GROUP INFLUENCE AND OPINION Chapter 7

LEADERSHIP
 BACKGROUND
We all belong to groups, try to please others and pick up cues about how to behave by
observing the actions of those around us.
In fact, our desire to ‘fit in’ or to identify with desirable individuals or groups is the
primary motivation for many of our purchases and activities.
This chapter focuses on
 How other people, whether team-mates, co-workers, friends and family or just casual
acquaintances, influence our purchase decisions.
 It considers how our preferences are shaped by our group memberships, by our desire to please or
be accepted by others, even by the actions of famous people whom we’ve never met.
 Finally, it explores why some people are more influential than others in affecting consumers’ product
preferences
 How marketers go about finding those people and enlisting their support in the persuasion process.
REFERENCE GROUP
A reference group is a group of people you refer to while making buying decisions.
It is a group that serves as reference point for an individual for his/her beliefs,
attitude and behavior.
Eg. Family members, Relative, Friends, Colleagues and other close acquaintance are
usually termed as Reference Group.
These influences, informational, utilitarian, and value-expressive,
Informational Influence: The individual seeks
information, brand-related knowledge, and
experience from reference group. REFERENCE
GROUPS
The Utilitarian influence of groups refers to
the ways in which consumers conform to group INFLUENCE
expectations in order to receive a reward or
avoid punishment. CONSUMERS
Value-expressive influence: The individual
IN THREE
feels that the purchase of a particular brand
would help show others what he or she is or
WAYS:
would like to be (such as an athlete, successful
business person, good parents, etc.)
 TYPE OF INFLUENCE
Normative influence can be defined as Comparative influence can be defined
the influence of the norms of a group to as comparing oneself with another
which the individuals belong to. person, whom they treat as a role model
and desire to become like those people.
They are influenced by the characteristics
of the group and what they have learnt For example, a little girl may admire a
through the group. teacher and wants to become like her
when she completes her education.
For example, a person who is from a
well-educated family will focus on his
academics more.
 Primary Groups: a social aggregation that is
sufficiently intimate to permit and facilitate
unrestricted direct interaction (e.g., family)
Secondary Groups: also have direct interaction, but it
TYPES OF is more sporadic, less comprehensive, and less
influential in shaping thought and behavior (e.g.,
REFERENCE professional associations or community organizations)
Formal Groups: Characterized by a defined structure
GROUP (often written) and a known list of members and
requirements for membership
Informal Groups: Have less structure than formal
groups and are likely to be based on friendship or
interests Types of Reference Groups
 Membership: when individuals are recognized as
members of a group, they have achieved formal
acceptance status in the group

TYPES OF Aspirational Groups: exhibit a desire to adopt the

norms, values, and behaviors of others with whom the

REFERENCE individuals aspire to associate

Dissociative Groups: groups from which an individual
GROUP tries to avoid association
Virtual Groups: groups that are based on virtual
communities rather than geographic ones
 A virtual community is a community of people sharing
common interests, ideas, and feelings over the Internet
or other collaborative networks.
VIRTUAL A virtual community of consumption is a collection
COMMUNITIES of people whose online interactions are based upon
shared enthusiasm for and knowledge of a specific
consumption activity.
 Internet users tend to progress from asocial
information gathering to increasingly affiliative social
HOW DO activities.
PEOPLE GET At first consumer will merely browse the site but later
DRAWN INTO they may well be drawn into active participation.
The intensity of identification with a virtual community
VIRTUAL depends on two factors.
CONSUMPTION  Person’s self-concept, the more likely he or she will be to pursue
active membership in a community.
COMMUNITIES?  Intensity of the social relationships the person forms with other
members of the virtual community helps to determine the extent
of their involvement.
 Tourists lack strong social ties
to the group, and maintain
only a passing interest in the
activity.
Minglers maintain strong
social ties, but are not very
interested in the central
consumption activity
Devotees express strong
interest in the activity, but
Devotees and insiders are the most important targets have few social attachments
for marketers who wish to exploit communities for to the group.
promotional purposes. Insiders exhibit both strong
They are the heavy users of virtual communities. social ties and strong interest
Reinforcing usage, the community may upgrade tourists in the activity.
and minglers to insiders and devotees
BRAND
COMMUNITIES
A group of consumers who share a
set of social relationships based on
usage or interest in a product.
A brand community is formed
around supporting a particular
brand or product.
MY STARBUCKS IDEA
Starbucks provides a forum for coffee
enthusiasts to share and discuss their ideas
through My Starbucks Idea. The appeal here
is that you can look through other people’s
ideas, add your own two cents through a vote,
and share your feedback. This type of
environment makes the customer feel valued –
because they are. The brand does a good job
of cultivating this feeling by making sure to
highlight which customer ideas are being put
into action.
 Communities often have their own languages, symbols, and
rituals and share moral values and opinions.
“Groups of people emotionally connected by similar
consumption values and usage, who use the social "linking
value" of products and services to create a community and
express identity.
Moreover, consumer tribes also share consumption preferences
CONSUMER This provides opportunity for marketers to access a specific
market segment and to create lasting loyalty through

TRIBES establishing both an emotional connection as well as a rational

reason for commitment.
BRAND COMMUNITIES VS CONSUMER TRIBES
Brand communities are explicitly commercial, whereas tribes
are not
Brand communities are concerned about the relationship
between brand and consumer, whereas tribes focus on the
relationship between consumers
CONFORMITY
A change in behavior or belief toward a group as a result of real or
imagined group pressure.
STEMS FROM:
Normative conformity occurs when a person conforms to meet the
expectations of a person or group.
 It is a desire to be liked and accepted
 Conforming because the person is scared of being rejected by the
group.
Informational conformity refers to conformity that occurs because the
group’s behaviour is taken as evidence of reality
 It is desire to be correct.
 This usually occurs when a person lacks knowledge and looks to the
group for guidance
REASONS FOR CONFORMITY
(WHY PEOPLE CONFORMS?)
Cultural pressures
Fear of deviance
 The individual may have reason to believe that the group will apply sanctions to
punish behaviour that differs from the group’s.

Commitment or Dedication to the group

Group Size, Power and Expertise
 As groups gain its power, compliance increases, difficult to resist the demand of group
members.
SOCIAL COMPARISON THEORY
Humans are constantly evaluating themselves and others across a variety
of domains, such as attractiveness, wealth, intelligence, and success.
Social comparison theory states that individuals determine their own
social and personal worth based on how they stack up against others
they perceive as somehow faring better or worse.
It can be used for self-evaluation; self-improvement; or self-
enhancement
Consists of
 UPWARD Comparison : On one hand, can threaten our self-evaluation
and jeopardize self-esteem. On the other hand improve our current level
of ability.
 DOWNWARD Comparison : making ourselves feel better about our
abilities, Leads to a self-enhancement effect
DISCUSSION
How we can Apply the concept of Social Comparison theory in context of Marketing.
RESISTANCE TO SOCIAL
INFLUENCE
Anti-Conformity: Defiance (resistance) is the root of this behaviour
 Individuals who display anti-conformity behaviours are internally motivated to
disrupt the balance of the group.
 Further, anti-conformist individuals are motivated by rebelliousness and are not
influenced by social forces or norms
Independence: The individual is not aware to expected social patterns, They
‘march to their own drummers’.
Reactance: People have a deep-seated need to preserve freedom of choice.
When they are threatened with a loss of this freedom, they try to overcome this
loss.
 This negative emotional state is termed reactance, and results when we are
deprived of the freedom to choose
 Extremely overbearing promotions that tell consumers they must or should use a
product may lose customers in the long run, even those who were already loyal
to the advertised brand
 Despite the abundance of formal means of
communication (such as newspapers, magazines and
television), much information about the world is
conveyed by individuals on an informal basis.
WORD OF MOUTH Word of mouth is the passing of information from
COMMUNICATION person to person by oral communication.
(WOM) Information obtained these source tends to be more
reliable and trustworthy for consumers than that
received through more formal channels and, unlike
advertising,
WHY WOM IS IMPORTANT FOR
MARKETERS
Decline in people’s faith in public commercials and marketing message.
It is Viral and has Multiplier Effects. WOM also doesn't stop after just one interaction.
It is easy promotional efforts. Just create a buzz (Intentional WOM Campaign by
Marketers). It becomes viral.
Social Medias accept WOM easily.
It serves as low budget and sustainable promotional effort.
It influence in every steps of consumer purchase journey.
It is reliable: According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends
and family over all forms of advertising.
It is sticky:
 REASONS OF (POSITIVE/NEGATIVE)WOM
Familiar/knowledgeable about product
Highly Involved and feels pleasure HOW TO ENCOURAGE
Reduction of Cognitive Dissonance Word Of Mouth
Surprise with the information. You share with your  Create something buzz-
friends. worthy
Initiate discussion of genuine concern for someone
else  Encourage the buzz
 Guerrilla Marketing is an advertising strategy that
focuses on low-cost unconventional marketing tactics
WOM WITH that yield maximum results
This techniques mostly play on the element of surprise.
SURPRISE : It sets out to create highly unconventional campaigns
EFFORT that catch people unexpectedly in the course of their
day-to-day routines.
THROUGH Guerrilla Marketing aim to strike the consumer at a more
personal and memorable level creating social buzz
GUERRILLA (maximizing the word-of-mouth potential of a particular
campaign or product)
MARKETING https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZhbmlbfG5U
WOM WITH VIRAL MARKETING
A method of marketing whereby consumers are encouraged to share
information about a company's goods or services via the Internet.
Viral Marketing is that which is able to generate interest and the
potential sale of a brand or product through messages that spread
like a virus, in other words, quickly, and from person to person.
The most widespread example in recent times is the creation of
moving, surprising or spectacular videos on YouTube, which are then
shared on Facebook, Twitter and other channels.
WOM WITH RUMORS
A currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth.
A rumour, even if it has no basis in fact, can be a very dangerous
thing.
In rumors, Information is transmitted among consumers, it tends to
change. The resulting message usually does not resemble the original
at all.
 Opinion leaders filter, interpret or
provide information for individuals
within groups

OPINION
LEADERSHIP Opinion leadership (word of mouth
communication) is the process which one
person (the opinion leader) informally
influences the action or attribute of
others who may be opinion seekers or
opinion recipients.
REASONS FOR THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF OPINION LEADERSHIP
Opinion leaders are highly credible sources of information.
They tend to be socially active and highly interconnected in their community.
Opinion leaders provide both favorable and unfavorable information
adds to their credibility.
They have pre-screened, evaluated and synthesized product information
in an unbiased way, so they possess knowledge power
They are technically competent and thus convincing because they possess
expert power.
They tend to be similar to the consumer in terms of their values and
beliefs, so they possess referent power.
 Identifying opinion leaders

MARKETING Targeting for marketing research

STRATEGY
AND Product sampling

OPINION
Retailing/personal selling
LEADERSHIP
Advertising attempts to encourage
and simulate opinion leadership
THANK YOU

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