Professional Documents
Culture Documents
When did we
start trusting September 2008
strangers?
29 countries
17,000 internet users
Contents
Introduction
➜ No strangers anymore
The impact
➜ The influence economy
➜ The democratisation of influence
➜ The new super influencers
5
Methodology
This unique perspective comes from data collected in established from local data sources such as TGI and
the third instalment of Universal McCann’s global digital Simmons. They are the audience that matter as they are
research programme “Wave”. The research was completed involved in the new influence economy.
among 17,000 active internet users in 29 countries –
making it one of the most wide reaching investigations into To qualify as a member of the Active Internet Universe the
the subject of influence and word of mouth. Respondents respondent needs to be using the Internet everyday or every
are provided by the world’s leading online panel companies, other day. They are the audience that matter to current
all recruited to strict ESOMAR standards. and future of marketing communications and represent the
consumer that are driving the new influence landscape.
Every market is representative by age and sex to the 16-54
Active Internet Universe. Quotas and universe sizes were
Australia Japan
Austria Netherlands
Canada Romania
Chile Pakistan
China Philippines
Czech Republic Poland
France Russia
Germany Spain
Greece Switzerland
Hong Kong Taiwan
Hungary Turkey
India UK
Italy USA
No Strangers Anymore
Long before the concept of marketing existed our sources Today the web is driven by its’ users and peoples’ thoughts on
of information were limited. What we now tag “Word of everything, including products and brands, personal blogs, to
Mouth” was the only source of information outside religion, reviews on price comparison sites and wish lists on Amazon.
the monarchy and the state. People’s lives were localised It is now incredibly easy to share opinions and cultivate
and the information that impacted on their main decisions. influence, often without even trying. The result has been the
Then came newspapers, radio and the television set; mass democratisation of influence.
media created exposure to influences beyond the ancient
controllers of information. This is a fundamental change in the way we source and
share opinions and today anyone can wield influence far
However this influence was still professional and top down – beyond their immediate social group. In the old days the
the news reader, the columnist and the expert. Mass media conversations we had with our immediate peers generally
offered little in terms of consumer recommendation, readers’ stayed inside that network; today opinions and experiences
letters in newspapers and magazines or phone-ins on TV and are shared worldwide. Never before have we been exposed
radio shows were as far as consumer influence went. to so many opinions and recommendations from so many
Peer to peer interactions remained localised and face to face. people - most of whom are complete strangers, without the
aura of expertise or celebrity recognition.
Then along came the web and a revolution began. In the
early days, bulletin boards, chat rooms and home brew The result is an influence economy that is forcing everyone
websites allowed those technically in the know to project their in the public realm including the owners of products and
thoughts and opinions. More recently social media such as brands to become more transparent, open, conversational
blogs, social networks, photo or video sharing sites and wikis and honest. They have to rethink the way that influence is
have opened the door to consumer publishing and hundreds distributed and the role of marketing communications.
of millions have embraced it.
7
Graham, UK
Agnes, France
Carlos, Brazil
Dmitri, Russia
No Strangers Anymore cont.
This study demonstrates through a unique global research else is no longer true thanks to social media. We all share
project in 29 countries that things have changed forever. In influence today whether we actively mean to or not.
the new influencer landscape there are five fundamental
changes that every brand and marketer will have to New super influencers rise above the mass: Not all
acknowledge. consumer influencers are equal. A new breed of “super
influencers” has been created by the tools of the social
Anyone can influence anyone: We now trust strangers as media revolution.
much as our closest friends.
The new influence ecosystem has fundamentally changed
Friendship is no longer local or face to face: It’s becoming how we buy products and services: There is a new level
distant and virtualised. of transparency and truth that all public institutions,
companies and brands have to adhere to.
Everybody is an influencer: The power to influence no
longer belongs to the experts or “those in the know”. The
idea that we live in a simplistic world where there is a small Darren, UK
group of “influencers” who dictate the agenda to everyone
Yvonne, Switzerland
9
3 key trends
➜ The rise of social media
➜ Digital friends
➜ Proliferation of influencer channels
Scott, USA
Michael, Germany
Olga, Greece
Teresa, Canada
Brendan, Hungary
11
30%
20%
10%
0%
Wave 1 Sep 06 Wave 2 Jun 07 Wave 3 Mar 08
Figure 1: “Social Media adoption over time (Waves 1 – 3)” Global Average
Source: Universal McCann Social Media Tracker – Power to the People
The rise of social media cont.
The scale of this revolution is demonstrated by Figures 2 They are also sharing content; 55% are sharing photos, 22%
and 3, which show the extent of content that social network are uploading videos and 23% are uploading applications,
users and bloggers are uploading. It is clear that social all of which project opinions and endorse brands if included.
media has become a platform for directly sharing opinion
and thoughts; 34% of social network users are sharing
opinions on music, 31% are writing a blog inside their profile
and almost 10% have promoted a band. What I do with my social network profile
Install
applications
Favourite / 23.3%
Glen, UK currently
listened to music
33.6% Promote
a band
Hugh, Canada 9.8%
Upload photos
Write a blog 55.1% Upload
30.8% videos
21.9%
Monica, Spain
The rise of social media cont.
What do I post
on my blog?
Upload Opinions on
music products
and brands Recommended
20% websites
28%
32%
Stories from
other blogs
Videos 23%
24%
Favourite/
currently listened Photos
to music 50%
29%
Widgets
14%
Federico – Panama
Digital friends
Since its inception as a closed academic and military and communication is much more frequent and casual.
network the web has had a major impact on the way its What is interesting is the extent to which social media is
users communicate and the nature of the social networks beginning to rival its more established equivalents, with
they maintain. In 2008, 1.5bn people are online and the nearly 58% having joined a network. But more importantly,
impact of the internet has spread into the way we interact as Figure 5 shows, these users are communicating in
and communicate as a society. new ways, with 66% using them to stay in contact with
existing friends, 42% using them to meet new people
Figure 4 shows the penetration of different communications and 18% for dating.
platforms; email is universally used and instant messenger
is adopted by more than 80% of users world-wide. This has This is a fundamental shift and movement towards
moved billions of personal interactions into the virtual and virtual communications platform as a way of broadening
written word, where it is much easier to spread influence friend networks.
Email
99% Instant messenger
81.6%
VOIP
51.3%
Social network
58%
Stay in contact
with existing
friends
58%
Dating
18.3%
Meet new
friends
42%
The rise of social platforms has created important new our friend networks to include new people and old friends
channels for peer to peer interaction. Figure 6 and Figure we would have previously lost contact with.
7 show the global response to the statements, “blogging
is important to socialise with friends” and “I use social The global impact is not geographically uniform and there
networks to meet new people”, which indicate the social are large distinctions by country, with fast-growing emerging
impact of both these platforms. Both are now perceived internet markets leading the way, such as the Philippines,
as important platforms for socialising with friends, pushing Mexico and India. In these countries social platforms have
more of our interactions into the virtual world and expanding been enthusiastically embraced among web users, thanks
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to a multitude of factors including low cost of entry, less in the UK and 24% in the US. These are differences that
competition from traditional media, a poor legacy of fixed reflect broader patterns of adoption of social media and
line communications and a younger and relatively more cultural differences in role of the web in life.
affluent profile. This is reflected in their enthusiasm for these
platforms as social channels. The key factor is that the social web is increasingly adopted
as a core social platform by hundreds of millions of users
There are also large distinctions in developed internet worldwide. This dramatically affects the exposure to channels
markets, 58% of South Korea web users and 66% in Italy of influence and the nature of the social groups we maintain.
see blogging as a platform for socialising compared to 26%
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Graeme, USA
There are interesting regional differences in the nature of China – Instant Messenger leads the way as a nation of
friend networks as demonstrated by some of the major single children jump on Instant Messenger tools like QQ
internet markets shown in figure 9: to socialise. On average they have 51 friends on Instant
Messenger versus 28 friends face to face – a staggering shift
Brazil – very large friend networks, expanded further online. to the virtual.
Brazilian web users are known as vicarious social network
users thanks to an obsession with Orkut. On average they
maintain 51 friendships via social networks.
India – Email and mobile lead the way as Indians leapfrog Japan – Significantly smaller friend networks reflect the
fixed line networks, embracing functional communications structure of society, although it one of the most virtualised
platforms over social ones. with email and social networks leading face to face, but
Instant Messenger lags.
INDIA Email
51.6
Phone 45.1
Social network 42.9
Face to face 42
Text Message 35.5
Instant Messenger 33.2
Post/letter 23.8
My personal blog 17.9
JAPAN
Email 8.5
Text Message 8
Social network 7.4
Phone 7
Face to Face 6.5
Post/Letter 6.3
My personal blog 3.8
Instant Messenger 2.9
UK – Social networks now equal the number of face-to-face US – Email just leads face-to-face relationships, but SMS yet
relationships reflecting the massive growth of Facebook. to catch on.
SMS usage is level with phone calls demonstrating the
popularity of messaging.
UK Face to face
30.9
Social network 30.5
Email 25.2
Phone 21.1
Text Message 20.8
Instant Messenger 20.1
My personal blog 9.7
Post/letter 7.1
USA Email
21.1
Face to face 20
Phone 16.9
Social network 16.6
Instant Messenger 12.4
Text Message 8.9
Post/letter 7.4
My personal blog 7.1
The impact of virtual networks and digitised friends can interactions tend to be more formal. Also social networks are
be seen on our core day to day interactions with partners, beginning to become important as the boundaries between
friends, work colleagues and children. There has been professional and personal continue to disapear.
a significant shift to virtual communication as shown in
Figure 10. This is particularly marked within friend networks The most remarkable trend is the influence of the virtual
where 79% keep in touch by email, 70% by SMS, 67% by connection on our most personal of relationships. Nearly
messenger and 46% by social networks. Interacting with 38% of respondents say they keep in contact with their
current work colleagues is led by phone and email, where partner via SMS, 30% via email and 10% via Instant
Messenger. All very significant compared to the 55% who
How do I keep in contact with my friends How do I keep in contact with my partner
Social network
31.1% 45.7%
My personal Social network
7.2% Post/letter
86.3%
Face to face
% stay in contact
Figure 10: “How do you keep in
contact with the following people”,
Global Average
25
stay in touch with a partner face to face. Staying in touch amount of interaction is text-based and remote.
with children is a very similar pattern, remarkably 16% stay The impacts on the way we interact, communicate and
in touch by text and 13% by email, which again are very build our networks are substantial and they have a major
significant numbers considering just 34% have children and effect on the way we interface, receive and transmit
stay in touch face to face. recommendations.
Instant Messenger
25.7% 15.1% Instant Messenger
9.6% 34.1%
43% Social network Face to face
3.4%
Email
8.1% 15.8%
2.2% Text Message
44.4% My personal blog 3.7%
My personal blog
58% 24.4% Post/letter
Phone Phone
Face to face
13%
29.3% Email
Text Message
8.1%
Post/letter
Proliferation of influencer channels
The continuing rise of social media and digitisation of our wish lists of products, Ebay has consumer ratings of sellers
friend networks has opened up a mass of new influence and iTunes has consumer ratings and recommendations.
channels that allow consumers to voice and have their This creates an environment where sharing opinions has
opinions heard, both amongst existing networks and more never been so easy - a very real change in a very short
importantly among a wider audience. Consumer contribution space of time.
to the web has become the norm.
The result is a situation we can call casual influence, it’s now
The result is that all sites are now incorporating social incredibly easy to influence other consumers be it via voting
aspects that encourage consumer input and interaction buttons or creating favourites lists or even just by purchasing
and there is now a huge number of ways in which to share a product that will later become a recommendation for
opinions as represented in figure 11. For example all another consumer. There are so many tools to do this that
e-commerce sites now have consumer reviews, comments we no longer have to really think actively about influencing.
and recommendations; Amazon allows users to compile
Consumer influence channels – mass market age versus social media age
Talk face to face Talk face to face Personal blog Comments on blogs
The extent of adoption of the new influence channels can Significantly social channels are also extremely popular and
be seen in figure 12, which shows the monthly reach. Over have very similar levels of penetration. More than 30% of
44% of users have shared an opinion about a product or people have commented on a product or service review on a
service by Instant Messenger with a friend in the last month blog, just above the 29% that have recommended a product
and 42% by email. These two show that the web is an or brand on a blog in the past month. Amazingly, both now
extension of the existing relationships. rank above writing a review on an e-commerce site, a much
more accessible and mainstream social channel.
Monthly Average
0 50
Figure 12: “Thinking about how you can share an opinion on a product, brand
or service via the Internet. On average how often do you do the following?”
Global Monthly Average
Proliferation of influencer channels cont.
There are clear motivations for online users to share their Interestingly for the mass market, a brand being fashionable
opinions. When asked to rate different factors on a scale of 5 or discovering an unknown brand is not a major driver to
for importance a definitive pattern emerges among the mass recommend and users would much rather comment and
market as Figure 13 shows. The most important factors pass judgement on something that is already known and
being a good experience, a friend having a good experience familiar. This is because we are more familiar with these
and a quality product – demonstrating the importance in the products and we feel safer in recommending it. This shows
new influence landscape of investing in a quality product. that the majority of us do not want to dictate trends, but
These both rank above negative experience, rebuffing the respond and evaluate what is already established.
misconception that people just use the web to complain.
These motivations indicate two things; firstly companies that
All aspects of personal experience and personal invest in quality product will succeed and will get a much
recommendations are stronger influences than any greater exposure through consumer content than their
traditional paid for communications except sampling. A clear marketing budget allows; secondly it means that companies
demonstration that being active in social media will become with a bad product or trying to cover up bad behaviour will
increasingly important for brands. suffer in the transparent world of the influencer economy.
Figure 13: “The following are a list of reasons and motivations for you to talk about a product, brand or
service. Please can you consider how important they are in motivating you to talk to others? Where 5 =
very motivating and 1 = Not at all motivating.” Global Average
Proliferation of influencer channels cont.
As Figure 14 shows, these new channels have become The other validation for the impact of social channels
an essential part of our repertoire for sourcing information is the 55% of the active Internet universe claiming to
on products and brands. When asked which ones were have sought product and brand information on personal
consulted for information on products and brands in recommendations on social networks and 51% on personal
an average month, all remarkably had a penetration of blogs in an average month. This compares with 55%
more than 40%, with all social channels competing reading reviews on a news website for product and brand
extremely well. information in the last month and the same number reading
reviews on price comparison sites.
Search is number one, but an email recommendation
is virtually the same with 80% monthly reach. Instant It’s clear that social and consumer-generated channels,
Messenger conversation with a friend has the same regardless of environment are consumed at the same level
penetration as visiting a branded website. Both of which as professional content - a big development in the growth of
demonstrate the increasing reach of digitised direct the new influencer landscape.
communication channels as a form of influence.
Hayley, London
0 % Monthly Reach 90
Figure 14: “Thinking about the process of looking for opinions on a product, brand
or services online. On average how often do you do the following when looking for
information on products, brands and services?”, Global Average
Proliferation of influencer channels cont.
The common perception is that today’s society is more brands and services, proving that online strangers simply
dangerous and less community orientated than it has ever aren’t perceived as a threat, quite the contrary. Today we
been. If you read the more hysterical newspapers, you trust the opinions of strangers from all round the world
could be forgiven for thinking that every stranger is going almost as much as the people we know.
to kill you and steal your credit card. But as this research
demonstrates, this is simply untrue, at least in the world of • The top four trusted forms of recommendation are all
the web. Figure 15 shows the extent to which global web direct conversation – significantly two of these are now on
users trust different sources of information on products, internet channels: email and Instant Messenger
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• We trust strangers online almost as much as face to face • Blogs are becoming a trusted form of opinion, blogs from
recommendation people you know rank at number 7 and those by from
professionals or micropublishers, number 15. Blogs are
• We would much rather trust a stranger than a celebrity, by almost as trusted as their written word counterparts,
a long way magazines and newspapers
• We trust a stranger over any paid-for communications or • Not everything online is trusted: emails from companies
advertising are only marginally more trusted than celebrities
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It might be assumed that age will be a big factor in that the difference in trust by age is marginal particularly
determining levels of trust of strangers. The assumption when that opinion is seen inside another environment such
would be that the younger you are and the more familiar as an e-commerce store. Gender (Figure 17) is even less of
you are with social platforms, the more likely you are to a factor, with identical levels of trust. Interestingly the only
trust consumer opinion online. As this research shows, it demographic that influences in a major way is the final level
is simply not true – age is not a significant factor. Looking of education; the more educated the more you trust the
at the channels of information that consumers can project opinions of strangers (Figure 16), particularly on blogs.
their opinions through by age group in Figure 18, it is clear
6 6
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Consumers reviews on retail Peoples wish/fav lists on retail
4 sites e.g amazon.com 4 websites e.g amazon.com
3 3
chart
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6 6
5 5
Consumers reviews on retail Peoples wish/fav lists on retail
4 sites e.g amazon.com 4 websites e.g amazon.com
3 3
chart
2 2
1 1
0 0
6 6
5 5
Consumers reviews on retail Peoples wish/fav lists on retail
sites e.g amazon.com 4 websites e.g amazon.com 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
0 0
Comments/viewpoints on social
Blogs/Weblogs- personal blog
network sites e.g facebook.com
written by people you know
16-24
25-34
User reviews on an online Blogs/Weblogs- professional 35-44
auction site (e.g ebay.com) blog e.g engadget.com 45-54
How much you trust strangers online is more likely to be higher than in the US, UK or Japan. There are also cultural
determined by nationality and the resulting cultural, social factors at play: in China the collective is still important
and technological differences as demonstrated in despite the in-roads of capitalism while in Brazil culture is
Figure 19 – the levels of trust for social recommendations more shared and open.
in some key developed and emerging markets and the
differences are very clear. Japan, despite very high levels of technology, shows that
culture and social factors are also important as levels of
Levels of trust are significantly higher in South Korea, where trust are much lower than South Korea. Friend networks in
massive government investment has created the most Japan tend to be much smaller and there are stricter rules
connected and broadband proficient country in the world, of conduct about interacting with people not familiar to you.
leading to the highest levels of social media and content
generation of any of the developed markets. The result is an The UK and the US have almost identical levels of trust and
ecosystem of influence, where the opinions of strangers are both are significantly lower than the average particularly
extremely well trusted. in the unregulated environments of blogs and social
networks. This reflects lower levels of participation in
Trust is next highest in China and Brazil where uptake of content generation and a culture where strangers have been
social media is also extremely high. Trust here is significantly increasingly depicted in the mass media as a threat.
Matsui, Japan
What’s the best digital camera at Henry, Australia
the moment? How much can you
get it for in Japan?
39
Trust by country
19
Blogs/Weblogs-blog written
by people you do not know
6
Consumers reviews on retail
5 Peoples wish/fav lists on retail
sites e.g amazon.com
websites e.g amazon.com
4
Brazil
China
Japan
South Korea
Blogs/Weblogs- professional UK
User reviews on an online
auction site (e.g ebay.com) blog e.g engadget.com US
Shashi, India
Manpreet, China
Hayley, UK
Somyot, Thailand
The impact
➜ The influence economy
➜ The democratisation of influence
➜ The new super influencers
Hugh, Canada
45
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Pr
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M
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Fi
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U
H
70
% Ever reviewed online
Figure 20: “Thinking about the following types of products, brands or services. Can you please indicate
whether you have reviewed them online, either a positive, average or negative opinion”, Global Average
The influence economy cont.
Using films as an example, a clear global pattern emerges The leading markets are predominately Asian; South Korea,
demonstrating the places where the influencer economy Hong Kong, Philippines, India, Pakistan and China.
is currently strongest (Figure 21). As films are universally This shows that extremely high participation rates in social
viewed worldwide, regardless of income, this is a sensible media are spilling over into direct recommendations
measure to pull out the extent of involvement in the on products and brands. The only exception to the Asian
influence economy. dominance is Brazil, a country that is obsessed with
social networking.
0
100
Fr
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m .9
an 9%
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p .2
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40
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he
rla
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49
na .6
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ee .9
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h
52
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itz %
er
la
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S 53
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Au
st
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%
Figure 21: “Thinking about the following types of products, brands or services.
ai
n
55
Can you please indicate whether you have reviewed them online, either a positive,
Ita .8
ly 4%
58
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la
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65
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47
The influencer economy cont.
When it comes to sourcing information, there are significant Interestingly the products that are low in terms of sourcing
differences by category with larger variations by category information are also low categories for e-commerce, such
than for the sharing information. The result being that some as groceries, beverages, healthcare and cosmetics – all
categories are very high in sharing and low in sourcing and impulse or immediate need products that rarely have a
vice versa. The leading category, ‘holiday and destinations’ significant consideration period. However these are all
is the lead category for sourcing information but very few categories we have reviewed online – showing a disconnect
people actually share their own experiences. in contribution versus sourcing,
The leading products after holidays and destinations are The other interesting observation is the number of people
home technology, travel and portable technology; not only who have researched ‘big ticket’ items such as cars
high interest, but products that have been strongly impacted and property is still significant. This is important as it
by e-commerce. Following travel and technology films, demonstrates that consumer influence on the web is also
music and books are the next most popular, all important impacting long-term branding.
in the sharing of information, making them very active
categories in the influence economy.
.1
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% Researched online
Figure 22: “Which of the following types of products and services have you researched online before choosing to buy?”, Global Average
49
Theresa, Azores
Tom, UK
Democratisation of influence
Figure 23 shows the impact of the new influencer landscape Looking at the categories where we are predominately
– when asked whether we see ourselves as influencers or receivers, it is the categories that are less dictated by
receivers on a number of product categories, we now claim personal choice and more about in-depth knowledge. They
to be influencers or receivers across a huge number of are the fields that are traditionally low interest and dictated
categories both on and offline. by experts, such as property, finance, cars and cosmetics.
However the impact of the new world of influence can
Firstly the extent to which we consider ourselves influencers even be seen here: although they rank last, they are still
is much higher across all categories than would be expected all over 40%; a reflection of a consumer who has access
and is now similar to the extent that we consider ourselves to to unprecedented volumes of knowledge, opinion and fact
be receivers – this is a direct result of the ease of access for online. This will no doubt increase over time, eroding the
sharing influence. Secondly there is a correlation between power of the experts and bringing consumer influence into
the categories that are most popular for sharing information all categories.
online and the ones that we now consider ourselves to be
influencers in – music, film, books and technology. These
are the categories most dependent on personal taste. This
shows how important the web is in shaping the influence
economy.
Rolandas, Lithuania
51
-80 0 80
Figure 23: “Thinking about the following type of products, brands and services, which of the following statements apply?
I often inform others on what to buy / I sometimes inform others on what to buy / I sometimes ask others what products
to buy /I would always ask others about what products to buy ”, Global Average
Democratisation of influence cont.
The true picture of the democratisation of influence can be More importantly this contradicts the idea that we live in a
seen in the number of categories that we claim to influence simplistic world where there is a small group of “influencers”
in. Figure 24 shows that we consider ourselves to be who dictate their agenda to everyone else. The truth is
influencers across several categories. The peak of influence everybody influences and receives information across a
around 12-14 categories is much higher than would have huge number of categories and thanks to social media
been expected before the advent of the web. Visually it can this trend has been amplified. The reality today is much
be seen that the pattern of influencers is top heavy, the more complicated.
majority influence in 10+ categories, which is much higher
than the mid point for sourcing information - we now claim
to share more than we receive.
Urban, Sweden
Arne-Inge, Norway
Tadek, Poland
Riham, Egypt
53
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10
Figure 24: “Thinking about the following type of products, brands and services, which of the following
statements apply? I often inform others on what to buy / I sometimes inform others on what to buy /
I sometimes ask others what products to buy /I would always ask others about what products to buy”,
Global Average cumulative number of categories
The new super influencers
Now we all influence – the real indication of a true influencer Figure 25 shows how they are more likely to be male, 25-34
is someone who does it regardless of category, so if we and be mid or senior influential office workers. They are also
look at respondents who claim to strongly influence in more likely to be highly educated.
15+ categories, we can see the emergence of a super
influencer. This is a new kind of influencer who, thanks Basically in the knowledge heavy, written world of the web,
to social media and the tools it provides to create and share intelligence and computer literacy are major factors in
influence emerges above the clutter of mass influence spreading significant influence.
to spread opinion far and wide.
The new super influencers fit the typical profile of early I like taking risks; I spend a lot of time out and about with
adopters who are likely to try new products, take risks and friends; when buying products my friends ask my opinion.
share their opinions with friends. The top statements are as
you would expect; first amongst friends to try new products;
I’m an optimist
Funda, Turkey
57
Download a podcast
Read blogs/weblogs
Figure 27: Super Influencer social media usage indexed against all respondents
The new super influencers
Super influencers are much more likely to be motivated by This is a new creative class who are going beyond the tools
overt commercial messaging; celebrity endorsements and of casual influence to create rich and deep content in the
direct recommendations online and in the media. Most form of videos, blogs and photos. They are exercising their
importantly, however, they are much more likely to want right to create and spread influence and as the channels
to share opinions because a brand is fashionable or their of peer to peer recommendation and the social media grow
friends are not aware of the brand, basically they are more their role will become more important.
overt about trying to cultivate external opinion.
Figure 28: Super Influencer motivations to recommend indexed against all respondents
59
Super influencers are found across the globe , but there is The leading developed web markets are Italy, Japan and
a clear skew towards the emerging internet markets of Latin Spain, where just under 8% of active users fall into super
America and Asia Pacific. In Brazil a stunning 24% of active users. The Anglo markets of the US, UK and Australia have
internet users fall into the super influencer category. They 5% of their users falling into the super influencer category.
are followed by India, Mexico and Pakistan – demonstrating It’s these differences that highlight how social media
how internet users have found their voice thanks to their adoption and levels of content creation mirror and impact
massive use of social media in these markets. the rise of super influencers.
%
2%
7%
6%
3%
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%
2.
7.
3%
13
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%
5.
3.
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ss
ee
az
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m
pa
an
ki
in
st
st
ex
ut
un
la
ai
on
di
ly
et
r
K
S
Ph
Ru
Sw
Pa
i
De
Au
Au
Ro
Ge
Ch
Ca
Po
Gr
Br
Sp
Cz
So
Ita
Tu
Ta
In
Ja
Fr
N
30
% share of active internet users
Charlotte, UK
Dorota, Poland
Michelle, UK
Jai, Dubai
Final thoughts
New world of transparency Be part of the conversation
• There are no secrets in the new world of influence • The new world of influence needs a more conversational
brands, products and services are under constant scrutiny approach; advertising should encourage interaction, input
and community
• The truth cannot be managed in the way it was when
a few gatekeepers controlled the distribution • This means having a blog, being in social networks,
of information creating content such as photos, videos etc – generally
being part of the conversation
• The only path is honesty, openness and transparency.
If you make a mistake in the new world of influence – • Exist inside the social media services that consumers
you admit it and make good spend their time in and source their influence from
• Control has to be loosened – let consumers discuss, • Don’t be scared to advertise in bottom up conversational
share and interact with your brand media that consumers are generating.
• All categories of goods and services are now impacted • Advertising has a big role in the future world of influence –
by the new economy of influence and have to respond to it provides the revenue for most of the services that enable
a world where consumer opinion shapes the agenda and cultivate consumer recommendation
Spyros
Spyros, Greece
Hayley, UK Hi Spyros, you mentioned
you were buying a TV –
Hayley
check out www.reevoo.
com <http://www.
reevoo.com/> before
Hello Hayley, do you you do
know where I can get
tickets for Madonna Tour?
I love the new album
also thanks for telling me
about it
63
Hugh, Canada
Hugh
Sue, UK
65
Yvonne, Switzerland
Hanley, Czech Republic
What does this mean for your business?
“When did we start trusting strangers?” is an in-depth study • Who is the influencer in your business category?
and there are many aspects of analysis that we are unable to
• What marketing communications work for
cover in this report.
your influencers?
If you want to know how to operate in the new influencer • What they do online?
landscape and what this means for your business please
• What they create, what they view, what they share?
contact us at consultancy@umww.com and we can share
the key results and impact for your brand or business: • What does it mean for your marketing communications?
• What are the implications for your business?
o b i l e Phone
Prope M
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Tech ome
Real Esrty/
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Cosmet
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Groc logy Fash Games
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s eries
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Destinatai y
Cars/
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67
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Universal McCann © 2008