Marketing Mavens’ Fusion with Social Media

Maven behavior and its fusion with social media was a natural progression from an auspicious beginning. The acknowledgement of market influencers and their impact on consumer behavior emerged in the discipline literature during the 70’s with a study by Sheth (1971) who recognized the marketing opportunity of information disseminators. The potential publicizing influence of these brokers was investigated by Kotler and Zaltman (1976) whose findings advocated for their inclusion within a communication stratagem. Further examination produced precise demographic variables and personality traits along with the more accurate terminology of market mavens (Feick and Price, 1987) to delineate their unique dispositions. Laughlin and MacDonald (2010) recently proposed the identification of online mavens as indispensable, predicated on the significant position they hold in web based purchase behavior. This research explores the idea of social media mavens and determines specific actions most likely to transpire by online market mavens

Differences in Online Social Media Mavens: the Gender Gap

Consumer Behavior experts have acknowledged the significant impact market mavens play in the dissemination and acceptance of new products in the market place. The emergence of online social media mavens has only recently been recognized. Based on traditional patterns of behavior and Internet usage it could be assumed the predictable demographics of the social media maven would be male, young, educated and with an above average income. This study investigated these traditional assumptions and discovered unique differences in online social media mavens. In order to determine potential Social Media Mavens, this research looked beyond usage of social media and instead at who was communicating with others about social media both in the form of recommending and encouraging the usage of social media. Results indicate the gender dominance of males is leveling, signaling the potential of females to drive social media acceptance and usage to ultimately reign as Online Social Media Mavens

Digital Word-of-Mouth and the Gender Implications

Consumers can now easily access data and exchange sentiments regarding products and services on an unprecedented scale, and often in real time, through digital connections. The Internet and mobile technologies have made sharing of information and opinions among consumers easier than ever. The capacity of online participants to inspire and transform perspectives has been touted to surpass the radical potency of television when it entered the consumer’s province during the 50’s. Men and women use social media sites to learn about new products, to become smarter shoppers and to feel good about a purchase they might have already made. College students are so driven to continuously connect that they chain themselves to the technology 24/7. As digital natives, they are so thoroughly immersed in the process that they possess an indigenous aptitude to operate and fully function within the techno world. Marketers have long recognized the prominent role that word-of-mouth communication (WOM) played in the consumer decision-making process. However, in recent years, interest has grown with the expansion in the number and types of communication channels offered by new technologies. Online WOM has established itself as a central element in the lives of consumers. In the view of many, the power of social media and online digital WOM communications outstrips the ability of companies to shape their own messages through either traditional communication means or by way of their own social media initiatives. Common wisdom now holds that companies that ignore consumer-to-consumer information posted about their business and products do so at their own peril. This study explored the implication of gender on the use of digital WOM along with specific online behavior characteristics and purchase variances of male and female digital activities. Research findings suggest the identification of primary digital WOM leaders as revealed through purchase behavior, shopping experience, purchase confidence and innovative online conduct. The concept that “tie-strength” is an indicator of the importance of a moderator’s impact on consumer purchase decisions (Brown & Reingen 1987) may be shifting in regard to online digital WOM. This study indicates that respondents were neutral in regard to the usefulness of online digital WOM compared to friends and family. While online was not deemed as more useful, the neutrality indicates that more research needs to be done on the concept of tie-strength as well as outside indicators of online digital WOM credibility

Marketing Services to the Millennial Generation: A 24/7 Connectivity to Extraordinary Offerings

Social Media is an engaging medium that permits the user to compose, amend and circulate digital information at a nominal cost. Digital native undergraduates have immersed themselves in this technology to the extent that they are connected, creating, and texting 24/7. Vicariously know as millenniums, universities and colleges around the globe are struggling to educate, entertain, and service a sheltered, pampered, and savvy market that firmly believes they are entitled. All professors can confirm their student’s preoccupation or obsession with social media as they text, tweet and blog, nonstop, through class. Employing social media as a viable delivery platform as well as a mechanism to connect with the targeted cohorts are the basic rudiments this investigation revealed. Marketing services to the millennial generation necessitates patients, incorporation of online and social media and relentless attention to detail, while maintaining a constant availability. This study examined the service expectations and preferences of millennial college students and determined a traditional proclivity towards authority and achievement, but also revealed the methods and approaches require adaptation and tolerance

Federal politician earning his lump sum [picture] /

Published in the Canberra Times on 9 March 1984.; Part of the Pryor collection of cartoons and drawings. Things hot up in parliament when the Hawke government opposes the establishment of a joint House select committee to investigate whether monitored conversations of a High Court judge published in the Age newspaper (the 'Age tapes') reveal grounds for the removal of the said judge. --Information provided by Geoff Pryor