“What most brands and agencies miss is that influencers aren’t meant to be part of a campaign in a traditional sense. They’re not like the celebrity endorsements of the past nor are they traditional media outlets waiting to share brand-approved messages with their audiences. At the root of influencer partnerships is social capital. What makes influencers special is that they have earned social capital, a measure of digital worth comprised of varying degrees of trust, stature, value, engagement, entertainment, authority, etc. Together, they add up to the reasons people follow them and contribute to communities. More importantly, there’s mutual value between influencers and followers. It’s a human network. For brands and agencies to succeed, any branded engagement has to add value to the influencer’s social capital, to the experience of followers and to the community as a whole. The key is to link social capital to brand value. Because at the end of the day, it’s the brand’s opportunity to also build social capital within these human networks.” Brian Solis – Best selling Author Principal Analyst and Futurist, Altimeter, a Prophet company