Coffee and Communications

Remember last week when we talked at length about the impact the social media influencers have on our lives? Well, here we are again! This week in my class, we covered “Interpersonal Influence, Opinion Leadership and Diffusion of Innovations,” and read about Word-of-Mouth Marketing. This actually relates very linearly with last week’s topic of Opinion Leadership. You see, these social media influencers, our opinion leaders, are successfully using word-of-mouth marketing every single day! The Influencer occupation has changed drastically in the last few years, and today I want to talk about those changes. First, we are going to cover the three different types of Word-of-Mouth influencing. The “organic interconsumer influence model” is traditional word-of-mouth marketing. An example of this would be if I were talking to my friend and telling them about a product or idea. The “linear marketer influence model” is when you have one opinion leader influencing consumers to buy pro...

It is almost impossible to scroll through Facebook or Instagram without coming across a post from a social media influencer. What was once a hobby for people has now become a full time job, but with that change there have been many challenges for companies, influencers, and the public. Today, social media influencers are made to be early adopters of products. Companies will send them new, innovative products to use and review. Followers will see these new products and purchase them, or the influencer will post a review, encouraging the followers to get this exciting product. The types of social media influencers range: beauty, fashion, fitness, technology, home décor, you name it, there is probably an influencer for it. Unlike in the past when it was the job of mass media to get the word out about products, you often see influencers taking on that role as well, especially when it comes to smaller companies who do not want to pay for a commercial and someone to give the produ...