing these plat- directly with a paradigmatic shift in the commer- forms. Interestingly–—and, possibly, confusingly–—it cialization of the Internet. In the early days of the is not easy to discern among types of social media commercial Web, a firm’s focus on technology over- platforms. Alexa, a Web information company shadowed marketing strategy as the central ele- that provides website traffic rankings, offers broad ment of business models–—models which turned categories for characterizing social networks, out to be less than profitable (Anderson & Wolff, social networking, and social media. Of these, com- 2010). The result of this technology-oriented busi- panies such as Facebook, YouTube, Blogger, Twitter, ness model was evidenced in the demise of numer- MySpace, and Flickr appear across all categories. ous dot-com companies, leading up to the dot-com According to Alexa (2010), the top 10 global web- bust of 2000—2001. sites by late 2010 were: (1) Google; (2) Facebook; (3) In the new social media-driven business model YouTube; (4) Yahoo; (5) Windows Live; (6) Baidu.com; defined by customer connectivity and interactivity, (7) Wikipedia; (8) Blogger.com; (9) Twitter; and (10) content goes hand in hand with technology, produc- QQ.com. Another Web analytics company, Compete, ing far-reaching effects for the way marketers influ- reports that the top 10 websites in 2010 accounted ence current and potential customers. As noted by for about 75% of total page views in the United Reid Hoffman, co-founder and chairman of LinkedIn, States, up from 31% in 2001 and 40% in 2006 (Anderson the ability to leverage relationships embodied in & Wolff, 2010). social networks will become one of the most trans- Because of the myriad social media and networks formative uses of the Internet (Ricadela, 2007). Con- available, it is not surprising that marketers are tent in the form of social networks and blogs that actively experimenting on several of the major plat- enable individuals to create, share, and recommend forms. Companies such as Zappos, Whole Foods, Dell, information is extending the spheres of marketing and Gap actively connect with consumers on a variety influence, and a wide variety of social media plat- of social networking sites. Blogs are proving to be a forms are providing the tools necessary for these useful method of generating sales leads; mobile de- influential and meaningful firm-customer exchanges. vices (e.g., smartphones) are facilitating rich two- With ‘influence’ as the operative word in social way interactions with customers with a contextual, media marketing, our intent here is to consider the location-based richness unheard of just a few years platforms which prove useful in the 21st century ago; and businesses are creating their own YouTube We’re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem 267 videos to drive sales (Crittenden, Peterson, & 3.1. From bystander to hunter to Albaum, 2010). It is clear that interactive digital participant media platforms are changing the marketing land- scape, and the nature and sources of information and Traditional media is all about reach. For example, the connectivity are vast, in effect creating a 24/7 col- 2010 Super Bowl reached an average of 106.5 million laborative world. These platforms have empowered viewers (Steinberg, 2010). In other words, program- consumers to connect, share, and collaborate, cre- ming such as the Super Bowl casts a broad net upon ating spheres of influence that have fundamentally viewers for the companies advertising therein. The altered the way marketers engage in influencing same holds for banner ads on websites. According to a activities (Singh, 2005; Walmsley, 2010). 2009 comScore study, only 16% of viewers ever click on an ad, with 8% of viewers accounting for 85% of all clicks (Anderson & Wolff, 2010). Thus, while reach 3. Spheres of influence can be achieved in large numbers, it often does not translate into a true marketing exchange. Consumers Recently, the Economist’s Intelligence Unit examined become innocent, and often unwilling, bystanders in how technology would empower individual customers the actions of marketers. in the next 5 years (Garretson, 2008). Referring to this Digital technology enabled marketers to bring empowerment as ‘bottom-up marketing,’ Karpinski these passive bystanders on-board as active hunt- (2005) describes consumers of media and marketing ers, with Internet-based campaigns. This was evi- messages as intelligent, organizing, and more trust- dent when automotive brand BMW incorporated the ing of their own opinions and the opinions of their Internet into its advertising campaign in early 2000. peers. This bottom-up marketing occurs because The campaign consisted of several films, collectively ‘‘billions of people create trillions of connections titled The Hire (Moon & Herman, 2002), distributed through social media each day’’ (Hansen et al., solely on the Internet. In a unique use of television 2011, p. 3). These connections build relationships advertising, BMW directed viewers to the BMW Films that result in a vast social network, tapping into a website, where they could watch any of several consumer marketplace where marketers would never films in their entirety. The site registered almost be allowed to tread. Related to marketing perfor- 2 million ‘hunters’ in a matter of weeks. Viral mance, Metcalfe’s Law suggests that the value of a activity also played a central role in the campaign’s social network increases in proportion to the square success, with friends emailing and instant messaging of its connections. other friends about the films; this led to over 9 One of the earliest insights into this new 21st million film views in just a short time. BMW had century consumer marketplace, which later became achieved a level of intimacy with its audience of known as a social media ecosystem, was the hunters, and these hunters wanted more. Cluetrain Manifesto in which the authors asserted Fast-forward 10 years and we see that consum- that markets are not about messages, but about ers live in a cluttered media environment, where conversations (Levine, Locke, Searle, & Weinberger, attention and interactivity cannot be assumed 2001, p. 87): (Russell, 2009). Consumers are no longer content with advertising as a bystander sport (i.e., where Conversations are the ‘‘products’’ the new mar- traditional media is controlled by the advertiser in kets are ‘‘marketing’’ to one another constantly a firm-consumer monologue of sorts) or as a hunt- online....By comparison, corporate messag- ing sport (created by the advertiser with the con- ing is pathetic. It’s not funny. It’s not interest- sumer controlling the interactivity). Consumers ing. It doesn’t know who we are, or care. It only now expect to be active participants in the media wants us to buy. If we wanted more of that, process. This requires new approaches to media we’d turn on the tube. But we don’t and we strategy, involving media that do not simply re- won’t. We’re too busy. We’re too wrapped up in place traditional media, but rather expand media some fascinating conversation. Engagement in choices so as to capture reach, intimacy, and these open free-wheeling marketplace ex- engagement. changes isn’t optional. It’s a prerequisite to having a future. Silence is fatal. In other words, marketing can no longer solely be 4. The social media marketing about capturing attention via reach; instead, mar- ecosystem keters must focus on both capturing and continuing attention via engagement. This calls for a blend of As a sphere of influence, the social media ecosystem both traditional and social media. centers on the consumer experience. As stated by 268 R. Hanna et al. Figure 1. Social media ecosystem Mike DiLorenzo, director of social media marketing riences that achieve the overarching goal of atten- and strategy for the NHL, ‘‘Social networks aren’t tion and influence. about Web sites. They’re about experiences’’ The dynamics of marketing interchange and inter- (Wyshynski, 2009). These experiences arise when actions between companies and consumers are far marketers are able to incorporate reach, intimacy, different today than they were 20, or even 10, years and engagement into the company’s overall inte- ago. Today, consumers actively influence brand mes- grated marketing communications strategy through sages and meaning, consumer opinions help dictate the interconnectedness of online social media product and service assortment, mobile devices rep- combined with traditional media. resent communication lifelines, and online ‘chatter’ Unfortunately, too many companies make the serves as a crystal ball that helps companies deter- mistake of treating these media as disparate plat- mine future product or service initiatives. forms or silos that operate independently of each Figure 1 provides an overview of the social media other. Instead, companies should view their ap- ecosystem. As noted by Schultz (2007)–—the creator proach to social media as an integrated strategy of this ecosystem visual–—learning to weave through that brings consumer experiences to the forefront, the ecosystem is a new, but necessary, skill in to- all whilst recognizing that Internet-based media day’s changing world. Corcoran (2009) divides the does not replace traditional media. Internet-based ecosystem into three media types: owned media media expands marketing’s ability to move consum- (controlled by the marketer; e.g., company web- ers from awareness to engagement, consideration, site), paid media (bought by the marketer; e.g., loyalty, and advocacy. While the use of traditional sponsorships, advertising), and earned media (not media constitutes a trade-off between reach and controlled or bought by the marketer; e.g., word- consumer engagement, social media enables both of-mouth, viral). Li and Bernoff (2008) segment reach and engagement through judicious use of all active participants in the ecosystem based on five formats and platforms. Marketers need both people different types of social behaviors: Creators (e.g., and community platforms in order to create expe- publish, maintain, upload); Critics (e.g., comment, We’re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem 269 rate); Collectors (e.g., save, share); Joiners (e.g., recording industry is provided here as a case in point connect, unite); and Spectators (e.g., read). While to portray how attention to reach, intimacy, and the platforms provide transmission of messages, the engagement can generate long-term rewards. This spheres of influence now become the consumers case study (Wesley & Rohm, 2010) provides vivid who engage in conversations about products and detail regarding how a social media campaign was services via the various platforms. Marketers must formulated and implemented with little to no bud- therefore learn to navigate and integrate these get, in a very short time frame. multiple platforms, while understanding differen- The Recording Academy is the premier organiza- ces among consumers in the various social behavior tion for honoring achievements in the recording segments. Not all participants in the social media arts, and the Grammy is the most prestigious award ecosystem engage in the same manner, nor are in music. Unfortunately, even this illustrious acade- actions on the same platforms equivocal. my was not immune to changing demographics and Expected increases in social media expenditures evolving technology. The annual Grammy Awards by the end of 2010 imply that marketers, indeed, show was confronted with two major challenges. recognize the need to be involved in social media. First, it faced a declining share of television view- According to the 2010 Social Media Marketing Bench- ers, as it competed with myriad cable and network mark Report from MarketingSherpa, companies in channels and other forms of electronic entertain- the United States plan dramatic increases in their ment. Second, its viewership was skewed toward an social media budgets: from a 43% increase in the older female demographic. As such, advertising education/healthcare industries, to a 79% increase rates were declining because of the perception that in the retail/e-commerce industry (Sullivan, 2009). the show offered less value in reaching the coveted Yet, many of these companies do not truly under- 18-49 year old demographic. The social media strat- stand how to manage social media effectively; as egy formulated and implemented by the Recording noted by Sean Corcoran of Forrester Research, ‘‘the Academy for the 52nd Grammy Awards, aired in reality is, the space is still very much a Wild West’’ January 2010, provides an example of how a tightly (Vranica, 2010). integrated social media campaign catapulted the While most marketing plans include the now- show to its highest ratings in years. mandatory elements of YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, few of today’s marketers operate within a 5.1. The Grammy Awards turned 50 systematic approach to understanding and manag- ing their company’s social media strategy. As such, Unfortunately, when the Grammy Awards turned 50 they risk chasing the latest application and treating years old, so did its television viewership. Some elements as standalone platforms, rather than un- detractors even jokingly referred to the show as derstanding the fundamentals. The concept of a ‘The Grannies.’ While the 2009 broadcast experi- social media ecosystem enables marketers to think enced an increase in viewership over that of 2008, first in terms of overall strategy, not tactics. Working only 14% of the viewing audience registered in the within the ecosystem enables marketing managers targeted 18-49 age demographic. With advertising to ask critical questions: rates based on the number of younger viewers, the show was offering less and less value for advertisers.  Who is/are the target(s)? This raised the question: How could the show engage the difficult-to-reach 18-49 demographic segment?  On which traditional and social media platforms do the targets live? 5.2. The virtual online ecosystem  What marketing content (story) does the compa- For the 2010 Grammy Awards show, advertising ny want to tell? agency TBWA\Chiat\Day developed an integrated marketing communications campaign entitled  How can marketers propagate or feed this con- ‘We’re All Fans.’ In designing We’re All Fans, the tent throughout the ecosystem? agency combined traditional and online social me- dia in an integrated fashion. Traditional media drove reach, while social media created intimacy and 5. The 2010 Grammy Awards: Engaging engagement. Social media was the centerpiece of fans the campaign. Print and television media were used primarily to support the social media focus. By An illustrative composite of how the social media making social media the centerpiece of the Grammy ecosystem was utilized successfully by the music/ Awards, the Recording Academy and its agency 270 R. Hanna et al. Figure 2. ‘We’re All Fans’ social media ecosystem inverted the conventional advertising model. or click on, to access content in real time. The Figure 2 provides a visual of the We’re All Fans content could then be organized to create a digital social media ecosystem. mosaic of the fan’s favorite artist. Since new content would fill in each time the screen was refreshed, 5.3. The devil’s in the details there was always an incentive for fans to return to the site. At the same time, the Recording Academy did The We’re All Fans social media campaign required not own the data, so not storing this data meant that the bringing together of historically disparate parts, there would not be any copyright or privacy issues as well as the creation of new activities for which associated with pulling content from other sites. outside vendors were required. As an innovator in the field of social media for live television program- 5.5. The front end: Artist support ming, the back end had to work perfectly, the front end had to work perfectly, the engagement with While development of the website was taking place, consumers had to provide strategic insight into their agency staff worked on garnering the support of minds, and the bells and whistles had to be pulled artists who would be featured on the website. off without incident. The interesting twist to this aspect of the construc- tion of the ecosystem was that many artists saw 5.4. The back end: Development digital technology as the enemy, and blamed digital media for the demise of music sales. Thankfully, not The core software for the We’re All Fans social all artists proved to be skeptics, with Lady Gaga, media website was a program developed internally Nine Inch Nails, and Coldplay recognizing the power at TBWA\Chiat\Day. The program used keywords of the social media ecosystem. After contacting selected by fans to scrape (i.e., harvest and recom- around 100 prime artists who were going to be bine in a different format) content from other featured on the Grammys, the agency ended up sites–—for example, YouTube videos, Flickr pictures, with 20 artists who agreed to a feature placement and Twitter comments–—that fans could mouse over, on the site. We’re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem 271 One of the first artists to sign on was Lady Gaga. in years. It was the top rated program for the week, This early support allowed the agency to feature her with nearly 26 million viewers. Importantly, viewer- in a beta test that was shown to the press, and she ship in the all-important 18—34 year old segment was also featured in the first television spot an- increased 32%, to 9.1 million viewers. It was esti- nouncing the We’re All Fans website. A Grammy mated that a 10% increase in ratings would translate Award promotional YouTube video of Lady Gaga into approximately 15% higher advertising rates for resulted in the artist posting links to the video site the 2011 Grammys. on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. The YouTube Additionally, the We’re All Fans campaign was video attracted over 2 million views in the weeks truly about the fans, as the integration of social leading up to the Grammys. Thus, the reach of the media put them at the center of the campaign. The 30-second spot was amplified dramatically. After We’re All Fans website attracted more than 2 million the We’re All Fans website was launched, 36% of visitors during and immediately after the Grammy total web traffic on the site came from Lady Gaga- Awards. Interestingly, online traffic did not peak affiliated referrals. during the Grammy Awards. Rather, the website traffic spiked on the day after the awards. This 5.6. Monitoring and analyzing online surge in post-show traffic is consistent with a phe- discussions nomenon referred to as the ‘water-cooler effect.’ Coined to refer to conversations that take place The popularity of participating artists was assessed around the water cooler after an event (e.g., news, via an online billboard chart/television rating for- sports, television program), water cooler discus- mat that used keywords from social media websites. sions had now moved online. Dubbed the Fanbuzz Visualizer, the barometer of fandom served to foster competition between art- ists and their fans. Considerable social media data 6. Lessons learned and implications had to be analyzed, to maintain current content and for practice measure sentiment about musicians. This process was fairly straightforward. Online discussions, in- Technology has transformed the traditional model of volving as many as 2 million music fans, were moni- marketing communications. The rise in interactive tored and analyzed by an outside vendor. Collected digital media has catapulted company and consumer data were then fed into the front end graphical contact from a Web 1.0 passive model, to a Web 2.0 display, designed to create an online display of interactive model where consumers are simulta- popularity of participating artists. neously the initiators and recipients of information Lady Gaga was the most popular artist on the exchanges. The combination of both traditional and Visualizer. Moreover, artists featured on the Visual- social mediums allows companies to develop inte- izer won relatively few awards, thus confirming that grated communication strategies to reach consum- the format had truly created an opportunity for fans ers on a myriad of platforms, enabling a wide sphere to interact without biasing official voting processes of influence. of the awards system itself. As illustrated by the Grammy Awards social media marketing campaign, social media is about creating, 5.7. A social media conference influencing, and sharing; and, importantly, it can have a powerful impact on performance. The Grammy A webcast event, known as the Social Media Rock Awards campaign offers several insights related Star Summit, was held the day of the Grammy to its strategic integration of social media into a Awards. The intent was to have the most influential marketing communications strategy. We explore bloggers give their opinions on the We’re All Fans these next. social media campaign. The summit brought togeth- er leaders from social media companies such as 6.1. Lesson #1: Visualize the ecosystem Mashable, Digg, Tumblr, and Facebook. The summit achieved its goal of reaching techies who were A critical step in the development of a social media interested in the mechanics of the campaign, as strategy involves the concept of the social media well as other influence leaders. ecosystem. The ecosystem needs to be visualized in terms of the three types of media: owned, paid, 5.8. Results and earned. This allows marketers to develop a clear idea as to what extent each media platform Engaging and leveraging the social media ecosystem (e.g., website, Facebook, Twitter, television) in- helped the Grammy Awards achieve its best ratings teracts with the others. At the same time, knowing 272 R. Hanna et al. that the sphere of influence will be equally domi- 6.4. Lesson #4: Social media does not nated by five types of social influences–—Creators, require elaborate budgets Critics, Collectors, Joiners, and Spectators–—helps companies determine the type of messages that Unlike traditional media that are often cost- need to be central within the ecosystem. We pro- prohibitive to many companies, a social media pose that any company engaging in social media strategy does not require astronomical budgeting. marketing, both large and small, should first con- Consumers–—in particular, younger consumers–—do ceptualize and develop its own version of the social not utilize the same media types as in the past. media ecosystem. For example, social networking site Facebook now has over 550 million users, implying that almost 1/11 6.2. Lesson #2: Identify and track key of the people around the world have a Facebook performance indicators account. Companies can develop communication strategies that both reach and engage people in Companies and managers have long attempted to myriad ways, on platforms that do not require identify and track key performance indicators in expensive media spends and creative development. order to measure success. This is no less a priority A critical aspect of the Grammy Awards social with a social media strategy. Interestingly, tradi- media strategy was that there was little to no tional metrics for reach and awareness are still budget, and the related social media ecosystem viewed by marketers as critical to measuring suc- was developed in about a month’s time. This ties cess. However, given the power of digital platforms closely to the need to define the media in terms of to measure conversion from clicks to click- what is already owned, what is available for free on throughs to actual purchases, we propose that the open market, and what has to be paid for. If these traditional metrics–—as well as metrics budgets are slim, the strategy will have to take unique to social media, such as Facebook advantage of what is owned and what is available ‘Likes’–—only tell part of the story. Marketers with for free. Social media is about users and being a social media presence should focus on conversion connected to other users; it is not about significant tracking of downstream metrics such as sales to the investments in expensive production and media. extent that it is possible, in addition to those metrics that indicate brand lift and brand engage- 6.5. Lesson #5: Be unique ment. The move by Facebook and partners such as Disney to enable social commerce, which some Social media platforms provide extensive oppor- label ‘f-commerce,’ works by enabling Disney to tunities to customize user engagement. For example, sell advance tickets for its new movies direct from the Grammy Awards employed the Fanbuzz Visualizer within Facebook (Marsden, 2010). This reflects the as a unique feature of the We’re All Fans campaign. power of social media to combine both brand The platform did not require participants in the affinity (e.g., liking) and sales conversion within sphere of influence to learn anything new; rather, the same platform. The bottom line: define the key the application used keyword indicators and outcomes associated with your specific ecosystem scraping, both of which were readily available tech- and quantify the related metrics (e.g., brand men- niques based on existing technology. At the same tions, brand lift, sales) wherever possible. time, some element of uniqueness and authenticity will give consumers a reason for engaging electroni- 6.3. Lesson #3: Begin with your story cally and be a great weapon against boredom: the one sin for which there is no forgiveness online (Kaplan & As with any communications strategy, a company Haenlein, 2010). needs to be clear about the story it wants to share with the marketplace. This story might be about a new product, a new service, a new relationship, or 7. Conclusion an overall theme. The Grammy Awards theme was We’re All Fans. Based on that thematic expecta- Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, tion, the social media strategy moved forward Digg, SCVNGR, YouTube, and numerous others have with the idea that everyone in the marketplace begun to revolutionize the state of marketing, was a fan. Consumers as fans were the influencers advertising, and promotions. These social media in the sphere, using the platforms that furthered have transformed the Internet from a platform for the engagement process for them. As such, a information, to a platform for influence. 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