Interpersonal Influence and Opinion Leaders

Welcome back! This week, we’ll look at the importance of interpersonal influence and opinion leaders. Raise your hand if you have ever purchased a product because your favorite celebrity endorsed it? Or because a professional in the field put their stamp of approval on it? Well, if you’re anything like me, then you have been persuaded to buy a coveted item from Oprah’s Favorite list.  Or persuaded to read a book solely based off the recommendation from your friend.  That, my friends, is the power of influence and it is strong. Currently, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m fully immersed in an intriguing novel I would have never chose to read had it not been recommended to me by my friend.  But why you ask? Because of the oldest, most reliable form of marketing out there, Word-of-Mouth (WOM)! As Romona Sukhraj notes in her Word-of-Mouth strategies infographic, 92% of people chose to listen and believe recommendations from their friends and known sources over advertisements. That means big business and profit revenue for those brands who can utilize WOM effectively. Today, with the presence of social media, WOM is more relevant than ever. We can be easily influenced by our friends or celebrities, but how far does the influence reach? Does it have second or third order effects? Similarly, Robert Cialdini notes in his book Influence Science and Practice, certain weapons of influence come into play, the liking rule and social proof. He suggests you are more likely to purchase the product referred by your friend or those who are like you. A “Home Party” is a perfect example of this.  Imagine you’ve been invited to your friend Mary’s house because she is hosting a Pampered Chef party.  You go because she’s your friend, but you doubt you’ll buying anything because you don’t like to cook. However, once you’re in the midst of the party enjoying the lovely food she has prepared and getting to know the other guests, you find yourself attracted to the ambience and feel a strange sense of obligation, an obligation of friendship that nudges you to order a pie dish! Moreover, when you look around at the other guests who are placing their orders and discussing how they might use this seasoning for that or how they will gift this pizza stone to their mother-in-law, you find yourself placing another order in addition to the first one. Thus, giving into the principle of social proof; in this case, purchasing products because others are doing so, therefore it must be correct.

                Now, let’s think about these influence tactics and how they relate to the digital age. How are we influenced on social media and can we use ourselves to influence others across various platforms? If you’re wondering, the answer is yes! Companies are already doing it but how many are using social media purposefully? To inspire?  In Simon Sinek’s TED Talk, he states he discovered a pattern for why some companies are successful and others are not. He decodified it and named the pattern “The Golden Circle”.  The circle, pictured much like a bullseye, codes “what” companies do on the outer ring, “how” companies do it, on the middle ring and “why” companies do the thing they do, housed in the inner core circle. He discovered that successful companies think from the inside out vice the other way around. Successful companies effectively communicate their purpose and convey their strong sense of belief for their product first, then move on to the “how” and “what”. These companies evoke feelings that inspire others to take on their purpose as their own. In his TED Talk Sinek reiterates, “people don’t buy what you do, but why you do it”.  These successful companies have transformed marketing by reaching their audience through an interpersonal approach. Many are brands you have come to know and love. Sinek uses Apple Inc. as his example in his talk. However, other prime examples are the Jeep brand and TOMS.  

Likewise, with the use of social media, popular opinion leaders are creating content and engaging their followers in the same interpersonal way. Opinion leaders, or social influencers, have amassed a large following by engaging with their fans and fostering relationships.  Companies that partner with influencers whose values aligns with their brand, can benefit greatly.

Let’s talk about famous influencer, James Charles. He is a well-known internet personality who is also a makeup artist and passionate about beauty products.  Through his preferred social platform of choice, Instagram, he shares relevant and creative social content which resonates with his 16 million followers.  He has a partnership with Covergirl which seems understandable given his relevant content and social reach. The partnership is aligned as both he and the beauty brand share similar values. Further, he helps the brand convey their “why” through his social content. We can expand on this notion of interpersonal influence through social content. When a popular opinion leader, such a James Charles, uses a social media platform to talk about the brand they start a dialogue with their followers regarding the related topic. Within the post the opinion leader introduces a hashtag that directly correlates to the topic which in turn gives it a digital WOM feeling. From studying Sukhraj's infographic, we know the first strategy in WOM marketing is to encourage user generated content, such as hashtags.  When James Charles pushes his related topic content out to his 16 million followers with a corresponding hashtag, his followers can post about the topic on their own social media platform while using the hashtag, reaching their own social network. Thus, creating a ripple effect, reaching multiple waves of people; in the same way people would express their opinions about a topic through word-of-mouth before social media took over. So, to answer the question proposed earlier, WOM does have second and third order effects.

                Influence is a powerful tool, one that transcends decades and demographics. Used effectively, interpersonal influence can bolster brand exposure and product sales. Opinion leaders who partner with companies can use Word-of-Mouth marketing strategies to communicate their purpose. We know that companies who effectively convey their mission are more successful over companies who merely tell people what they have to offer, rather than the driving force behind it.  Ever wonder why so many of your friends are associated with a company like Pampered Chef? It’s no surprise, they have effective marketing skills. Not only is Pampered Chef incentivizing their consultants (your friend) to influence you, they’re also successfully communicating their purpose: to enrich lives, one meal and one memory at a time.

Thanks for reading! Be on the look out for next weeks post about multimedia elements! Please feel free to share my blog and start your own interpersonal influence with someone. As always, you can find my blog by clicking on the link below or by copying and paste the URL in your address bar: communicate2lead.blogspot.com

"The art of communication is the language of leadership" - James Humes