Literature Review Influencer Marketing
LITERATURE REVIEW : INFLUENCER MARKETING
INTRODUCTION
Influencer marketing has emerged as one of the fastest-growing social marketing practices as brand marketers look to connect with consumers and customers in meaningful and authentic ways often through the collective voice of active bloggers that are passionate and vocal about the brands they love. It represents a form of Word of Mouth marketing, which we define as an unpaid form of promotion – oral or written- in which satisfied consumers tell other people how much they like a product, service, business or event.
Marsden (2005) says that research shows that word of mouth (WoM) is at least twice as powerful as traditional marketing communications in influencing sales, and given the rise of electronic word of mouth (mobile and internet), word of mouth is now some 50% more influential than it was 30 years ago.
This is supported by a Nielsen survey showing the most trusted form of advertising was, recommendations from other consumers, being cited by 78% of respondents. Furthermore, the third most trusted form of advertising (behind adverts in newspapers at 63%) was consumer opinions posted online which was trusted by 61%.
Brand Association Maps (BAM) that plot language, attributes and issues around a topic show that, for advertising, attributes like “false”, “deceptive” and “misleading” are highly associated. The fact is that customers are seeking out opinions because they don’t trust marketing as much and thus independent influencers become more influential than ever before.
But WoM is not just about referrals to achieve sales, it also adds credibility to a message. A friend or family member talking about a brand or product, or an independent commentator writing about it, tend to be believed more readily than commercial advertisers talking up their own brands.
Terminology
Online word of mouth is called viral marketing and was coined as long ago as 1996 by Rayport at Harvard. Viral marketing
INTRODUCTION
Influencer marketing has emerged as one of the fastest-growing social marketing practices as brand marketers look to connect with consumers and customers in meaningful and authentic ways often through the collective voice of active bloggers that are passionate and vocal about the brands they love. It represents a form of Word of Mouth marketing, which we define as an unpaid form of promotion – oral or written- in which satisfied consumers tell other people how much they like a product, service, business or event.
Marsden (2005) says that research shows that word of mouth (WoM) is at least twice as powerful as traditional marketing communications in influencing sales, and given the rise of electronic word of mouth (mobile and internet), word of mouth is now some 50% more influential than it was 30 years ago.
This is supported by a Nielsen survey showing the most trusted form of advertising was, recommendations from other consumers, being cited by 78% of respondents. Furthermore, the third most trusted form of advertising (behind adverts in newspapers at 63%) was consumer opinions posted online which was trusted by 61%.
Brand Association Maps (BAM) that plot language, attributes and issues around a topic show that, for advertising, attributes like “false”, “deceptive” and “misleading” are highly associated. The fact is that customers are seeking out opinions because they don’t trust marketing as much and thus independent influencers become more influential than ever before.
But WoM is not just about referrals to achieve sales, it also adds credibility to a message. A friend or family member talking about a brand or product, or an independent commentator writing about it, tend to be believed more readily than commercial advertisers talking up their own brands.
Terminology
Online word of mouth is called viral marketing and was coined as long ago as 1996 by Rayport at Harvard. Viral marketing
References: 1. Keller, Ed and Berry, Jon. The Influentials, Free Press, 2003 2. Scott Pearson and Duncan Brown, The influence of Word of Mouth, Influencer50, March, 2008 3. Justin Kirby and Paul Mardsen, Connected Marketing, the viral, buzz and Word of mouth revolution, Butterworth-Heinemann , 2005 4. The Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, 2009 5. Rayport Prof J, The Virus of Marketing, Harvard Business School, 1996 6. Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point, 2000