The Fast Company article referenced in our previous post (“What about the ‘Influentials’?”) has certainly created a minor stir in the marketing blogosphere. Two that represent the fracas well are; here and Seth Godin’s.

Basically researcher Duncan Watts disputes the idea that a small number of people are responsible for creating and spreading ideas and fashions through social networks; “No” to serial trendsetters.

This idea was popularised in at least 2 best sellers; “The Tipping Point” and “The Influentials”. Some marketers fell in love with the idea because it is undeniable that there are some people who are significantly more energetic socially, with a much larger social network than the average person. The marketing strategy became “Find these influentials / mavens / salespeople… and you can market anything just by getting them started!”

Then this trouble-making Australian comes along with “…we find that large cascades of influence are driven not by influentials, but by a critical mass of easily influenced individuals…” Read this research.

This discussion is relevant to marketing practitioners; it has direct impact on the increasing use of online panels as a tool for network marketing. Panels we distinguish from the larger social network sites because they are purpose built for marketing.

There are three types of online panel, in our view.

1. Research panels that typically reward consumers for answering surveys. We will not discuss these. Example. Clients pay for the research findings.
2. Panels that explicitly recruit ‘cool dudes’ with the promise that they will be given the chance to be first, be trend setters, the first on the block. These offers are typically product or category non-specific and do not promise cash for comment; they recruit by promising to make members more important, cooler. These panels often transparently screen for Influentials, asking if you are shy in public, how often you give / are asked for advice in a day, do your friends say you would be a good actor, are you a leader of your group etc. To determine the size of your social network they may ask how many of each surname you have talked to in the last month; Smith, Jones, Williams or ask how many different people you talk to in a day/week/month. Example. Clients pay for access to these influentials and the impact they have on sales of the product or service.
3. Groups of known (registered) customers recruited into an “Advisory Panel” or just to have a conversation about a topic of shared interest. This type of panel self-selects customers with an interest in the brand and in our experience these are generally the most valuable customers.

We favour this last form of panel in our client work. They do not represent a statistically valid sample of your customers, but it is more important to know what your best, most engaged customers are thinking and saying than knowing the “average” customer. It also allows us to match, CRM-wise, actual behaviour to attitudes. This lets us determine for example, how our high volume/value customers differ in their opinions, and specifically which ideas, from our less valuable. This insight can guide action which is value creating, by not simply reacting to the squeaky wheel.

For us ‘Advocacy Marketing’ involves the identification and recruiting of customers who are already engaged in the brand or category. Through conversation, find out why and where they are talking about you. Provide these advocates with ‘tools’ that are appropriate to their motives and their venues, to amplify their positive word of mouth. Measure the whole process.

In the “Watts vs. Tipping Point” debate, translated to execution, we say;

• find the engaged customers first and work on making them influential – not -
• find the influentials and work on making them interested in your brand / category,

because customer passion sells and cannot easily be faked. Sincerity counts for more than a large network in the long run.

If you find customers with both, impressive things can happen. The recent book by McConnell and Huba; “Citizen Marketers: When People are the Message” has some great examples covering the marketing of cars, soft drinks, television shows, Dell (not all citizens’ marketing is positive) and others. See here.