Influencer Marketing: A Global Study

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines “influencers” as “individuals, organizations or institutions that possess the power to change or affect someone or something”. The power to cause changes without directly forcing them to happen is a key attribute of influencers.

Influencer marketing, (also Influence Marketing) is defined as a form of marketing that has emerged from a variety of recent practices and studies, in which focus is placed on specific key individuals (or types of individual) rather than the target market as a whole.

Burson-Marsteller has said that this portion of online influencers is known as e-fluencers. These outspoken Internet users frequently e-mail companies, politicians, media institutions, and friends about companies,

Hundreds have emerged published by individuals on personal webpages, by industry bodies, by government etc. We are busier today than we ever have been, trying to fit in work, hobbies, children and family activities, travel, continuing education, friends, exercise and quiet time.

In 2004, NOP World conducted a comprehensive global study of the Influentials concept. Our results demonstrate that Influentials are a force in all 31 countries we explored. What unites this group as much as any other characteristic is an irrepressible appetite – and capacity – for swaying others to buy into their preferences. Our method of identifying Influential adults involves understanding the number of socially or civically oriented activities in which a person participates in a given year. Global Influentials are not a monolithic breed. Commonalties on a global level can be superseded by factors peculiar to a given

So who are they? Global Influentials are more affluent, educated and accomplished than their non-Influentials peers. Feeding that capacity is a value system that stresses knowledge and creativity, and a set of tastes that combine the discriminating and the everyday. Influentials around the globe have a more sophisticated palette, but one tempered by a sense of – and connection to – the commonplace. We decided to maintain the size of the Influentials group at roughly 10% of the population. The factors can be cultural, as in North America, where the current popularity of radio talk shows dovetails with regional Influentials' fondness for the medium and an urge to dispense advice powerful even for these word of mouth leaders. Ultimately however, there are basic principles that can be applied globally. Indeed it is the similarities among Influentials across nations and cultures, as identified above, that testify to the coherence of the