Comments on: What Matters in Word of Mouth: It’s the Power of the Idea Not the Influencer http://contentmarketingtoday.com/2008/01/30/what-matters-in-word-of-mouth-its-the-power-of-the-idea-not-the-influencer/ How to turn prospects into buyers with content marketing Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:51:02 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: (EMP) E-Marketing Performance » : » Team Reading List 2.1.08 http://contentmarketingtoday.com/2008/01/30/what-matters-in-word-of-mouth-its-the-power-of-the-idea-not-the-influencer/comment-page-1/#comment-512 (EMP) E-Marketing Performance » : » Team Reading List 2.1.08 Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:42:36 +0000 http://contentmarketingtoday.com/2008/01/30/what-matters-in-word-of-mouth-its-the-power-of-the-idea-not-the-influencer/#comment-512 [...] What Matters in Word of Mouth: It’s the Power of the Idea Not the Influencer [...] [...] What Matters in Word of Mouth: It’s the Power of the Idea Not the Influencer [...]

]]> By: Newt Barrett http://contentmarketingtoday.com/2008/01/30/what-matters-in-word-of-mouth-its-the-power-of-the-idea-not-the-influencer/comment-page-1/#comment-511 Newt Barrett Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:32:43 +0000 http://contentmarketingtoday.com/2008/01/30/what-matters-in-word-of-mouth-its-the-power-of-the-idea-not-the-influencer/#comment-511 Greg, Thanks much for the thoughtful comment. Your 'driest tinder' is an interesting twist on the influential theory. You suggest that you cannot rely on a very small group of people who are intrinsincally powerful, but a larger group with a passion that is easily spread. Presumably, it's easier to figure our how to target these folks. In a way that's an extension of the idea behind special interest publishing. Find a bunch of bass fishing fanatics, create a magazine for them, and then sell ads to companies who believe that fishing fanatics will influence 1000s more neophytes. That's how Bill Ziff built Ziff-Davis into a multi-billion dollar company from the 50s throught the 90s with magazines like Stereo Review, Flying, Car & Drive, and PC Magazine. I think that may be worth another post. Thanks again for forcing me to think a bit more deeply. Newt Greg,
Thanks much for the thoughtful comment. Your ‘driest tinder’ is an interesting twist on the influential theory. You suggest that you cannot rely on a very small group of people who are intrinsincally powerful, but a larger group with a passion that is easily spread. Presumably, it’s easier to figure our how to target these folks.
In a way that’s an extension of the idea behind special interest publishing. Find a bunch of bass fishing fanatics, create a magazine for them, and then sell ads to companies who believe that fishing fanatics will influence 1000s more neophytes. That’s how Bill Ziff built Ziff-Davis into a multi-billion dollar company from the 50s throught the 90s with magazines like Stereo Review, Flying, Car & Drive, and PC Magazine. I think that may be worth another post.
Thanks again for forcing me to think a bit more deeply.
Newt

]]> By: Greg Stielstra http://contentmarketingtoday.com/2008/01/30/what-matters-in-word-of-mouth-its-the-power-of-the-idea-not-the-influencer/comment-page-1/#comment-509 Greg Stielstra Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:56:19 +0000 http://contentmarketingtoday.com/2008/01/30/what-matters-in-word-of-mouth-its-the-power-of-the-idea-not-the-influencer/#comment-509 Watt's suggestion to start trends with indiscriminate mass advertising misses an important fact: Trends must start before they can spread. Therefore the receptivity of the first individuals to learn of a new product plays a key role in determining its fate. If they buy then a trend has a chance to develop. If they don’t then the party is over. The problem with Watt's "accidental influentials" is that we don’t know whether they are any more likely than the general population to buy the promoted product. By Watts’s view we are all equally likely to start a needle pointing trend as a fad involving death metal garage bands. In reality, though, certain people are much more likely to buy certain products or start a particular trend than others. I believe the best way to understand the marketing process—the way messages are sent, received, acted upon, and spread, is to think of fire. I saw these forces in action when I worked as the marketing director for The Purpose Driven Life, the bestselling hardcover book in American history and describe my observations in a book called PyroMarketing. (www.pyromarketing.com) Trends begin with a group of people I call “The Driest Tinder.” It is their passion not their position that makes them special. They have a "low ignition temperature” relative to specific products. This means they are more likely to buy your product or service than the population at large. Since they are more likely to buy, they are also more likely to start a trend. Next, and perhaps most importantly, the driest tinder possess a special kind of connectivity. They are no more connected overall than the rest of us but their friends and associates share their interest for the same product thanks to a human psychological force called homophily. Homophily means “love of same” and it describes our tendency to gather with similar others into affiliation networks. Packers fans seek out other Packers fans and so on. Affiliation networks allow marketers to identify and communicate with what Watt’s calls “percolating vulnerable clusters” or, groups of people who know each other and share a low ignition temperature. The combination of the driest tinder’s receptivity to a particular product and their connectivity to like-minded others make them the place where trends begin. Spread the fire. GS Watt’s suggestion to start trends with indiscriminate mass advertising misses an important fact: Trends must start before they can spread. Therefore the receptivity of the first individuals to learn of a new product plays a key role in determining its fate. If they buy then a trend has a chance to develop. If they don’t then the party is over.

The problem with Watt’s “accidental influentials” is that we don’t know whether they are any more likely than the general population to buy the promoted product. By Watts’s view we are all equally likely to start a needle pointing trend as a fad involving death metal garage bands. In reality, though, certain people are much more likely to buy certain products or start a particular trend than others.

I believe the best way to understand the marketing process—the way messages are sent, received, acted upon, and spread, is to think of fire. I saw these forces in action when I worked as the marketing director for The Purpose Driven Life, the bestselling hardcover book in American history and describe my observations in a book called PyroMarketing. (www.pyromarketing.com)

Trends begin with a group of people I call “The Driest Tinder.” It is their passion not their position that makes them special. They have a “low ignition temperature” relative to specific products. This means they are more likely to buy your product or service than the population at large. Since they are more likely to buy, they are also more likely to start a trend.

Next, and perhaps most importantly, the driest tinder possess a special kind of connectivity. They are no more connected overall than the rest of us but their friends and associates share their interest for the same product thanks to a human psychological force called homophily. Homophily means “love of same” and it describes our tendency to gather with similar others into affiliation networks. Packers fans seek out other Packers fans and so on. Affiliation networks allow marketers to identify and communicate with what Watt’s calls “percolating vulnerable clusters” or, groups of people who know each other and share a low ignition temperature.

The combination of the driest tinder’s receptivity to a particular product and their connectivity to like-minded others make them the place where trends begin. Spread the fire. GS

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