Neal Schaffer - The Age of Influence: The Power of Influencers to Elevate Your Brand

Every book that I write is special, and The Age of Influence is no different. With previous books, I approached the topic by trying to avoid being influenced by others and their thoughts. With this book, I accepted the fact that influencer marketing and the concept of influence has been around for a long time, so I wanted to take advantage of that fact and truly stand on the shoulders of giants and use others industry experiences to uncover new insight. For that reason, this book is also my longest undertaking, spanning more than two years from concept to publication. I simply couldnt have completed the task without all of the support and inspiration from so many around me.

My first thanks must go to my wife and children, who always supported me when I had to meet critical deadlines or interrupt family time in order to create more content. Our mutual family love is the foundation of what I do and why I do it. I also have my parents to thank, as well as all of my brothers and sisters-in-law, who have always supported me in various ways over the years.

I must also thank and state that this book simply would not have been written without the incredible support I received from Lee Constantine at Publishizer.

I also want to thank everyone at HarperCollins, who put their trust and confidence in me to write this book, as well as their extended editorial staff. I also want to thank my own staff, who helped me in various ways to develop the content in this book.

A special thanks to all of the institutions of higher learning that have recruited me to help in the education of executives in all things digital business, most notably Rutgers Business School, Irish Management Institute, and the University of Jyvskyl.

There are numerous mentors in the social media and marketing industry who have also inspired me in many ways, directly and indirectly, and have contributed to my understanding of marketing, to which I hope this book contributes, in a similar way. There are too many to list, but I did want to mention a few who have inspired me. Seth Godin for sharing so much knowledge that is truly evergreen and as relevant today as when he wrote it. Michael Stelzner for his and Social Media Examiners support of me as a speaker at their Social Media Marketing World conferences. Fellow Rutgers Business School instructor Mark Schaefer, whom I first shared this book idea with many moons ago and who encouraged me to write it. Jay Baer for being an incredibly inspiring and awesome individual. Brian Solis for continual inspiration on helping me answer the question, Whats next? Mari Smith for selflessly and graciously sharing her knowledge with the world. Joe Pulizzi for being the Godfather of content marketing and educating so many through his content. Ann Handley for encouraging me to write and inspiring my goofiness at the events where I am lucky to see her. Dan Gingiss for enlightening me on customer experience marketing, even if he is a Cubs fan (GO DODGERS!). Gary Vaynerchuk for his chutzpah and telling it how it is, literally inspiring a whole generation of entrepreneurs like me. Mr. Likeable Dave Kerpen for his inspiration and friendship. Michael Brito for all things social business and especially employee advocacy (not to mention his similar passion for my Lakers). Chris Brogan for being one of the most intelligent and down-to-earth authors youll ever meet. Lee Odden for all that he and his company have done in the influencer marketing space. Jenn Herman for inspiration on everything Instagram since the social network launched.

Finally, there is another list of people whom I need to acknowledge because they actually invested in the creation of this book through my pre-order campaign on Publishizer and remained supportive and patient while they awaited the publication of this book. These individuals and organizations invested in me long before a publisher was found, and I cant thank them enough. There are many of them, and since everyones investment, no matter how small, is a precious one, the only fair way to thank them is to list them all here in alphabetical order: Pasi Aaltola and everyone at the University of Jyvskyl, John Althoff, Maraya Altuwaijri for your incredible support over the years online and offline, Andrea Armstrong, Steve Arnold, Bill Ashton for helping me in my travels, Julien B., Fabiana Baumann, Stefan Beckert, Leonardo Bellini, Natalie Benamou, Yuri Bilyarov, Sherry Bonelli, Robert Burns for your continued friendship over the years, Jeffrey Buskey, Sinead Carroll, Jessica Casamento, Annie Chang for all of your support and engagement over the years, even though we have yet to meet IRL , Bonnie Chomica, Emma Cox, Stephen Curtis, Bonnie David for all of your engagement and support, Karen DeSantis, Victoria Desemone for your inspiration and being a friend, Kathy Doering, Liz Dorland, Steve Eisenberg for all of your engagement and support, Darrell Ellens, Kari Embree for your support ever since the Maximize Your Social days, Mike Falconer, Salvatore Fallica, Gwendolyn GaBree, Julie Gallaher, Robert Geller for all of your collaboration and contributions over the years, Sean Ghazanfari for your friendship and support, David Goldsmith, Richard Haagensen, Ryon Harms for inspiring me inside and outside of social media, Rune Haugsoen, Simon Hewat, Lynn Hoban, Lori Holly, Brian Honigman for your professional inspiration and support, Toni Hopponen and Flockler, Jeffrey Howell, Mana Ionescu, Natalie Jacks, Cheryl Johnson, Martin Jones for your incredible support and friendship, Erika Kessler, Marcus Kirsch for your fellow author support, Dino Kuckovic and everyone at Falcon.io in Copenhagen and throughout the world for supporting me, Pramod Kunju, Werner Kunz for your support and inspiring the education of professionals in digital marketing, Serge Labelle for your friendship and similar love for Japan, Rene Lisi, Robyn Maka, Aine Mc Manamon, Mary Beth McCabe, Suzie McCarthy for supporting me over the years, Doug Morneau, Niklas Myhr for your support and continuous educating of professionals on digital marketing here in Orange County as well as in Sweden, Norman Naylor for your incredible friendship throughout the years, Jonathan Nunez, Nicolette Orlemans for your continued support, Kuenyoung Park, Lory Passov, Jennifer Radke, Tatiana Richards for your support since I began networking locally, Jon Rivers, Maria Rodriguez and everyone at Open Influence for their incredible support, Greg Russak, Jo Saunders for your support from Down Under, Karin Sebelin for putting your trust in and supporting me, Liron Segev, Juhli Selby for your continued friendship, Semi Semi-Dikoko, Ravneet Singh, Joe Sinkwitz and Intellifluence, Yao Sun, John Sustersic, Valentina Tanzillo, Michael Taubleb for supporting my speaking business, Susan Thompson, Mark Tietbohl, Mike Turner, Maurits van Sambeek, Robert Varipapa, Guy Vincent for launching Publishizer, Vala Vincent, and Byron White for supporting me as a speaker at the Content Marketing Conference.