Influencers

Question 1

Gilly et al.

Answer 1

(1998)

Source expertise and perceptual affinity
As key factors for exerting more influence

Question 2

Source expertise and perceptual affinity

As key factors for exerting more influence

Answer 2

Gilley et al. 1998

Question 3

Demographic similarity and tie strength in having more influence

Answer 3

Brown and Reingen 1987

Question 4

Brown and Reingen

Answer 4

(1987)

Demographic similarity and tie strength in having more influence

Question 5

Imagine Dragons and super fans

Answer 5

Stephen and Brooks 2016

Question 6

Stephen and Brooks

Answer 6

2016

Imagine Dragons needed to be authentic, relatable, and convey a sense of acccess and intimacy to their fans.
To scale this up, they focused on superfans.

Social listening by the band

13mn likes on FB (primary channel).

Question 7

Casey

Answer 7

Beme (sold after a year and four months for 25mn), a testament to influencer-led brands (he was able to promote on his channel, with millions of views on each video).

Works with Mercedes, Nike, making unconventiaonl ads. An example of the lower creative costs for working with influencers, but also a loss in control. I.e. Nike’s ad was just Casey flying around the world.

Question 8

Aral et al.

Answer 8

2009
They find that previous methods over- estimate peer influence in product adoption decisions in this network by 300–700%, and that homophily explains >50% of the perceived behavioral contagion.

Question 9

Aral

Answer 9

2013

Correlation vs. causation in influencer research (Aral et al.). Firms overestimate influence, most is just homophily and confounds. Be scared of throwing too much at WOM marketing, as it may be wrong.

Ashton Kutcher: millions of Twitter followers, but has reach but no influence.

Confounding factors: Preferences, interests, and behaviors are highly correlated with friends.

To accurately estimate social influence, we need to identify confounding factors so that we can differentiate behavioral tendencies from behavioral changes

Best type of WOM is generous and fair types.

Question 10

Chevalier and Mayzlin

Answer 10

2006

Study online book reviews and find that word of mouth has an effect on sales

Question 11

Dave

Answer 11

2015

“A trusted voice speaking to their personal audience, this is the most effective and organic exposure a brand can get,”

Influencers allow brands to get closer to the consumer. (Like Stephen and Brooks 2016, getting closer to consumer).

Question 12

Lazarsfeld et al.

Answer 12

(1944):

Looks at a group of 2400 people in Ohio during the 1940 presidential election to see how they decided to vote. Longitudinal over 4 months

TWO STEP FLOW OF COMMUNICATION

People voted based on opinion leader, who didn’t even have to be political experts
“Perceptual affinity”
These opinion leaders tell their opinions to the masses.
(halo effect relation?)

Question 13

Kuchler and Bond

Answer 13

2015

Issues with using influencers and disclosure. UK watch dog criticized YouTubers for undisclosed Oreo promotion.

Link this to the FTC/Warner Bros. case?

92% of people trust word of mouth.

Question 14

DeBruyn and Lilien

Answer 14

(2008)

Most common version of intentional viral marketing occurs when consumers willingly become promoters of a product or service and spread the word to their friends. Leveraging customer’s personal networks.

They also find that the characteristics of the social tie influenced recipients’ behaviors. perceptual affinity triggered recipients’ interest.

They use the Paypal example!!! By providing financial incentive to have members recommend members, acquired more than three million users in its first nine months of operation

Question 15

Rosario et al

Answer 15

2016

Meta-study of 96 studies

In addition, negative eWOM does not always jeopardize sales, but high variability does.

On average, eWOM is positively correlated with sales (.091).

The effectiveness of eWOM on social media platforms is stronger when eWOM receivers can assess their own similarity to eWOM senders, whereas these homophily details do not influence the effectiveness of eWOM for e-commerce platforms

Question 16

Does two step flow communication still apply?

Answer 16

Modern media has both enhanced and redcued the the two-step flow of communication model.

You can get news in one step.
but you can also get it from opinion leaders, who now have far wider audiences.

A good example is Trump.

Question 17

Daniel Wellington Case

Answer 17

Works with thousands of bloggers and influencers

There are almost a million posts on Instagram tagged #danielwellington. There are s 3,5K posts on the Daniel Wellington page, which means that the rest was posted by the brand’s followers. The main motivation for them to use the hashtag is to win one of the several photo contests organized by DW.

In 2009, Tysander invested $15,000 to start the company. In 2014 it sold more than a million timepieces and took in $70 million. This year, Tysander projects $220 million in revenues.

Question 18

Paypal example

Answer 18

DeBruyn and Lilien 2008

Question 19

Issues with working with influencers

Answer 19

HADER

Repuational
Authenticity/sincerity
Handing over power to the influencer
Disclosure #ad required by FTC and UK ad regulator. 
Effectiveness and ROI