Opinion Leaders

“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”

― Oscar Wilde

In the world of PR, marketing and advertising the role of an Opinion Leader is an important one. The leaders have the power to influence the thoughts and feelings of the audience through their status, wether than being a celebrity, a professional or an expert. Often PR organisations have to put a lot of thought into who they want to advocate their product, organisation or service.

This is reflective of the two-step flow model of communication (Paul Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz, 1955), although reasonably old, is not an outdated theory. Opinion Leaders play a huge role in influencing people by encouraging awareness and information. In todays society people often want to be just like the celebrities they see, such as the global trend of oversized lips being stylised by celebrities like Kylie Jenner. When people create their own opinions, they're often influenced (even subconsciously) by what someone else has said.

Opinion Leaders become so by a variety of reasons. They’re respected, well informed, highly interested in the issue and most they actively share their information. Emma Watson shows all of these in her campaigning for women rights and actively sharing her thoughts and opinions online with her audience and in response influencing their opinions.

So to sum it all up:

Characteristics of an Opinion Leader ((Windahl et al and Severin)

Personification of values (who)
Competence (what knows)
Strategic social location (whom one knows)

In my opinion, some people can be harshly critical to influential power of some celebrities. When TIME release their Most Influential Teens list there are always countless comments or discussion or people stating that half the people on that list don't deserve to be on their. Amongst influencial figures such as Malala Yousafzai are figures such as Kylie Jenner. This is where I find it can get complicated because figures like Malala are known for their knowledge and expertise, so would that not make them more valuable as opinion leaders? I personally believe that they're all as influential as each other just in different ways. I'm sure if one of the Jenner sisters got themselves involved in a civil rights type opinion then they most likely wouldn't be considered as well as Malala. Having said this, Kylie Jenner still was involved in a huge anti bully campaign because her audience was wide enough and informed enough to not only listen but get involved. This is a prime example of opinion leading, since if she was able to talk publicly about a serious subject so could her audience.

PR organisations have to put a lot of thought into who they want to advocate their product, organisation or service. The wrong person can create a huge loss, such as Pepsi missing the mark with their Kendall Jenner civil rights advert.