I listened in and contributed to a great twitter @commschat debate yesterday evening. The main focus of the chat was around the importance of influence and the place of Peerindex with @azeem.

Part of the commschat transcipt can be found here

Whilst the chat seemed aimed more at PR professionals (which I confess, I am not) a lot of the more technical comments passed me by, but one or two gems started me thinking, or rather confirmed some of my thinking on the importance of influence Particularly as social media use becomes more main stream in the built environment. Here then are my thoughts.

One take away was the concept of ‘Peer Influence Leaders’ which I now see as increasingly important in PR and indeed in social media generally.

A while ago I supported a Macmillan group in the Midlands on awareness of the use of social media in their fund raising activities. I suggested they look for the top 50 influential tweeters within their area and start following, start conversations, pick up on the twitter buzz and link their funding activities accordingly.

Until recently it has been difficult to determine just who are the top (twitter) influencers are in the built environment (construction, design, FM etc But with the curation of the tCntop100 lists for construction and architects we are starting to get an understanding.

OK we may not fully understanding the scoring or alogorithms yet, and the movement in the rankings (that would have kept Fluff Alan Freeman happy for many pop pickers) suggests influence is a fluid, transient thing. Indeed as mentioned yesterday it has to be earnt and sustained.

Now if construction, design, and FM organisations and or their PR companies look to get a good message, new product, award, sustainable achievement into the industry then by engaging with the say top 50 for that discipline, who in turn are more likely to retweet, mention or comment onward to their peers would make brilliant sense. Conversely are those not engaging with these influences are missing an increasingly important element of PR

In a chat with Paul Wilkinson @EEPaul, earlier today on this subject, Paul mentioned the concept of ‘Amplifiers’ ie those whose influence is such that they can amplify messages. I like this concept, and when coupled with a maven ….

This of course could bring additional pressure to those on the (tCn top100) lists who would not want to be used as PR publicity retweeters, and reinforces the need for engaging, building trust and relationships.

And, one comment at #commschat  that I am still thinking through from @EbA :

 @fairsnape: Excellent point @EbA: @azeem where does emotional intelligence come in? If at all #CommsChat

Thoughts and comments very welcomed …