Who Influences The Influencers
Influential is the most frequently repeated term in public opinion research to refer to those key audience members who synthesize messages and spread them to their networks, shaping their peers' views. In a never-ending quest to find smarter marketing solutions to target the influencers and to get news/messages out, clients and colleagues are starting to dig deeper. They are asking: Who influences the influencers? Is there a way to reach this particular group that houses information and is trusted by those who sell ideas in networks?
At the WOMMA research council we largely focused on the influencers and those who echo the influencers' messages. Perhaps future thought pieces should take a two-tier approach; looking at the influencers and their trusted sources.
This approach is especially relevant when marketing to women. Burson-Marsteller's surveys show that powerful women who trust their knowledge and intuition still go back to their own mothers for advice on parenting, motherhood and brand choices. Besides continually reviewing new products and services, they carry on their mothers' traditions and remain loyal to their mothers' brand choices as well.
These trends are fortified by research findings I saw in the June 2006 edition of MTW (Marketing to Women) newsletter. Six in 10 (64 percent) of women talk to their mothers at least weekly and 41 percent indicate without hesitation that their mothers are their best friends.
Some food for thought, when it comes to segmenting. There is value in drawing influencer maps.
