28 Understanding Digital Marketing Using influencers to help spread the word There is one particular category of users online that warrants a special mention when it comes to defining your digital marketing strategy. Dubbed `influencers', these early adopters are the online opinion leaders. Through blogs, podcasts, forums and social networks they harness the power of the web to extol the virtues of products and brands that they like, and equally to denigrate those they find unsatisfactory. Why are influencers important to you as a marketer? Because they have the virtual ear of the online masses. People read and listen to what they have to say; they value their opinion and trust their judgement. These online influencers have already won the pivotal battle for the hearts and minds of online consumers. Engage positively with them and you essentially recruit a team of powerful online advocates who can have a potentially massive impact on a much wider group of consumers. This is the online equivalent of word-of-mouth marketing on steroids. Of course, give them a negative experience and... well, you can guess the rest. But how exactly will you recognize these online influencers? A December 2006 report by DoubleClick (`Influencing the influencers: how online advertising and media impact word of mouth') defined an influ- encer as a person who `strongly agreed' to three or more of the following