| “Have you heard of Box Zhang?” “Have you ever used Tuzki’s image?” If you ask young people born in the ‘80s and ‘90s about these two “internet personalities,” almost all of them will say yes, but those of us born in the ‘60s and ‘70s, would mostly just shake our heads. Box Zhang, Tuzki, Ptzzz (fatty rabbit Zhouzhou) and other Internet personalities (some are virtual figures or animals), may be strange to us, but have become emerging stars among youth in the Web 2.0 era. These online stars are different from new idols that have emerged from singing competitions like Zhou Bichang and Li Yuchun, and are very different from the knowledgeable, uniquely insightful opinion leaders as defined by traditional communications. These stars (or image creators) are just like the girls and boys next door, and maybe even shyer and more introverted, but they or the images they create have an extraordinary influence on Internet users, especially the young that can shape social trends and consumer preferences.
> An Overview of E-fluentials
As we move into the Web 2.0 era, there has been a mushrooming of user created content. In grassroots communication, word-of-mouth (WOM) has once again attracted the attention of marketing professionals. When asked about current offerings, a senior sales representative at a renowned domestic Internet marketing company tried to position his company as a WOM specialist. However, their services went no farther than BBS monitoring and posting. Throughout our search, we found that most websites have, overnight, started to push their own Web 2.0 features. Existing portals, not wanting to be left behind, have also launched Web 2.0 services. Many marketing and Internet companies are rushing to offer “blog marketing,” “BBS marketing” and “buzz marketing” services. Despite these names, the basis for WOM is interactive interpersonal communication.
Continuous research by Burson-Marsteller (B-M) over that past eight years has shown that approximately 10% of Internet users have the power to affect the opinion and attitude of the other 90% through blogs, bulletin boards, emails, e-magazines, podcasts, Wikis, SMS and MSN/QQ, both intentionally and unintentionally. Burson-Marsteller has labeled this group “e-fluentials.”. They are not scholars, celebrities, or famous journalists; they are just a group of people who enjoy writing their thoughts and feelings on BBS and blog sites, including young moms pushing baby carriages in their neighborhoods, digital fans really into their electronics, or even the “hip and cool” crowd that dress crazily and hang out at fashionable places. In word-of-mouth marketing, these groups are the “tipping point” that can trigger a huge change. Their power can impact a company’s reputation in both the virtual and real worlds.
As described in The Tipping Point, a recent book on the subject, there are three critical roles in the communications chain: Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. Connectors know just about everybody and everything, Mavens give educated and professional opinions, and Salesmen are eager to share their experiences. In many cases, e-fluentials seem to have combined these roles into one.
A closer look at e-fluentials according to a B-M’s survey on e-fluentials in the U.S. market show that, on average, they talk with 45 people each day (in person or over the telephone and Internet). They spend less time watching TV than the general public, tend to use discount coupons, attend a variety of events and constantly exchange information. 82% of e-fluentials are aware of their influence on others, but the motivation to share information is a kind of instinct, undiluted by commercial returns. There are also some differences between the focuses of male and female e-fluentials. Men usually concentrate on the latest technologies and hottest gadgets, while women tend to focus on topics centering on around food, health and women’s issues (beauty, fitness and child rearing).
> Three Groups of E-fluentials
Bloggers and BBS administrators are e-fluentials that are relatively obvious, but there are three distinct groups that are also worth taking a look at: Tech-fluentials, Mom-fluentials and Youth-fluentials.
Tech-fluentials
As the name implies, Tech-fluentials are more interested in technology issues and act as Mavens among their peers. 80% of Tech-fluentials read blogs and seek additional information for validation. Traditional media are still the preferred source of reliable information for approximately 50% of Tech-fluentials. This shows that the influence of traditional media, including newspapers, magazines and television, is still very sound, even though a growing number of the public are inclined to get information online.
Mom-fluentials
Building on recent research, Burson-Marsteller has identified a group comprised of new mothers that influence the brand and product preferences among their friends, family and colleagues. They share their experiences using mother/baby products as well as their children’s education both online and offline. The vast investment in the next generation by young parents in China today has created an emerging consumer market. That’s why Allen Wang, the former Chief Marketing Officer for Google Asia Pacific region, and Yibo Shao, co-founder of Eachnet, have worked together to invest in a mother/baby social network. As Connectors, Mom-fluentials are the most typical participants in word-of-mouth marketing. Compared with other groups of e-fluentials, they are happier to share their experiences and learnings through SMS and the Internet. Furthermore, the majority of Mom-fluentials (94%) trust the content at blogs. With the increasing number of full-time moms in cities, there are tremendous business opportunities for mother/baby product suppliers and related websites, so long as businesses understand how to effectively organize online and offline activities and provide more communication opportunities.
Youth-Fluentials
These e-fluentials, often teens, have a dramatic impact on the products and services of various brands among their parents and peers. This group has several seemingly contradictory features. Perhaps the most distinct one is that Youth-fluentials are at the same time the most easily influenced as well as the most influential subset of the youth audience. They seek opinions from friends around them on buying anything from clothing to electronics, while still hoping to distinguish themselves from their peers. These e-fluentials are active on websites and BBS forums, quickly reply to emails and are happy to forward intriguing infectious marketing and word-of-mouth messages, not to mention frequent communication through SMS. They, like Salesmen, enjoy persuading friends to accept their own views and perspectives. We recently noticed Motorola and HP have simultaneously programs of cooperation with Chinese e-fluentials such as Tuzki and Box Zhang to develop the youth market.
> e-fluentials Can Make or Break a Brand
It was the influence of a blog article that made Starbucks to remove its café from the Forbidden City in 2007. Prior to that article, Starbucks’ small café had be open peacefully over six years, offering convenience for countless Chinese and foreign tourists, few of them seeing it as a snub at Chinese culture. Whereas Starbucks denied this the removal of its café was related to the blog, Dell Computer has set a good example in handling blogger relations.
Jeff Jarvis, a U.S. consumer, complained about a computer problem to a post-sales staff at Dell in August 2005, but he was not satisfied with the result. He published an article called “Dell Hell” on his blog, creating a reaction among thousands of Dell users. They unleashed a blog storm that lashed out at the quality of Dell’s service and products, becoming one of Dell’s biggest communication crises that year. Two years later, BusinessWeek (online version) published a cover story titled “Dell Learns to Listen” and published Jeff Jarvis’ notes and video after he visited Dell Corporation. Jeff reviewed the cause and effect of this event in his blog, gave credit to Dell Corp. and its founder Michael Dell and recognized them for admitting the mistake and their efforts to remedy the situation.
This is a case of successfully influencing e-fluentials.
However, Kryptonite, an industry leading provider of bicycle locks in the United States, was not so lucky. In 2004, an Internet user found their U-shaped bike lock could be easily opened with a Bic pencil. The lock in question was one of the company’s best-selling products. Initially, this blog was known only among a small group, but two days later, video demonstrating how to open the lock with a pencil was available at a popular consumer electronics blog. Despite this, Kryptonite still insisted on an ostrich policy and denied the defect, resulting in widespread distrust of the company among Internet users.
Seven days later, a total of over 1 million blog entries on this issue attracted the attention of traditional media, when New York Times and AP reported on the incident. Kryptonite was finally forced to recall 380,000 locks (100,000 locks in other reports) around the world. This was said to result in a loss of over US$10 million for the bike lock giant. What’s worse, their corporate image was heavily tarnished and very difficult to repair. One year later, Donna Tocci, PR Manager for Kryptonite, said that the company was aware of the negative opinions on blogs, but insisted that the bike industry did not advocate Internet communication and believed that their partners would not read the blogs, so they focused on product recalls. It was the ignorance of the power of e-fluentials that ruined their corporate reputation overnight.
Beyond marketing, the influence of e-fluentials on corporate reputation is constantly increasing. A well-known IT giant once counted eight major stakeholders in their corporate communications: customers, media, government, partners, employees, universities, communities and headquarters - today, they may want to add e-fluentials to that list. In the future, no company will be able to overlook the influence of e-fluentials on corporate reputation.
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