A new survey by PR software provider Vocus has concluded that creating, posting or sharing relevant content are the key activities that build influence.

But the survey, entitled “What makes an influencer?” and conducted in partnership with digital analyst Brian Solis, also found that senior executives are willing to pay for influence.

Some 57% of respondents admitting they would be willing to pay an influencer to help “drive actions and outcomes.”

“Influence is the subject of some of important conversations lately,” said Solis. “Each time we surface questions, answers and new thinking that starts to reshape the landscape for how businesses view, define, and embrace influence.”

The research confirmed that quality of network and quality of content have a defining impact on influence. The top contributing factors that make an person or brand influential include the “quality or focus of the network” (60%), the “quality of content” (55%), which tied with the “capacity to create measurable outcomes” (55%), and the “depth of relationship” a person or brand has with social contacts (40%).

However, views vary on effective measurement. A majority of respondents said “action” is the most important measure of effectiveness in social media, yet more than one-third (36%) also ranked “action” as the least important. “Views” was the next highest ranked measure of effectiveness with 36% and “click-throughs” tied last with “Retweets” on Twitter and “Likes” on Facebook.