Opinion leadershipOpinion leadership Opinion leadership (or word-of-mouth communications) is the process by which one person (the opinion leader) informally influences the actions or attitudes of others, who may be opinion seekers or merely opinion recipients. The key characteristic of the influence is that it is interpersonal and informal and takes place between two or more people, none of whom represents a commercial selling source that would gain directly from the sale of something.Opinion leadership opinion leader (opinion receiver / opinion seekers (I the opinion leader, may become an opinion receiver when another product or service is brought up as part of the overall discussion. 1] Individuals who actively seek information and advice about products sometimes are called opinion seekers. Eg: During a coffee break, a colleague talks about the film he saw last night and recommends seeing itDYNAMICS OF THE OPINION LEADERSHIP PROCESS The opinion leadership process is a very dynamic and powerful consumer force. As informal communication sources, opinion leaders are remarkably effective at influencing consumers in their product-related decisions. The reasons for the effectiveness of opinion leaders 1. Credibility 2. Positive and negative product information (Information provided by marketers is invariably favourable to the product and/or brand) 3. Information and advice 4. Opinion leadership is category specific 5. Opinion leadership is a two-way streetMOTIVATION BEHIND OPINION LEADERSHIP SELF-IMPROVEMENT MOTIVATIONS * Gain attention or status + Assert superiority and expertise + Feel like an adventurer + Experience the power of ‘converting’ others SOCIAL-INVOLVEMENT MOTIVATIONS. * Express neighbourliness and friendship by discussing products or services that may be useful to others PRODUCT-INVOLVEMENT MOTIVATIONS, + Express satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a product or service MESSAGE-INVOLVEMENT MOTIVATIONS, * Express one’s reaction to a stimulating advertisement by telling others about itMOTIVATION BEHIND OPINION RECEIVERS UReduce the risk of making a purchase commitment [Reduce search time (e.g. avoid the necessity of shopping around) (JLearn how to use or consume a product (JLearn what products are new in the marketplace [Buy products that have the approval of others, thereby ensuring acceptanceMEASUREMENT OF OPINION LEADERSHIP Four basic measurement techniques: 1, Self-designating method, 2. Sociometric method 3. Key informant method, and 4, Objective method.Self-designating method In the self. designating method, respondents are asked to evaluate the extent to which they have provided others with information about a product category or specific brand or have otherwise SINOLE-QUESTION APPROACH: i Inthe ast sx months have you been asked your advice o pinion about gol equipment” tee We -MULTIPLE-QUESTION APPROACH (Measured ona Spoint polar Agre/Disagree seal 2 4 4 5 Fronds ana neightours frequently ask my acbce about got equipment [SemetimesIntuence the types of ga egupment rence buy My rend come lo me more olen than 30 them abc! got equipment eal that lam generally regarded by my ends a a good source of edic about lf equipment ean tino at est tree people whom Ihave spoken to about gal equipment inthe past sixmonhs. FIGURE 15-1 Self-designating questions for measuring opinion leadershipSociometric method The sociometric method measures the person-to-person informal communication of consumers concerning products or product categories. In this method, respondents are asked to identify (a) the specific individuals (if any) to whom they provided advice or information about the product or brand under study, and (b) the specific individuals (if any) who provided them with advice or information about the product or brand under study.Key informant Opinion leadership can also be measured through the use of a key informant, a person who is keenly aware of or knowledgeable about the nature of social communications among members of a specific group. The key informant is asked to identify those individuals in the group who are most likely to be opinion leaders.Objective method - it involves placing new products or new-product information with selected individuals and then tracing the resulting web of interpersonal communication concerning the relevant product(s). Ina practical sense, a new restaurant in a city’s business district might apply this approach to speed up the creation of a core customer base by sending out invitations to young, influential business executives to dine with their friends at a reduced introductory price at any time during the first month of the restaurant's operations. If the restaurant's food and drink are judged to be superior, the restaurant is likely to enjoy the benefits of enhanced positive word- of-mouth generated by the systematic encouragement of the young clientele to try it out and who ‘talk it up’ to their friends after experiencing the new restaurant.A PROFILE OF THE OPINION LEADER GENERALISED ATTRIBUTES ACROSS PRODUCT CATEGORIES . Innovativeness . Willingness to talk . Self-confidence . Sociability . Cognitive differentiation vawneA PROFILE OF THE OPINION LEADER CATEGORY-SPECIFIC ATTRIBUTES, knontadge . Special-interest media exposure 1 2 3 4, Same age 5. Same social status 6. . Social exposure outside groupMulti-step flow of communication theory = | - ~ FIGURE 15-2 Two-step flow of communication modelMulti-step flow of cammuinicatinn thearw inion Receivers/Seekers Step Tb FIGURE 15-3 Multi-step flow of communication model | Information Receivers lhMulti-step flow of communication theory Ina classic study, a group of socially influential high school students (class presidents and sports captains) were asked to become members of a panel that would rate newly released musical recordings. As part of their responsibilities, panel participants were encouraged to discuss their record choices with friends. Preliminary examination suggested that these influential students would not qualify as opinion leaders for musical recordings because of their relatively meagre ownership of the product category. However, some of the records the group evaluated made the Top 10 charts in the cities in which the members of the group lived; these same recordings did not make the Top 10 charts in any other city. This study suggests that product-specific opinion leaders can be created by taking socially involved or influential people andWord-of-mouth may be uncontrollable Although most marketing managers believe that word-of-mouth communication is extremely effective, one problem that they sometimes overlook is the fact that informal communication is difficult to control. Negative comments, frequently in the form of rumours that are untrue, can sweep through the marketplace to the detriment of a product. Some common rumour themes that have plagued marketers in recent years and unfavourably influenced sales include the following: 1. the product was produced under unsanitary conditions, 2. the product contained an unwholesome or culturally unacceptable ingredient,DIFFUSION OF INNOVATIONS Consumer behaviour - the acceptance of new products and services. Consumer researchers who specialise in the diffusion of innovations are primarily interested in understanding two closely related processes: the diffusion process and the adoption process . In the broadest sense, diffusion is a macro process concerned with the spread of a new product (an innovation) from its source to the consuming public. In contrast, adoption is a micro process that focuses on the stages through which an individual consumer passes when deciding to accept or reject a new product.Ne Rw THE DIFFUSION PROCESS . Innovation: New Product . Channels of communication: mass media, salespeople or informal conversations . Social system (Target Market), and . Time (amount of purchase time, the rate of adoption)THE ADOPTION PROCESS . awareness, . interest, . evaluation, . trial, and adoption (or rejection).TABLE 15-10 Tne staasin the afopion process eon Rajon ‘hep nate ‘he prose and seats or Secreta pjer'mamagnene sve 2nd, SMgewiratcwherinei aig notdgebe Sitar ‘pat Sonat HPD Bir ane rom rare ne Stuy care dosnt tt tbe Trapt| ton eesien FIGURE 15-7 An enhanced adoption process model