The Power of The Super Peer

Super peers are individuals who exert disproportionately greater amounts of influence over the behaviour of others. They are the opinionated elite and they are everywhere.

The trick for marketers is to identify them in your client base, nurture and clone them.

Very few of the people in the above photo are attending this opera alone. That means that not all of them made the decision to attend.

I can tell you that only 24% of them did. I know this because I have conducted multiple exit polls at classical music concerts to find out.

Most come in pairs, others bring a number of friends and they are the super peers.

Think of the last time you dined out at a restaurant. How many people could you see dining alone? Few or none I suspect, which means that at least 50% of those dining did not make the decision about where to go. So at least 50% of the diners are "super peers" influencing the behaviour of others.

Consider the Best Man planning a stag weekend. While opinions may well be sought and expressed, the decision about where to go will usually fall to the Best Man, the super peer in this scenario.

So what does this mean for marketers?

Depending on your business and industry, there will be a number of super peers in your customer base.

Identify them from data, make a fuss of them, nurture them and clone them.