Question

Compare and contrast opinion leaders, receivers, and seekers. Describe how each group might use social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and blogs) differently. How can marketers utilize an understanding of these classifications of consumers and the ways they use social media? Provide examples.

Answer 1

Opinion leaders worldwide use social media to get latest information on global development. Opinion leaders or decision makers across research institutions, academia, multilateral agencies, bilateral agencies and think tanks besides government institutions and civil societies use and others use social media to stay abreast of the developments taking place throughout the globe. Similarly, seekers and receivers (of information) also rely to a large extent on the information presented across the social media.

Social media marketers, first of all, must define their targeted audiences to be able to devise marketing strategies that leave a positive, lasting impact on their niche markets. In this scenario, the importance of seekers is undeniably immense as they are the ones who are seeking something or, in other words, who have a need and they seek ways to meet that need online. These seekers could be browsers, readers, listeners, visitors and shoppers to your web identity. Seekers usually have the following attributes:

• They seek something they have personal interest in.
• You can easily grab their attention by supplying the suitable content matching their interest.
• Make sure your message is strong and convincing in the first place because there is no other way than keeping them intrigued to have them hooked on.

Seekers can be easily converted to customers (for driving revenues), joiners (as they keep the conversation going), and amplifiers (for helping you market your business or idea).

Whether your target audiences are the opinion leaders, seekers or receivers, the only way to make sure you get optimum results from your endeavors on social media is to define your audiences clearly and then market accordingly. For successful marketing, you must:

• Identify your audiences’ needs and problems – unless you know what they need, you would never be able to deliver the right, customized solutions to their needs. Once you are successful in convincing your audiences that you have the best solution to their needs, there is no reason for them to look any further than you.
• Customer profiling may help – to be able to define your target audiences clearly, you should have a look at your current customers and what’s common between the two groups. Loyal and repeat customers are a precious treasure you must hold on to.
• Keep a watch on your competition as this will help you to stay in the game and keep your audiences and customers happy.

According to a survey, about 57 million Americans use social media websites daily. Twitter continues to attract newer and more users who are almost always active on it. About 41% of Americans learn about “Tweets” through social media.    Statistics about the usage of social media by your target audiences can play a big role in helping you determine your marketing strategies.