Beyond Influencer Marketing
A recent study (recapped on RWW) explored different kinds of influencers and found that:
Two in particular stood out in their ability to influence consumer opinions: discussion leaders, who tended to exchange lots of statements with other users about a product, and knowledge leaders, who had a high level of expertise and ended up answering lots of questions about products.
Discussion leaders tend to agree with other folks in the social space more than knowledge leaders do, while knowledge leaders are more likely to consider and allow opinions different from their own. One way I think about this is that a discussion leader might cite two knowledge leaders in talking about a topic, while knowledge leaders are more likely to participate in that conversation than facilitate it.
Why does this matter? Both groups are obviously important for influencer marketing programs. However, thinking about our influencers in terms of these two categories allows us to consider the interests, personality, and goals of each group separately when crafting strategy and communication around influencer campaigns. For instance, it might make sense to focus on an in-depth product review series with a knowledge leader, while distributing samples to discussion leaders so they can tap into the opinions of the group.
I look forward to putting these insights to use in my next influencer campaign. As we all know, the more we can make these programs really speak to the influencers’ needs and interests, the better off everyone is.
