UM: Do Influencers Really Matter? - Graeme Hutton - MediaBizBloggers

If you have ever read Malcolm Gladwell39s The Tipping Point you will know what a perceptive and persuasive treatise on the viral power of social trends this book really is Through an eclectic set of superbly chosen anecdotes Gladwell engagingly unveils this phenomenon from the retro rise of Hush Puppies footwear to the disturbing epidemic nature of teen suicidesBut do such findings really apply to a brand39s advertising and marketing Can we see an outwardly perceptible relationship between the few influencers who have the capacity to influence and the many general consumers of a brand or product If so can we readily quantify that relationshipTo help answer this we recently interrogated the word of mouth study Talk Track by the Keller Fay Group We found clear evidence that the relationship between influencers and general consumers talking about a brand varies by market category in quite a predictable relationshipEach year Talk Track asks 36000 consumers about their daily word of mouth goingson and how often and in what ways they talk about brands Talk Track also classifies people by the size of their social network and the amount of advice they provide to others in a specific market category Consumers placed in the highest social network and category advice levels are called Conversation Catalysts as an effective proxy for a category39s influencersTaking the fifteen market categories that Talk Track monitors we can place them on a map to determine if there is a visual relationship between general brand mentions by consumers and Conversation Catalysts or influencers We call this type of map the WOM Opportunity Grid see Figure 1 and it shows a clear relationship between the two criteriaFigure 1As we can see the map implies a connection between on the vertical axis a category39s share of total mentions for all brands in all categories and on the horizontal axis the penetration of a category39s Conversation Catalysts among the general US populationThe individual blue dots on the map represent each of Keller Fay39s 15 market category39s spanning the full range from Media ampamp Entertainment to Household Products We can see the best line of fit the regression line as the dotted blue line that dissects the map running diagonally from bottom left to top right And we can also quantify the relationship or fit between these two factors where correlation is 81 In other words as conversation levels increases there is on average an 81 proportional increase in influencers and vice versaThis map and its findings have two major implications for marketers1 If a brand is to maximize its conversation potential it is not enough to focus simply on creating that conversation with consumers a parallel communications strategy should often be embraced for influencers2 Where a brand and its category fall on the map is critically important for that brand39s conversation facetoface marketing and social media strategies Plainly it is not a case where one overarching conversational strategy will fit all brands in all categories Brands in categories in the topright hand quadrant high mentionshigh influencers have a very different amp8211 and much easier amp8211 task to develop consumer conversation levels than products in categories in the lower left quadrant low mentionslow influencersHow do we identify and reach influencers For an influencers39 strategy it not just a case of reaching them but actively nurturing them as well For example the major media survey MRI has specific proprietary questions to identify what it terms category influentials Taking the travel category as an illustration MRI indicates three magazines Travel Leisure Condamp233 Nast Traveler and Arthur Frommer39s Budget Travel are particularly relevant at reaching travel influencers Online has similar opportunities such as Trip Advisor By proactively harnessing these media one would not only aim to reach out to travel influencers but also via competitions or promotions or other invitations to be involved start to build a direct dialogue with them and establish a highly customized relationship marketing strategyIn such a short column we can only quantify and explain the core issues Macro approaches and solutions that are individually tailored to a brand39s conversational aims and needs also follow some clear guidelines If you are keen to know more I would urge you to attend to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association Summit on November 1719 Among others Brad Fay of Keller Fay and I will talk about tangible and practical solutions to the issue of amplifying a brand39s conversation levels using the approach outlined hereGraeme is SVP Director of Consumer Insights ampamp Research Graeme is responsible for ensuring that all appropriate proprietary and syndicated research tools and resources are applied in the development of consumer insight strategies for a total communications research platformfrom TV to chat roomswhich informs the efforts of Universal McCann and its agency partners Graeme can be reached at GraemehuttonumwwcomRead all Graeme39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Curious Thoughts from Curious Minds MediaBizBloggersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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