Page 31 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

experience with. This influence is considered referent influence because these
friends sway him by the strength of their charisma and interpersonal skills, and
they have this sway because he respects them. What’s worth pointing out, though,
is that the friends whom he knows to be most informed about cars will probably
influence him more than the others.

Expert influencers

A consumer who’s mulling over a high-consideration purchase might also consult
an expert influencer. An expert influencer is an authority on the product that the
consumer is considering purchasing. Also called key influencers, they typically have
their own blogs and huge Twitter followings, and rarely know their audiences
personally.

When considering buying a car, suppose Shiv doesn’t turn just to friends for
advice, but also visits some car review websites like Edmunds (www.edmunds.com,
shown in Figure 1-3). On these review websites, experts rate, rank, and pass judg-
ment on cars. Because they put the cars through various tests and know the cars
inside and out, their opinions matter. They’re the expert social influencers —
people whom Shiv may not know personally but are recognized as authorities in a
certain field. Their influence is derived from the skills or expertise that they — or
broadly speaking, their organization — possess based on training.

FIGURE 1-3:
The Edmunds car
view website.

CHAPTER 1 Understanding Social Media Marketing 15