Page 54 - Gulf Marketing Review

S T R A T E G Y

THE POWER OF

EVERYDAY INFLUENCERS

Andrew Stephen, Associate Dean for Research, L’Oréal Professor of Marketing and Head of the Marketing Faculty at the
University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, says there is an untapped force of RV ]NVLNZ[ that brands need to know.

nfluencer marketing is all the rage and some product or brand. In fact, influencer activation Research suggests social
Iof the world’s biggest brands have added is often fraught with challenges and it is not media users post less
this approach to their marketing strategies. easy (or cheap) to get them to play ball. For frequently as they gain
Well-connected, well-known influencers can instance, they might be reluctant to shill for more followers, have bigger
have a very positive effect on your brand. There a brand, or they might want to be paid an audiences and enjoy higher
are challenges to this approach, however, which amount that you are unwilling to provide. social status
relies heavily on both social media and word- My research also suggests that social media
of-mouth communication. users post less frequently as they gain more
One of the biggest challenges is activa- followers, have bigger audiences and enjoy But given that this is often easier said than
tion. It isn’t hard to identify or select potential higher social status. Thus, the well-connected done, is there another way?
influencers for a campaign (e.g., using tools social media users who you want to recruit for Yes, there is – and that is to think about
such as Traackr.com or through social media your next influencer campaign may be very everyone else in the network – the regular
listening), but it is hard to get them to do what hard nuts to crack. people who aren’t well-connected, but are a
you’d like them to do. Ultimately, the goal is to get relevant infor- viable but typically untapped resource. These
mation out to as many people as quickly as people are probably your regular customers
Playing ball. Usually, it entails some form of possible and the standard influencer approach and they can be turned into an army of "every-
positive posting in social media about your is to go to the well-connected people directly. day influencers".

54 I GULF MARKETING REVIEW I DECEMBER 2017/FEBRUARY 2018