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Word-of-mouth communication and opinion leadership

Published on September 15, 2013 Reviewed on September 27, 2018   57 min

A selection of talks on Marketing & Sales

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0:00
Hello. My name is Allan Kimmel, I'm a Professor of Marketing at ESCP Europe a Business School in Paris, France. I spent many years researching and writing about the power and potential influence in the marketplace, so communications emanating from consumers. I began my work with the study of rumors, and more recently I've moved to the topics that serve as the focus of this installment, "Word-of-Mouth Communication and Opinion Leadership". I hope you'll find this presentation interesting and informative.
0:33
At this point in the "Why We Buy" series, you no doubt are aware that there are a variety of factors that influenced buying behavior. My focus in this presentation on "Word-of-Mouth Communication and Opinion Leadership", brings us within the realm of social influences on behavior.
0:50
Within psychology, the role of social factors in human behavior falls under the general heading of social influence, sometimes referred to as personal influence. Within the context of marketing, social influence refers to the effect or change in the consumers' attitudes or behavior that largely come about as a result of informal or formal communication with other people. An example of a formal communication, say, would be a persuasive argument from a salesperson in a store. Or, if you want, the presentation that you are now following. By contrast, when our interests turns to "Word-of-mouth Communication and Opinion Leadership", we are primarily concerning ourselves with informal communications. Now, these are the kinds of communications that come about as a result of our everyday interactions with a variety of people that we are likely to spend any significant amount of time with. Ranging from our friends, and family members, to our coworkers, to trendsetters that we know or follow. Now, such communications are technically referred to as consumer-to-consumer, or more simply C-to-C influence.
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Word-of-mouth communication and opinion leadership

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