A fascination with paid influencers has meant that marketers often overlook the opportunity to cultivate strategies that would put the power of “everyday influencers” to work on their behalf, according to three influential US industry figures.

Writing in the current issue of Admap, Ed Keller and Brad Fay, CEO and CCO respectively of Engagement Labs, and Matt Dodd, managing partner of Kantar Analytics, argue that paid influencers can drive surges in demand, but marketers have a much more sustainable opportunity to engage everyday influencers whose value comes from personal relationships with their closest friends and families.

And they report their ongoing research indicates that word of mouth can contribute to between a quarter and half of long-term brand equity. (For more, read the full article: The power of everyday influencers in driving business outcomes.)

That assessment is based on the social metrics they say are the biggest drivers of business impact: offline conversation volume and net sentiment, both online and offline.

“On average, these three metrics combine to account for 70% of the impact of all social metrics on brand purchases,” they say.

The fourth-most important metric is what they term offline influence, which is based on the extent to which a brand is performing above-average among the 10% of consumers who are most influential within their peer group.

“For some brands, offline influence can actually be the most important metric,” they add – as was the case for a leading alcoholic beverages company.

“These everyday influencers are neighbors who are first to try new electronics or beauty products, and eager to tell you what worked and what didn’t,” they explain. “These influencers are defined by the number of people they talk to on a regular basis and their inclination to give advice about a variety of products.”

In contrast, online influence is, on average, the least impactful of their eight metrics on near-term brand sales, the authors say.

The conclusion they draw is that “everyday influencer” marketing is a bigger opportunity than paid celebrities and YouTube stars. Accordingly, brands should consider designing campaigns with them in mind.

This issue of Admap - Influencer marketing: beyond the hype - features a selection of articles by thought leaders from across the globe. WARC subscribers can access the deck Influencer marketing: Beyond the hype which summarises the expert advice and key recommendations from all the authors.

Sourced from Admap