Welcome to the Perk District

'Hello - you've been selected by Down Under Airways because of your online influence to receive a free trip to Australia!'

Do you think:

• A) This is some sort of scam. That stuff only happens to celebs off the telly...
• B) Get in! That time and effort I've spent in becoming influential about travel on Twitter is paying off...

I get option A. Free stuff has been given to celebrities for years in the hope that they'll wear it or talk about it. Until recently I don't think B would have happened much. Social has changed all that. It is no longer just traditional media channels who have the power to wield reach and influence.

Each of us who are on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. are a kind of media channel. We're broadcasting information to an audience. Some people have become quite BIG so they have. They have reach, they're respected by their audience, they wield influence.

So I guess it's natural that brands would give them some VIP treatment. Particularly as my guess is that when those who live in the real world get cool stuff, they are probably going to talk about it to their circles.

And brands are increasingly looking to give influencers VIP treatment. This is in part due to enterprising folk, at companies, who measure and reward influence. I'm thinking of Klout (self-proclaimed 'standard for online influence') and PeerIndex (recently tied up with eConsultancy to find the top 100 most influential people in digital marketing) in particular who both have algorithms that decide how influential a person is. They give a score out of 100. They tell you what they are influential about.

These players in the influencer market need to drive revenue and brands want to target influencers. Put these factors together and you get the Perks programmes which both have been rolling out. Programmes that see tweets like the made up one at the top of this blog post turning up...here are some examples to read up on:

Now at a recent Social Media Council meeting, I mentioned Klout and PeerIndex as something to debate. The debate was lively. It was heated. It could have gone the distance. But unfortunately the bell went and the bout was cut short...

My view is that if these companies can help brands get the right message to the right people (who might just pass it on to their mates) they have got a bright future – but I'd love to hear your thoughts...

What do you think of measuring influence in this way? Would you use this kind of service? Would you be happy to receive perks?

P.S. A very big hello to anyone from Klout who happens to stumble upon this. My score seems to move between 50-60 and I'm influential about media, marketing, Facebook, and apps. However, I also feel I should be considered influential on curry and the Octonauts. So if you could please tweak your algorithms accordingly and fix it for me to receive perks on these subjects I would very much appreciate it.

Perks rock don't they?

This article was first published on IAB UK.