“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

As long ago as 1944, pioneering sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld and his colleagues pioneered the study of opinion leaders and published a book called “The People’s Choice”. In it they describe how ideas run from mass media to opinion leaders, and from opinion leaders these ideas filter through to a wider population.

Using this principle of finding those that have an influence on your prospects and customers and marketing to them as opposed to a wider target market is used in digital marketing today. While the information available through the internet has exploded in recent years, it is still true that many of us are swayed by second-hand opinions and influencers.

As a business owner, you may feel the need to put in more and more effort and spend on chasing people are overwhelmed by the endless bombardment of messages.

Narcotizing dysfunction was a term coined by Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert Merton to refer to the phenomenon in which the media provide such massive amounts of information that the audience becomes numb and generally fails to act on the information, regardless of how compelling the issue.

By combining Lazarsfeld’s observations, you can cut through the fog, narrow down your marketing efforts to specific online influencers, and let them spread your message to their audiences – who are already following these opinion leaders.

To select an influencer to target, consider these attributes needed in influencers according to “The Influentials” by Ed Keller and Jon Berry:

• 1.       Activists: influencers get involved, with their communities, political movements, charities and so on.
• 2.       Connected: influencers have large social networks
• 3.       Impact: influencers are looked up to and are trusted by others
• 4.       Active Minds: influencers have multiple and diverse interests
• 5.       Trendsetters: influencers tend to be early adopters (or leaders) in markets

A US-based marketing agency shared this cases study: “How LG's Seriously Professional Campaign Reached 5 million.

In January 2016, leading electronics brand LG announced a plan to triple the sales of HD televisions and computer monitors in an effort to capture a larger share of the $286B United States consumer electronics market. To help the brand achieve this goal, LG partnered with top YouTube influencer Devin Graham to create a series of engaging YouTube videos, editing tutorials, and Instagram content designed to appeal to ordinary social media users and professionals in the editing, music, and graphic design industries. Watch video.

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