Influencers shaping WoM of your brand

Related to the topic of social media campaigns, we discussed in class whether it is better to target hubs, bridges or fringes in the network as seeds. Leveraging on seeds, who can influence large audiences - was built into a business model by an INSEAD Alumnus, Christoph Zrenner. He visited us recently in the New Business Ventures class. His company, Wildfire Pte. Ltd works for big brands such as Coca-Cola. Using data-mining on online blogs and forums, it quickly discovers if there is public concern or negative comments on e.g. Coca-Cola products. Then it engages its community of influencers to share their opinion and turn the conversations around, improving WoM of the brand. Wildfire does not pay its influencers but rewards them with online virtual awards and recognition, based on their effectiveness of turning around conversations.
Clearly, there is a trend to see more and more active influencers online.