I am sure most of you have read “The Tipping Point” or “The Influentials” where the authors Keller&Berry claim ‘…one American in 10 tells the other 9 how to vote, where to eat, and what to buy’. They both claim that a small percentage of people (10% typically) trigger trends.
These books have been influential (pun intended) in conversation based marketing, to the point where many on-line panels and communities specifically screen OUT customers who do not;
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Have large social networks,
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Make lots of contacts every day
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Run all of the school fetes
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Volunteer for everything
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Claim to give advice many times a day on all subjects
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Claim to be regularly consulted by all their friends on all subjects…you get the idea.
To us this seems to be another case of marketing forgetting that the product (category) matters! Do you really take advice on computers from the same person you consult on health matters? Or do you listen to geeks and medical students respectively? Are there really people who can influence their social circle on ALL subjects, regardless of topic? Even in the blogsphere?
We find that even in tight knit social circles people are discriminating enough to recognise their peers with a special interest or expertise and favour their advice in that area. And not so much in others.
Engagement with a category is an attribute of the individual, not the products. Not all individuals share an interest in all categories. You can mostly dodge the issue in practice by doing what Larry Weber (Marketing to the Social Web) says ‘…creating compelling environments to which people are attracted.’ Especially customers who are already engaged with the product you are marketing.
Our view is that advocates are too expensive to create through marketing without an existing customer propensity – if the customer has absolutely no interest in your category it is too expensive to convince her she should. Amplify the voice of customers who are interested and their endorsement may be enough to sway the buying decisions of those who are not. And occasionally bring in another advocate for you to amplify in turn.
How do they find out enough to be interested in your brand in the first place? mmmm... (thinks) may be a place for traditional marketing and brand-building after all.
We are not alone in this view. Duncan Watts is an Aussie researcher, now at Yahoo, who is stirring the marketing pot by pointing to the lack of clothes on the Emperor of Influentials Marketing.
Stick to the obvious; find out who is (inclined to) promoting your product already, recruit them, reward them appropriately (often just recognition & thanks) and amplify their voice. That makes them Influentials that matter to you.
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