Ink Foundry Launches InkFluence: Word of Mouth Marketing Program Uses Proprietary Blend of Social Media Tools to Engage Hidden Influencers

SAUSALITO, CA, April 07, 2011 (Press-News.org) In every social group, there is one stand out individual who can wax poetic about the intricate details of a narrow topic. They are entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers and moms by day; and chefs, foodies, and wine aficionados by night. Their friends, family and co-workers actively seek them out for trusted brand recommendations in their area of passion.

Today, after more than a year of marketplace testing, Ink Foundry has launched InkFluence, an extremely targeted word of mouth marketing program that identifies and introduces on and offline category influencers to restaurant, wine and packaged food brands.

The InkFluence program exposes brands to unprecedented high value recommendations inside private on and offline social groups that would otherwise be extremely challenging to reach through any other type of marketing.

You can probably think of an influencer you know right now. You might even be the person in your group who knows where to take a date for a great, but not too expensive, dinner, or recommend the perfect bottle of wine to bring to the bosses dinner party.

According to Keller Fay Group, a leading word of mouth marketing research firm, only about 17 percent of the total population can be considered influential, yet they account for billions of dollars in annual sales in a myriad of categories.

HOW WE DO IT
After more than 10 years of working with major wine, food and restaurant organizations, Ink Foundry has developed a proprietary algorithm to accurately identify influencers for these categories.

InkFluence, Ink Foundry's Hidden Influencer program, uses a set of social media tools to identify those individuals who are not necessarily high profile, but provide high value recommendations in their passion category to their on and offline peer group.

According to a recent Harris Interactive survey, 71 percent of consumers cite recommendations from family members or friends as having a "great deal" or "fair amount" of influence when making a purchase decision.

Using the InkFluence program, Ink Foundry can help brands identify the best hidden influencers for their product or service, develop a word of mouth marketing engagement program to facilitate the introduction and provide the tools for the influencers to make those high value recommendations to their social network.

For more information please visit Influencer marketing at www.inkfoundry.com.

Ink Foundry is a full-service marketing communications firm with core competencies in wine, spirits, restaurants, travel & leisure, sports marketing and live entertainment.