Market Mavens or Opinion Leader?

Welcome to week 6, everyone! We've just had our first consumer marketing exam, so how are you feeling about it? Did you do as well as you hoped you would? 

This week, we're delving into reference groups and the various ways that they can affect your purchasing patterns. Included within these groups can be individuals called 'Market Mavens,' which is a concept that we're really focusing on today!


Being a society so focused on social media and the postings of others, it's safe to say that almost everyone has a market maven in their feed, posting about the latest products, offering their opinions, and keeping everyone up-to-date in their designated areas.

But what exactly is a Market Maven? Our textbook defines them as individuals that "provide significant amount of information to others across a wide array of products...services, and store types." These are individuals that are extremely knowledgeable about a wide variety of market products and offers this knowledge and advice to others.

People often associate Market Mavens as people who have vast connections and social links

However, market mavens are often confused with their similar counterparts, opinion leaders. These equally connected are more specific in their chosen field, oftentimes focusing on a few select genres or types of products. The textbook even states that market mavens are almost like a type of opinion leader,a sub segment, if you would.

When I first began to read this chapter, I immediately recognized a person I follow on Twitter as a market maven. Ray Navarez Jr., a popular Twitch streamer and Youtube personality, has a twitter page that he dedicates a lot to the proliferation of video game merchandise. He posts about upcoming games, popular hoodies and gaming figures. Not only that, in selling a lot of his merchandise through a popular website called "FramRate Merch," he is able to answer questions and concerns about orders and upcoming products to potential consumers. Here is an example of him keeping his customers updated about packaging of sold framerate merchandise:

https://twitter.com/RayNarvaezJr/status/1095543977288306688

However, as I sit down to write this blog, I realize, "Wait. Ray Navarez isn't a market maven. He's technically an opinion leader, isn't he?" Looking closer, I realized that he really only focuses on a select few categories: video games and video game merchandise. He is a connected person, but not so much that he has information about other markets of products. In all honesty, this blog post was going to be about him and the examples of how he's a market maven, that is, until I realized that I was incorrect.

Ray and his dog, Charlie

Take this as an example of how easy it can be to mistake the two. Looking back, I could see how I made this mistake; the two can be very similar. Ray Navarez is very good at creating buzz (exponential expansion of word of mouth information) for products among his fan base. His continual posts about upcoming products and his personal reviews of what is worth buying contribute heavily to the market that follows him and gives him a rather good impression among gamers. 

Like I said, it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate market mavens and opinion leaders, but you should notice a few key differences between the two. Market mavens will:

• Have large groups of connections and social links
• Have posts pertaining to many different markets and products
• Be very receptive to questions and opinions of others, engaging in conversations about products and services

So when you're trying to discern the two, remember to try and identity these aspects. Hopefully you won't make the same mistake as me.

Let me know in the comments if you follow any market mavens or opinion leaders!