Aurélie Siou | Strategic Influence & Reputation Expert
Leading French authority on decoding the mechanisms of digital influence
For more than fifteen years, I have observed, analyzed and decoded the people and forces shaping perceptions, public debate and the dynamics of influence.
As a leading French voice on how digital influence works and evolves, I have developed an approach that goes beyond traditional influencer marketing to examine the relationships, ecosystems, credibility mechanisms and dynamics of recommendation that truly shape influence.
Today, I speak and teach at business schools and work with companies, organizations and professional events to help audiences understand how influence is changing and what these shifts mean strategically.
My talks and masterclasses explore reputation, thought leadership, stakeholder ecosystems, earned media, public relations, advocacy and the impact of AI on influence.
My approach brings together positioning, narrative, thought leadership, media relations, earned media, public relations and influence strategy. It starts with organic influence — owned, earned and prescribed media — before considering paid activation.
I also examine the territories of expression and narratives that allow expertise to become recognizable, credible and ultimately recommended within an ecosystem.
With more than 15 years of experience across corporate communications, public affairs, PR strategy, earned media, reputation, social media and digital influence, I combine strategic perspective with hands-on knowledge of how influence actually works in the digital environment.
In the age of AI, the question is no longer simply, “How do I get seen?” but rather, “How do I become a recognized and recommended authority within my ecosystem?”
Today, you are increasingly analyzed, summarized, interpreted and positioned by the systems that organize information. That positioning no longer depends solely on what you say about yourself, but on what your ecosystem says about you: the sources that cite you, and the people and networks that validate, recommend, amplify and give credibility to your expertise.
Influence is therefore built not only through the media and channels you control, but — perhaps more importantly — through the ones you do not: those of your stakeholders, allies and the wider networks around you.
MY SPEAKING TOPICS
DESIGNED TO MAKE AUDIENCES THINK — AND ENGAGE
Thought-provoking, engaging keynotes that turn complex questions into meaningful shared experiences.
My talks combine analysis, real-world cases, storytelling, strategic perspective and audience interaction.
Depending on the context, I incorporate participatory exercises, ecosystem-mapping activities, case studies
and live discussion to create a deeper level of engagement — going beyond simply delivering content.
— THE STATE OF DIGITAL INFLUENCE IN 2026
Understanding Where Influence Really Stands Today
Digital influence has become a market, a language and a strategic lever. Yet the term now encompasses very different realities.
This keynote offers a 2026 snapshot of the influence landscape — its key players, business models, evolution and the forces reshaping how influence works today.
After the age of the influencer, where does the influence market really stand — and where is it heading?
— STOP PAYING FOR NOISE!
Why Visibility Is No Longer Enough
For years, visibility has been treated as the primary measure of influence.
But in an environment saturated with content, creators and now AI-generated content, attention no longer guarantees credibility.
This keynote explores the difference between commercial influence and organic influence, and challenges the way brands allocate their resources: what happens when too much of the budget goes into buying attention rather than building the credibility, relationships and organic advocacy that create lasting influence?
A shift from buying visibility to building influence.
— CREATOR ECONOMY & INFLUENCE NETWORKS
How Creators and Networks Are Reshaping the Influence Economy
The creator economy is no longer just about influencers and brand campaigns.
It is creating new models of creation, distribution and recommendation — while reshaping power relationships between creators, platforms, brands, media, communities and audiences.
Creators are becoming media businesses, entrepreneurs, brands and communities in their own right. Platforms increasingly shape who gets seen and what gets distributed. And networks determine how ideas, content and recommendations travel.
Who controls attention — and how does attention become influence?
— INFLUENCE IN THE AGE OF AI
When Algorithms Start Shaping What Gets Seen, Trusted and Recommended
AI is fundamentally changing our relationship with information.
People are no longer the only ones searching, comparing and interpreting what they find: AI systems increasingly analyze, summarize, rank and recommend content, people and organizations.
As a result, the rules of visibility are changing.
Being visible is no longer enough. Expertise needs to be understood, contextualized, recognized and trusted in an information environment increasingly mediated by AI.
In the age of AI, credibility is the new currency.
— INFLUENCE, POWER & NEW ECOSYSTEMS
Mapping the People Who Actually Matter
Influence never exists in isolation.
It is built within ecosystems of relationships, legitimacy and power. This talk examines influence through the lens of recommendation and organic amplification.
Behind every perception, position or idea that gains traction is an ecosystem of people who can legitimize, recommend, challenge, relay or amplify it.
Who can actually shift perceptions around an issue, an executive or an organization?
A particularly relevant perspective for leadership, reputation, public affairs, corporate communications, advocacy and thought leadership.
— INFLUENCE & REPUTATION
What Your Ecosystem Says About You Matters as Much as What You Say About Yourself
In the age of social media and AI, reputation is no longer built solely through the messages and channels you control.
It is also shaped by the sources that cite you, the media that cover you, the experts who recognize your expertise, the peers who recommend you and the people who amplify your work.
Your reputation is therefore not simply a matter of your own narrative. It is also shaped by how your ecosystem describes you, positions you, validates you and recommends you.
Who controls the flow of attention today — and how do networks turn that attention into influence?
BUSINESS SCHOOLS
Speaking formats designed for Bachelor, Master, MBA and Executive Education audiences.
I work with business schools, communication schools and specialized programs to give students a strategic, contemporary and practitioner-led understanding of how influence actually works.
Sessions can take the form of:
KEYNOTE
To open an event, thematic week or seminar.
MASTERCLASS
To explore a topic in depth and put ideas into practice.
CHALLENGE / BATTLE
To work on a real-world case in teams and pitch to a jury.
ROUNDTABLE / DEBATE
To frame a topic and bring different perspectives into conversation.
FLEXIBLE FORMATS
Bachelor · Master · MBA · Executive Education
3 hours · Half day · Full day · Bespoke formats
French · English
In person · Online
One-off session or integrated into an academic program.
COMPANIES
Speaking formats designed to help teams step back and understand how influence is changing.
Keynotes, masterclasses and strategic workshops for business leaders, executive teams and communication, marketing, reputation or innovation teams.
KEYNOTE
A clear, forward-looking perspective on how influence is changing.
MASTERCLASS
A deeper exploration of a specific topic, with opportunities for teams to apply the concepts.
STRATEGIC WORKSHOP
A working session focused on the organization’s own influence ecosystem, identifying the mechanisms and relationships that shape credibility, recommendation and influence.
EVENTS
Keynotes · Conferences · Roundtables
Speaking and moderation for conventions, congresses, professional events, leadership gatherings and executive seminars.
French · English
UNDERSTANDING INFLUENCE & DECODING HOW IT REALLY WORKS.
Influence is everywhere.
But do we really understand how it works today?
For more than fifteen years, I have observed, analyzed and decoded
the mechanisms that shape visibility, credibility, recommendation and reputation.
My talks go beyond the usual focus on influencer marketing
to explore the mechanisms, players, networks and ecosystems
that shape how ideas, expertise and perceptions circulate today.
Each session can be tailored to the audience,
context and objectives of the event or organization.
01 — THE STATE OF DIGITAL INFLUENCE IN 2026
Understanding Where Influence Really Stands Today
Digital influence has become a market, a language and a strategic lever. Yet the same word now encompasses very different realities.
This keynote takes a 2026 snapshot of the influence market — its players, business models, evolution and the forces reshaping how influence actually works.
Beyond the latest trends and platform updates, the goal is to understand how the market has evolved, who is shaping it today, and which new models and dynamics are emerging.
Key questions explored:
- How the digital influence market is evolving
- The different realities now covered by the term “influence”
- The changing role of the influencer
- The new players shaping the circulation of influence
- The role of creators, experts, KOLs, media, communities and opinion leaders
- The evolution of influence business models
- The transformation of the attention economy
- The shift from visibility toward credibility and recommendation
- The changing relationships between brands, audiences, platforms and ecosystems
- How AI and changing consumer behaviors are reshaping influence
The central question:
After the age of the influencer, where does the influence market really stand — and where is it heading?
A keynote designed to step back from the noise, understand a market undergoing profound change, and identify the dynamics that may shape the next phase of digital influence.
Format: 45–90 min + Q&A
Audiences: companies · business schools · conferences · conventions · professional events · executive audiences
02 — STOP PAYING FOR NOISE!
Why Being Visible Is No Longer Enough.
For years, visibility has been treated as the primary measure of influence.
More audience.
More reach.
More content.
More campaigns.
But in an environment saturated with content, creators and now AI-generated content, attention no longer guarantees credibility.
This keynote looks at influence through a different lens: the distinction between commercial influence and organic influence.
It challenges the way brands allocate resources when the bulk of their investment goes into buying visibility, while lasting influence also depends on mechanisms that cannot simply be purchased: credibility, recommendation, advocacy, relationships and ecosystem-driven amplification.
Key questions explored:
- Commercial influence vs. organic influence
- Why visibility and influence are not the same thing
- The limits of strategies built primarily around buying attention
- The difference between audience, reach, credibility and recommendation
- How expertise and brands earn third-party recommendation
- The role of media, experts, peers, communities and allies
- The power of owned, earned and prescribed media
- Why brands also need to invest in their influence ecosystems
- Moving from activation to credibility-building
- What AI changes in this equation
The central question:
Why keep buying more visibility when the real goal is to build influence?
STOP PAYING FOR NOISE!
From Visibility to Credibility.
Format: 45–90 min + Q&A
Audiences: executives · communications leaders · marketing teams · business schools · professional events · conventions
03 — CREATOR ECONOMY & INFLUENCE NETWORKS
How Creators and Networks Are Reshaping the Influence Economy
The creator economy is no longer simply about influencers and brand campaigns.
It is creating new models of creation, distribution and recommendation — as well as new power relationships between creators, platforms, brands, media, communities and audiences.
Creators are increasingly becoming media outlets, entrepreneurs, brands and communities in their own right. Platforms control an important part of how attention is distributed. Communities are becoming spaces of recommendation. And networks allow ideas and content to travel far beyond their point of origin.
This talk examines how this new influence economy is taking shape — and how networks determine the way attention, ideas and recommendations circulate.
Key questions explored:
- The rise and evolution of the creator economy
- The creator as media outlet, brand and business
- The role of platforms in distributing attention
- The changing relationship between creators, brands and audiences
- Communities as new spaces of recommendation and influence
- Creator networks and influence networks
- How content moves between creators, media, experts, KOLs and communities
- The mechanics of recommendation, sharing and amplification
- New intermediaries in the attention economy
- The emerging power dynamics around platforms and networks
The central question:
How do networks turn attention into influence — and who controls the flow?
Format: 45–90 min + Q&A
Audiences: companies · business schools · media · digital professionals · tech & innovation events · conferences
04 — INFLUENCE IN THE AGE OF AI
When Algorithms Start Shaping What Gets Seen, Trusted and Recommended.
AI is fundamentally changing our relationship with information.
People are no longer the only ones searching, comparing and interpreting information: systems now analyze, summarize, rank and recommend content, people and organizations.
This is gradually changing the rules of visibility.
Expertise can no longer simply be visible to an audience. It increasingly needs to be identifiable, understandable, contextualized and credible within information environments mediated by AI.
Key questions explored:
- How AI is changing the attention economy
- The transformation of visibility and discoverability
- Credibility in an environment flooded with generative content
- How AI systems analyze and interpret information
- The role of sources and credibility signals
- Why media coverage, citations, experts and third parties matter
- The transformation of thought leadership
- New conditions for building authority
- The relationship between reputation, visibility and recommendation
- What these changes mean for executives, experts, brands and organizations
The central question:
What happens to influence when AI systems increasingly shape what gets seen, understood, trusted and recommended?
In the age of AI, credibility is the new currency.
Format: 45–90 min + Q&A
Audiences: executives · companies · business schools · tech events · conferences · communications & marketing teams
05 — INFLUENCE, POWER & NEW ECOSYSTEMS
Mapping the People Who Actually Matter.
Influence never exists in isolation.
It is built within ecosystems of relationships, legitimacy and power.
This talk looks at influence through the lens of recommendation and organic amplification.
Behind every perception, position or idea that gains traction is a network of people who legitimize, recommend, share, challenge or amplify it.
Key questions explored:
- How to identify the people who actually matter within an ecosystem
- Stakeholder mapping and influence-network mapping
- The relationship between influence, legitimacy and power
- The role of experts, media, peers, KOLs, communities and allies
- The mechanics of recommendation
- The mechanics of organic amplification
- The intermediaries and connectors that help ideas travel
- Visible and less visible networks within an ecosystem
- Relationships, power dynamics and influence flows
- How executives, brands and organizations can find their place within an ecosystem
The central question:
Who can actually shift perceptions around an issue, an executive or an organization?
A particularly relevant approach for leadership, reputation, public affairs, corporate communications, advocacy and thought leadership.
Format: keynote · talk · masterclass · workshop
Audiences: executives · C-suites · communications leaders · public affairs teams · business schools · organizations
06 — INFLUENCE & REPUTATION
What Your Ecosystem Says About You Matters as Much as What You Say About Yourself.
In the age of social media and AI, reputation is no longer built solely through the messages and channels you control.
It is also shaped by the sources that cite you, the media that cover you, the experts who recognize your expertise, the peers who recommend you, and the people who amplify your work.
In other words, reputation is not simply a matter of your own narrative.
It is also shaped by how your ecosystem describes you, positions you, legitimizes you and recommends you.
This talk explores the relationship between reputation, credibility, authority and influence, through the information flows and relationships that gradually shape perception.
Key questions explored:
- The relationship between reputation and influence
- How third-party recognition builds authority
- The role of media and external sources
- Recommendation from peers, experts and opinion leaders
- The importance of advocates, networks and communities
- How credibility is built within an ecosystem
- Reputation signals in digital environments
- How AI is changing the dynamics of reputation
- The relationship between reputation, thought leadership and executive visibility
- The risks created by a gap between how you position yourself and how your ecosystem perceives you
The central question:
Who controls the flow of attention today — and how do networks turn that attention into influence?
Format: keynote · talk · masterclass · roundtable
Audiences: executives · companies · corporate communications · reputation teams · business schools · professional events
15 Years of Collaboration with Leading Experts in Their Field
For the last15 years, I have worked alongside and collaborated with the people, organizations and institutions that shape opinions, decisions and industries in France and internationally.
From left to right, from bottom to top: Emmanuelle Saliba (ex ABC News Reporter, CIO @Get Real), Charlotte Euzen (PMU Communication Director) and Constance Hénault, Sébastien Badault (Ex Amazon, Google, Alibaba, now SVP Enterprise @ Ledger), Stéphane Vojetta (Former Member of French Parliament), Romain Afflelou (Investor), Eric Larchevèque (French bitcoin pionner, Founder of Ledger), Philipp Schmidt (Former CTO Prisma Media, now Managing Director Webedia Brand Xperiences), Matthieu Pellet and Anthony Bourbon (Entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Feed & Blast Club), Eliott Maidenberg (Senior Vice President Thatcher+ Co), Daniel Cruise ( Senior Advisor at Global Strategy Group, former advisor to the White House, the National Security Council, the Kerry, Obama and Biden campaigns for President), Aurélien Taché (Member of French Parliament), Vincent Ducrey (President of HUB Institute & Paris Economic Forum), Marion Darrieutord (Fonder of The Arcane, Author of “Pop Leaders”), Arthur Delaporte (Member of French Parliament), Emmanuel Vivier (Co-Founder of Hub Institute, International Speaker), Benjamin Patou (French Entrepreneur, President of Moma Group, Caroline Faillet (General Manager @JIN, Founder of Opinion Act, Lecturer @ HEC), Cyril Paglino (Serial Entrepreneur), Alain Marschall et Olivier Truchot (Les Grandes Gueules, RMC), Natacha Quester Séméon (Founder of Jamais Sans Elles), Jean Sarkozy, Bastien Le Coz (CEO of Palatino Hospitality), Frederic Fougerat (Leading Voice in Communication In France & Africa, President of Tenkan Paris), Antoine Lévèque (Managing Director of The Arcane, Former Strategy and Media advisor to Prime Minister Michel Barnier), Bruno Maltor (French travel influencer), David Martinon (French Ambassador to South Africa)…
A MILESTONE AT CISION
Former Communications Director — PR & Influence at Cision France, Aurélie Siou is the author of the landmark white paper “Digital Influence by Those Who Shape It” (2023), developed with the contribution of 40 renowned experts from the sector
Now a key reference for communication and marketing professionals, the white paper offers sharp insights into the societal, digital, and ecological transformations reshaping the industry.
Aurélie was invited to speak at the French National Assembly, where she shared her expertise on influence mechanisms and influencer typologies. Her contributions helped shape the legislative debates that led to Law No. 2023-451 of 9 June 2023, the first major French framework regulating commercial influence and combating abuses on social media.
The white paper notably served as a working document for the “co-rapporteurs” of the law — a significant milestone in her career and a concrete demonstration of thought leadership turned into tangible impact.
Reputation & organic influence strategy
KOLs · Experts · Leader advocacy · Influence networks & power dynamics · Advocate activation · Creator economy · Earned media · Public relations · Thought leadership · Executive visibility · Monitoring & emerging issues · Information ecosystems · Sensitive issues · Influence diagnostics · Digital influence & evolving media ecosystems · Stakeholder & advocate mapping · Perceptions, risks & power dynamics · Positioning, narratives & territories of expression · Stakeholder mapping & gouvernance · Relational & reputational intelligence
Email: aureliesiou.influence{@}gmail.com