Lecture 8 Social Influences Flashcards
What is social influence?
Influence of individuals or groups on a person’s actions, reactions and thought
What are the sources of influence?
- Marketing Source Mass Media; advertising, sales promotion, publicity, direct mail, social media
- Marketing Source Delivered Personally; salespeople, service representatives, customer service agents
- Non Marketing Source Mass Media; news, reviews, cultural heroes, organisations, social media
- Non Marketing Source Delivered Personally; family, friends, co-workers
What is the difference between marketing and non-marketing sources?
Reach → mass media reaches larger audience
Capacity for two-way communication → personal hold more influence as info can be tailored to the buyers needs
Credibility → non-marketing more credible
What are opinion leaders?
They are individuals who act as an information broker between the mass media and opinions of an individual or group.
Why are opinion leaders important?
- Offer credibility with expertise and first hand knowledge
- Non-marketing source of influence
- Gatekeepers; power for dissemination into a market
- Add symbolic meaning onto products they endorse
Which type of influencer generates higher consumer intention to purchase?
Micro influence who disclose sponsorships; seen as genuine and thus persuasive
What are the three different types of reference groups?
- Aspirational reference groups: groups that we admire and desire to be like e.g. celebrities
- Associative Reference Groups: groups that we actually belong to e.g. friends, uni club
- Dissociative reference groups: groups whose attitudes we disapprove of e.g. Nazis
How do reference groups influence consumer behaviour?
- Knowing target groups aspirational reference group enables marketers to associate their product with a group that represents it
- Accurately represent associative reference group; use of accurate clothing, hair, demeanour in ads
- Help to develop brand community; bring together like minded individuals to reinforce brand loyalty and encourage positive attitudes
- Avoid using dissociative reference groups
What are the characteristics of reference groups?
- Degree of contact- direct/indirect, extensive/limited; primary or secondary RG
- Formality- degree of structural formalisation; rules/criteria/expected behaviour
- Group attractiveness- appeal to consumers
- Homophily- similarity among members
- Density- degree to which members know each other
- Degree of identification- identification consumer has with the group
- Tie-strength- how close consumers are with members of the group
Importance of WOM
- Best way to disseminate info within a market is to target individuals in dense networks characterised by strong ties and frequency contact
- WOM spreads more effectively among people with weak ties, thus marketers can use this to identify new networks
What is normative influence?
Social pressure designed to encourage conformity to the expectations of others
What does normative influence promote?
- Brand-choice congruence and conformity- consumers buy and behave how others do
- Compliance vs Reactance- doing what the group asks vs doing opposite
- Social Relational Theory
What is Social Relational Theory
Consumers conduct their social relations according to:
- The rights and responsibilities of their relations with group
- A balance of reciprocal actions with group
- Their relative status and authority
- The value placed on different objects and activities
What affects Normative Influence strength?
- Product characteristics; normative influence is stronger for luxury and public products
- Consumer characteristics: personalities of some consumers make them susceptible to influence
- Group characteristics: impact degree of influence through coercive power, cohesiveness and collectivism
How can normative influence be used it marketing?
Advertising rewards/sanctions from product use and non-use
Create norms
Stimulate referrals → “bring a friend” programs
Create conformity pressure → associate product with a group
Provide freedom of choice → multiple products in a product line
Use expert service providers similar to customers
Ask consumers to predict their own behaviours
Use compliance techniques
Foot-in-the-door: small favour –> larger –> even larger
Door-in-the-face: outrageous request –> reasonable request
Even-a-penny-will-help: very small favour that hardly qualifies as one
