Influencers, Homophily, WOM

Question 1

4 types of segmentation

Answer 1

geographic: based on where people live,(whole foods sets up in exclusive areas like south kensington)
demographic: breaks down into objective characteristics like age, gender, income, education
psychographic: delves into how customers describe themselves (The Hilfigers)
behavioral segmentation: how you use a product/service: offer loyalty programs

Question 2

WOM

Answer 2

DeBruyn and Lilien 2008
intentional marketing that occurs when consumers willingly become promoters of a product or service and spread news about it to their friends

Question 3

stats about WOM

Answer 3

DeBruyn and Lilien 2008
generate 2x the sales of paid ADs
unhappy customers tell 9-15 people
happy customers tell 4-6 people
67% of people spend money after getting a friend's recommendation

Question 4

how many ppl trust WOM?

Answer 4

Neilson Study in 2012 found 92%

Question 5

Books and WOM

Answer 5

Chevalier and Mayzlin
barnes and noble & amazon.com
positive reviews have a positive impact on the sales of the site on which there are more positive reviews
negative reviews have MORE IMPACT - customers are more likely to take the time to read these instead of looking at the aggregate statistics

Question 6

Issues with WOM

Answer 6

Chevalier and Mayzlin
difficult to measure offline EOM
Cant show ROI

Godes and Mayzlin
May just be homophily

Question 7

possible WOM measurement

Answer 7

Godes and Mayzlin

options to measure if we assume online WOM leads to offline WOM and actions: requires data mining

Question 8

“opinion-leaders”

Answer 8

lazarsfeld 1948

individuals form thoughts through the info or WOM of opinion leaders - today: influencers

Question 9

why certain individuals exert more influence

Answer 9

source expertise
tie strength
demographic similarity
perceptual affinity

Question 10

Influencers & Revolve Fashion

Answer 10

Dave (2015) Revolve: “it is critical to align ourselves with girls who have a large following of fashionistas”
influencers are the trusted voice needed to speak to personal audience and gives the companies organic exposure (more valid voice because external to firm)

Question 11

Camgirls

Answer 11

Senft 2008 - new style of online blogging where people employ webcams, video, audio, blogs, and social networks to amp up their popularity among users

Question 12

Kardashians

Answer 12

Disclosures required: got in trouble with the FTC in the US for not disclosing endorsements and Kylie Jenner has to use #ad before talking about a product on insta

Question 13

Blair Fowler

Answer 13

youtube vloger 21 - makes 750k a year
plays up the ditzy image her followers want and stick to her brand
bauble bar jewelry made use of Blair to advertise and raise awareness - good for new company with shallow pockets

Question 14

Pros and Cons of Influencers

Answer 14

Kuchler and Bond 2015
Pros: people willing to watch influencers so its harder to tune out than ads & adds personality to an otherwise faceless brand
Cons: hard to measure impact, risk of appearing deceptive, influencer has to connect to message, and at the mercy of the influencer

Question 15

Limit of Influencers

Answer 15

Sinan 2013
Ashton Kutcher effect: tons of followers but no influence
Suggests different levels of engagement on different platforms
might be a waste of money because your influencers might be “influencing” people who would buy your product anyways due to homophily

Question 16

homophily

Answer 16

Aral et al 2009
“love of the same”
influence: networks trigger others to perform similar behavior
homophily: similar outcome because underlying similarities in the preferences of individuals
Study found that homophily explained a lot

Question 17

what influences susceptibility to influence

Answer 17

Aral 2013
men: less likely to be influenced
over 30s: less likely to be influenced
married: less likely to be influenced

Question 18

Case Imagine Dragons background

Answer 18

background: first album 2011 , 2nd was 3015 with #1 on billboard album chart

Question 19

Dragons Drivers of success:

Answer 19

Drivers of success:

• authentic, relatable: hear about them through friends, unlike 1D
• normal guys, no drama, not celebrities
• strong relationship with superfine who act as influencers
• surprises for fans (increased engagement): when album came out there were coordinates to the middle of the nevada desert and a treasure

Question 20

Dragons Case: Stamy

Answer 20

Stamy: two superfine dating each other - get them onstage at every concert they go to .. Dragons get info to the fire breathers who transfer to the masses .. keep track of them on social media and engage with them

Question 21

Dragons Case: Scaling Up with superfans

Answer 21

maintain the authentic image with millions of fans?
superfans are monitored by the team and management constantly
answer emails any time - very personal service
regular fas experience the bond through superfine
built a community of fans with superfine at the core

Question 22

Case #SaveJoshArmy

Answer 22

josh hardy 7 years old 4 time cancer survivor
doctors tell parents there’s an experimental medicine not ready for market by chimerix so parents contact them but they are declined because it is too expensive and they are still seeking FDA Approval
Parents email asking help to influence the situation: FB page, twitter feed - local news stories begin emerging - then CNN and FOX pick it up and it is nationally trending on twitter an the Facebook page has over 10k likes
people begin offering to pay the 50k
death threats to CEO - chimeric willing to provide drug as part of new 30 patient study coordinated with FCA - stocks rise 8%

Outcome: Chimerix replaces CEO and Josh shows improvements

Implications: this uproar exploded in less than a week and 32% of companies monster social media to detect risk to businesses and activities.. need to!!!!