Opinion Leader

Description of Opinion Leader. Explanation.

Definition Opinion Leader. Description.

An Opinion Leader is an individual capable to repeatedly persuade and influence other people's behaviors according to her/his own preferences.

An Opinion Leader, also known as Influential, is someone who has the power to informally manipulate attitudes and behaviors of other individuals. The concept has been researched by Robert Merton in 1949 and lately developed by Katz and Lazarsfeld.

Opinion leadership is achieved and sustained through a leader’s technical competence, social skills and compliance with values and norms of his current social system. It is a type of informal leadership where the persuasion is indirect and frequent in time. Usually the relationship between an opinion leader and his followers is based on their admiration and willingness to look like the leader.

Often in the followers’ perspective, opinion leaders are of a higher social status, more exposed to international activities and relationships, and more concerned with any forms of external communication. These characteristics are not necessarily true, they could be only the followers’ perception.

Due to their exposure and their influencing abilities, opinion leaders play a fundamental role in society when it comes to spread new ideas, values and beliefs. See also: Persuasion Theory and Persuation Techniques. In addition, they are often exploited to launch new trends and to position products in prospects mind. According to Bass’s Model of Innovation Diffusion opinion leaders are among the first to adopt new hi-tech products. See also: Innovation Adoption Curve.

Types of Opinion Leadership

Marketing and communication literature distinguishes two types of opinion leadership:

Monomorphic opinion leadership. This applies when a leader’s influence is limited to one specific topic. This is a typical leadership style of modern industrial societies characterized by specialization of roles and division of labor. Nowadays, this is the most common style of opinion leadership in developed countries.
Polymorphic opinion leadership. This applies when a leader’s influence covers different topics. This is a more conventional leadership style, nowadays obsolescent, typical of traditional societies. In small towns not dominated by industrial logics and media culture, some elder and highly respected people might give advices on a variety of topics manipulating thus behaviors of surrounding people.

Targeting Opinion Leaders

Recent marketing thinking sees opinion leaders as the most powerful tools for advertising. In a world where Word-of-Mouth is challenging media effectiveness, more and more companies are targeting opinion leaders in their marketing campaigns. In a research from Ed Keller and Jon Berry (“The Influentials”, The Free Press, 2003) there is evidence of a shifted preference of today’s consumers towards getting advices and buying inspirations from the neighbor, the friend of the friend, and any individual retained competent in certain fields.

Limitations of Opinion Leaders. Disadvantages

A limitation in the use of opinion leadership for marketing purposes is the difficulty to identify them at local level and target them according to their influence range. According to Keller and Berry’s research, in the USA one individual out of ten is a good candidate for an opinion leadership position. The characteristics of opinion leaders are not homogeneous as far as social and economical backgrounds are concerned: they might be of any age, social status and adopting any lifestyle as long as they are regarded as leaders in their group or social context.

Opinion Leaders Forum (6)

Development Management
"How to manage opinion leaders acting as extroverts"

Transformational Opinion Leaders
"Opinion leaders who are truly influencial at all levels are also transformational and relate to those above and below them with clarity and focus. They relate to the types of media being used within their organizations and are seen by their peers and cohorts as experts with the ability to influence and ability to lead."

The Value of an Opinion of Someone
"Everyone with access to the Internet opines. Opinions have value only to its owner and those that choose to share the same opinion. Pundits in the media opine but are not opinion makers, an opinion maker earns the trust of the people whose opinions will be influenced.
Opinion is not power, it's influence. Influence is based on referent power, or expert power much more than positional power. It takes time to become acknowledged in both roles. The media networks refresh the screen changing the faces of those who opine to give news a new look regardless of substance; How can these temporary roles earn credibility? And that is my opinion!"

Opinion Leader Personalities
"I think different personalities can be identified for different leadership aspects. The outcome of their contribution will mainly depend on their: - subject knowledge - experience - what they stand for in the public eye"

Polymorphic Leadership is Everywhere
"This page is really interesting. But I do not agree with the statement, that polymorphic leadership is only present in traditional countries. When I see the influence of pop-stars, the not content-related influence academic titles give, I believe that there is still a lot of charisma (which is typical of polymorphic influence) around."

Finding Opinion Leaders in a Market
"How can we identify the (key) opinion leaders in a particular (healthcare) market? What kind of tools exist to locate opinion leaders?"

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