Opinion leaders vs Influencers — 101 Guide to best practice

by Thanh Nguyen — OggaDoon PR and Digital Marketing Bristol

In the digital marketing and PR hive at OggaDoon, we also find ourselves mapping out and exploring the media landscape. The rise of digitisation, new and evolving social media and publishing platforms together with their changing algorithms really does demand an engaged effort to keep an eye on the ball.

We have noted how the much loved ‘traditional opinion leaders’ of our profession have been joined by other influencers, ambassadors and thought leaders that we professionals have to understand, build relationships and connect with to help tell meaningful brand stories or disseminate powerful campaigns messages. As we have navigated the digital ecosystems we understand that these players are key to our integrated client campaigns. We have found a need to clearly define the difference between these key players to our clients, so in our true collaborative OggaDoon spirit, we thought we’d share this golden nugget of information to help others on their journey.

In today’s article, we explain the difference and provide a helpful guide to the best practices of what is right for a successful marketing campaign. It’s not hard to believe that opinion leaders and influencers have become essential drivers to the advancement of brand awareness campaigns. As a PR and digital marketing agency, OggaDoon constantly reports on the latest trends and shares advice on how to help startups and SMEs increase awareness within their industries, gain more leads and maximise their potential.

What are opinion leaders?

Formed from the theory of a two-step flow of communication founded by Paul Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz in 1955, opinion leadership has developed drastically throughout the years. Opinion leaders, once called “industry insiders” or “thought leaders”, are those who have established authority in a given area, market, or industry. They are individuals or organisations that are experts within an industry or otherwise have views that are both widely known and trusted. As a result, they can influence public opinion — including the opinions of your customers.

They broadly gain respect because of their qualifications, position, or experience about their topic of expertise. This respect is earned through their reputation of committing to their areas of work for years. These thought leaders include politicians, journalists, academics, industry experts and professional advisors.

The difference between opinion leaders and influencers is authenticity. Opinion leaders seek to collaborate only with brands that resemble them and not give in to any offer of collaboration. They will take into account several criteria when partnering with a brand, such as an image conveyed and its positioning. They prefer to publish content that makes sense.

What are influencers?

Influencers are people (or animals, or fictive characters) who have a strong community and build relationships with them to affect purchase decisions. They are active social media users, and you can categorise them into three types: celebrities, bloggers and micro-influencers.

Influencers hold a strong influence over their social media following, but very often to an unspecified target. Most of the time, companies engage or sponsor influencers for the sole reason of general exposure to a wide audience.

Whom to trust and pitch?

There are many different types of opinion leaders and influencers, and they all can play a unique role in the promotion of your business. In fact, engaging the right person is the key to defining the marketing reach of a brand. As Mark Zuckerberg once said, “People influence people. Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend — the holy grail of advertising”.

The type of influence imposed by these thought leaders can be subtle and it can also be obvious — opinion leaders and influencers can simply urge their followers to consider an idea, product, or business. This less direct form of selling can be very effective, particularly to consumers who don’t enjoy “being sold to” and who want to make their own buying decisions. If your brand is new to the public, influencers can endorse it; but such a strategy only makes sense if their audience is relevant to your industry.

Today, influencer marketing is becoming common practice for brands. The influencer marketing industry has overcome the disruption of the Covid pandemic to restart, develop and accelerate their influencer strategies in response to the opportunity that digitalisation offers. The commercial opportunity that the right influencer can provide for a brand is clearly recognised, and the awareness of this is demonstrated by the level of investment projected for 2022, as brands are expected to spend £10.3 billion on influencer marketing this year.

How to make an influencer marketing campaign work?

In every industry or community, there are people with status and credibility. Sometimes, that status is earned through achievements such as prestigious awards or financial success. Other times, that influence is created over years of industry experience or through a robust network of trusted personal connections.

Influencers can validate a company’s product or idea, marketers often seek out influencers for collaborations, advertising campaigns, or product endorsements. This kind of partnership both increases a brand’s visibility and builds trust between the business and the influencer’s audience.

Determining which influencers to collaborate with depends on the target audience that the brand is trying to reach. Though many businesses pursue influencers with a large social media following, those influencers won’t necessarily be the best fit for every brand. To cut through the noise and gain consumer trust that will eventually convert people from consuming content to purchasing products and services, brands need to do thorough research on the influencers’ backgrounds and achievements as well as their followers.

As influencer marketing becomes professionalised and integrated within the wider marketing mix strategy, influencer partnerships are starting to blend with other disciplines, in particular paid campaigns. In recent years, influencers have been more selective when choosing brands to partner with due to the high demand of this industry, this trend will continue. Influencers are now being measured through in-depth metrics to qualify the effectiveness of influencer campaigns throughout the marketing funnel and they are under pressure to continuously develop their skills, talent and own brand in order to monetise it.

What is the future of influencer marketing in the UK?

This industry has been growing rapidly in the UK, especially with the onset of the pandemic, people were forced to stay at home, consumers spent more time online for entertainment and shopping. Influencers, who at best, are persuasive storytellers, have provided a powerful link between social content and commerce, guiding customers to purchase via their influence.

The latest study shows that when asked about the format of ads, more consumers prefer viewing display ads (45%), rather than video ads (26%). Comparatively, 35% want to see ads from specific brand accounts on their social feeds, and only 21% prefer to see ads from online influencers. As influencer marketing is trendy and predicted to expand to virtual influencers within the metaverse, building customer trust is still a long process with many factors and potential risks.

Influencer marketing’s growth in the UK depends on influencers’ ability to raise their game in telling more compelling stories and being transparent in delivering the message from brands. Positive interactions between influencers and their followers are the key to building trust. When influencers shift their focus towards empathy, they will then create a better social influence which will help brands achieve a productive influencer marketing campaign.

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