Where’s Waldo? Mapping social networks to find your company’s influencers

Often, companies looking for their most influential employees don't even know what they're looking for. Mapping internal social networks through organizational network analysis helps you pinpoint the most important and influential internal audiences. Jeppe Hansgaard, partner at Innovisor, talks about performing the "Where's Waldo?" of the business world.

Robin: Hello, and welcome to this edition of Brandonomics, an inside look at top brands and their marketing strategies. I’m Robin Tooms, VP of strategy at Savage Brands. And my guest today is Jeppe Hansgaard, partner at Innovisor. So, Jeppe, welcome to Brandonomics.

Jeppe: Thank you, Robin. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Robin: Well, absolutely. Jeppe, I know that targeting audiences is important for any of us in branding and marketing, because any plan has to start with an audience. But one thing that you do is you’re helping organizations map social networks to identify audiences internally that way. And I want to hear from you, why is that mapping process important?

Jeppe: So the question is, why is it important to identify the social networks? What we really do is we identify the people inside organizations that have the most influence because if you can engage those people with the most influence, then you’re really hitting it off on your engagement initiatives. Let me give you an example. I sometimes compare what we do with the game of Where’s Waldo. And Waldo, it’s kind of an enduring game for most people, at least it is in Denmark, where I come from, but at least you know what you’re looking for. When we identify the influencers, we don’t know what we’re looking for, and that is the challenge with what we’re doing. You probably have heard about Malcolm Gladwell.

Robin: Mm-hmm. Certainly.

Jeppe: Malcolm Gladwell, in his famous book The Tipping Point, conceptualized the term of the influencers. And he also told us what we could do with influencers, where we could just mobilize them to be on our side so we could hit it off.

Robin: Yeah. So from a branding perspective, we’re trying to find those brand influencers or brand attractors.

Jeppe: Yes.

Robin: Okay. Well, thank you so much for sharing that. Now we know why that’s important. This has been another edition of Brandonomics, an inside look at top brands and their marketing strategies.

 

Innovisor is the global frontrunner in organizational network diagnostics. They consult with business leaders and management to create more effective businesses and more efficient change initiative implementation and strategic projects by connecting the mind, heart and muscle of an organization.

https://www.innovisor.com/