Recently, the impact of social networks in customer buying decision is rapidly increasing due to effectiveness in shaping public opinion. This paper helps marketers analyze social network’s members based on different characteristics and choose the best method for identifying influential people among them. Then, marketers can use these influential people as seeds to market products/services. Considering the importance of opinion leadership in social networks a comprehensive overview of existing literature has been done. Studies show, different titles (such as opinion leaders, influential people, market mavens and key players) are used to refer to the influential group in social networks whom we know as opinion leaders. The study shows all the properties presented for opinion leaders in the form of different titles are classified into three general categories including structural, relational and personal characteristics and based on studying opinion leader identification methods; appropriate parameters are extracted in a comprehensive chart to evaluate and compare these methods accurately.

The impact of social networks in customer buying decisions is rapidly increasing, because they are effective in shaping public opinion. This paper helps marketers analyze a social network’s members based on different characteristics as well as choose the best method for identifying influential people among them. Marketers can then use these influential people as seeds for market products/services. Considering the importance of opinion leadership in social networks, the authors provide a comprehensive overview of existing literature. Studies show that different titles (such as opinion leaders, influential people, market mavens, and key players) are used to refer to the influential group in social networks. In this paper, all the properties presented for opinion leaders in the form of different titles are classified into three general categories, including structural, relational, and personal characteristics. Furthermore, based on studying opinion leader identification methods, appropriate parameters are extracted in a comprehensive chart to evaluate and compare these methods accurately.

Recently, the impact of social networks in customer buying decision is rapidly increasing due to effectiveness in shaping public opinion. This paper helps marketers analyze social network’s members based on different characteristics and choose the best method for identifying influential people among them. Then, marketers can use these influential people as seeds to market products/services. Considering the importance of opinion leadership in social networks a comprehensive overview of existing literature has been done. Studies show, different titles (such as opinion leaders, influential people, market mavens and key players) are used to refer to the influential group in social networks whom we know as opinion leaders. The study shows all the properties presented for opinion leaders in the form of different titles are classified into three general categories including structural, relational and personal characteristics and based on studying opinion leader identification methods; appropriate parameters are extracted in a comprehensive chart to evaluate and compare these methods accurately.

Article information:To cite this document: Niyoosha Jafari Momtaz Somayeh Alizadeh Mahyar Sharif Vaghefi, (2013),"A new model for assessment fast food customer behavior case study", British Food Journal, Vol. 115 Iss 4 pp. 601 -613 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Nowadays, because of more availability of products, there is an increasing need for companies to establish a strong relationship with their customers. As the fast food industry is not an exception and has a competitive environment, analyzing customers' behavior helps bridge this gap. Data mining techniques help to segment customers as well as to drive improved customer relationship management. This paper seeks to address these issues. Design/methodology/approach -This study proposes a new model based on RFM model for defining customers' value as well as using K-means algorithm to segment restaurants' customers. In addition, the authors combine a new category in the account portfolio analysis in order to analyze the behavior of each cluster. Findings -A real dataset of an Iranian fast food restaurant chain is employed to show the procedure of the authors' model. The customers are segmented into four clusters. The clusters are analyzed and named based on categories in the account portfolio analysis. The result of this analysis shows that there is no significant difference between the behavior of the most valuable customer and customers who have left the restaurant. Therefore, restaurant managers should seek other reasons for detecting churn behavior. Originality/value -This paper helps managers in the fast food industry to readily analyze their customer behavior in order to understand their needs and establish strong relationships.