Influence Competitors: The New Corporate Threat

A whole new scale of threat has evolved for corporations, and governments as well, in the court of public opinion. We call them Influence Competitors, some have called them Irregular Competitors. Regardless, these competitors are looking to influence the views and opinions of the same market businesses and governments may be looking to influence. Only they’re opposed to your views.

The way citizens and consumers receive, consume and share information today is highly complex, fast and easily spread to their own networks. Every person has a network of people that they have influence over, just as companies, governments and other organisations do, from markets to the general public. Today, it is very easy to influence people. It is also very hard to influence people. The biggest Influence Competitors that pose a threat to corporations and sometimes governments are activist groups. Non-Government Organisations and Non-Profits who target the practices of corporations they disagree with and government policy attempts or legislative moves they feel threaten their agenda or audience. Sometimes, competing companies will align with Influence Competitors as well, providing an entirely new dynamic to a company’s competitive landscape. At other times, activist groups will work with opposing political parties to the one in power, again adding a new dynamic.

Influence Competitors leverage social media as their primary tools with industrial news media used mainly to drive the message to social media where the battle for influence really begins. In industrial news media, an NGO may only get 3 minutes tops in the news cycle and then for only limited periods. Once they have eyeballs online, compelling content is used through video, images, text and sound to deliver sophisticated messaging and even encourages dialogue.

The Confidence Factor
Once an Influence Competitor has developed online dialogue through social media services and an audience has grown, it’s influence grows and they may then become an Authority Competitor. When citizens or consumers see others engaged in dialogue, actively contributing and adding content, this provides individuals with a sense of confidence – that others are committed to the cause. This creates the authority of the organisation (you might call it crowdsourcing your citizen activists) and it becomes increasingly difficult to unseat an Authority Competitor. Corporations or governments that don’t respond, or offer very little response, quickly lose influence share and citizens then take action.

So What? Why Does Citizens Shouting On Facebook Even Matter?
It’s easy to think they don’t. It’s easy to shrug off people venting on Twitter or blog posts and Facebook group pages. The reality is, it does matter and it has a very tangible, measurable and direct impact. The real-world results are phone calls, emails and letters to Senators, Members of Parliament, Congressional Representatives, industrial news media. Petitions go round. Protests happen. Sometimes, employees are attacked or facilities burned down or otherwise damaged. Or in the case of London, riots occur. Social media tools go from driving the idea to then being used for organising direct real-world activities.

Understanding Influence Competitor Threats
No social media monitoring tool will help. They may tell only part of the story and they’re not good warning indicators. What’s needed is a deep analysis into the lead Influence Competitor social graph, their connections, size of community, past campaigns and outcomes, current activities and more. Monitoring tools play a part, but analysis and insight from industry specialists, anthropologists, sociologists and law enforcement adds an unparalleled level of insight. Once this is known, then a strategy can be used.

Mobile Will Increase The Threat Level
As more and more citizens use SmartPhones and tablets like the iPad to participate in social media services, the threat from Influence Competitors will only increase. With the ability to live-stream video and instantly upload photo’s integrated with real-time services like Twitter, the challenge to monitor and then dig deep into the issues will become increasingly difficult. This will present a new challenge for public and investor relations teams, marketers, corporate legal counsel and the C-suite. CEO’s if they are the spokesperson, will face some interesting challenges. These are issues well beyond simple reputation management of a brand.

What Kind of Threats?
This is where influence and authority trump reputation management. The types of threats coming from Influence Competitors are those that can cause significant economic damage or bring down a government (such as Egypt, but that’s okay, it was a dictatorship) or potentially cause catastrophic damage to a company. These threats include;

- Derailing legislative efforts

- Destroying lobbying efforts

- Changes in legislation that derails a corporate plan

- Causing damage to physical assets

- Threatening employees or causing harm

- Cause a stock price to plummet or a competitors to rise

- Balance the influence in favor of a competitor

- Create petitions and enable an opposition government to cause collapse of a government in power

Fortunately we provide analysis and monitoring of Influence Competitors. Look for our White Paper coming soon. In a world of Big Data, companies and governments need to be able to quickly sift through vast amounts of information to find the intelligence that matters.