Page 55 - Gulf Marketing Review

S T R A T E G Y

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very effective at generating
word of mouth that targets
the well-connected friends
in their networks

Well-connected influencers outperformed
(in terms of the speed at which information
spread) everyday influencers when the latter
were programmed to share information with
any of their friends at random.
However, when we re-programmed the
everyday influencers to have a preference for
sharing information with friends who were
relatively well-connected (i.e., had more connec-
tions than them), things changed dramatically.
The information spread faster from the
everyday influencers than if it came directly
Regular power. The idea behind everyday This new approach is published in a re- from the special, well-connected influencers.
influencers is simple. Instead of going after cent article I co-wrote with Professor Don We found that if we could get regular peo-
the special, inherently rare well-connected Lehmann at Columbia Business School in ple to want to share information with their
people in social networks for them to speak the International Journal of Research in well-connected friends, we could achieve
on your behalf – you focus on activating your Marketing, in which we report on a series better results than if we just went after the
regular customers. of scientific studies that tested the idea and well-connected people in the first place.
They are likely to be connected to at proved it can work. We then ran other studies involving real
least a few well-connected people in people and found more evidence in support
their networks and can reach this group Better connections. In one study, we built of using everyday influencers. They can be
for you. And since they aren’t you, their a computer programme to simulate product very effective at generating word of mouth
contacts may be more likely to pay attention information spreading via word of mouth that targets the well-connected friends in
and be activated in a more organic, grass- among hypothetical consumers in a large their networks, who themselves are needed
roots way. social network. We were interested in how to propel the information forward and reach
Importantly, the aim is to encourage your quickly information spread to as many peo- even more people quickly.
Everyday Influencers, to get the information ple as possible and whether using everyday
into the hands of their well-connected friends, influencers could perform as well as, or even The value of information. The success of this
instead of just anyone. better than, well-connected influencers. approach hinges on getting everyday influencers

DECEMBER 2017/FEBRUARY 2018 I GULF MARKETING REVIEW I 55