Effective marketers realize their goal is to both understand and influence human behavior in order to achieve business objectives. There are many ways to influence human behavior. For the purposes of a launch, let’s to concentrate on just three for now:
- Social Proof
- Proof
- Stories
In this first in a three-part series on social product launches, let’s have a closer look at social proof.
Social proof is also known as informational social influence. This is a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations, when people are unable to determine the most appropriate mode of behavior. When we lack clear direction in certain situations, it is human nature to make the assumption that others around us know more than we do about the particular situation. This leads us to deem them as being better informed than us. This form of social influence can lead to conformity of large groups of people, a phenomenon referred to as herd behavior. Social proof is important in launches because you’re introducing something new and often unknown to people.
For example, I can remember many times when traveling, driving through an unfamiliar city, looking for a place to eat. Especially in small towns, it is common not to find the large chain restaurants, leaving one to choose from a limited number of unknown local eateries. When we find ourselves in this common situation, what do we do?
We notice things like how many cars are parked in front of each restaurant. We assume more cars in the parking lot must mean people who know something we don’t about these restaurants have made their choice for good reasons. After all, if the locals are eating there, they must know something we don’t, since they’re obviously very familiar with all of the options here – right?
This is one example of social proof. We find ourselves in an unfamiliar setting, where we’re unsure what choice to make, so we look to see what everyone else is doing. This kind of human behavior probably goes back to when we were hunter/gatherers. If enough people ate a given plant or berry, it must be safe for us, too. This is a survival instinct, and it can be extremely powerful when used properly.
When a social network begins to buzz about a particular topic, others pay attention to it. If some of these people have seen or tried a new product, then people listen to what’s being said about it. The more people who are using the product and saying good things about it, the safer we assume it must be. After all, it’s what everyone else is doing.
And the fact that other people like us are doing something creates a “bandwagon effect”, leading to even more people doing the same thing. When enough people get on this bandwagon, it becomes a herd movement. Animals prefer to move in herds because it’s safer than going it alone.
Lately, more blogs display the number of “Tweets” each blog entry has received, along with a button to “retweet” the blog entry. The larger this number, the more social proof that other people find this blog entry important. The social bookmarking site “Digg.com” is designed to provide social proof, based upon the number of times different people have “dugg” each article posted on the site.
In fact, social proof is so important to some people that they will decide they want your product primarily because someone else they know is using it or wants it. It’s more important to have what other people have than taking the time to look at all the available options.
Learning to incubate and nurture social proof and its cousins, the bandwagon effect and herd movement, is extremely powerful, particularly when applied to a launch.
Blogs provide a strong foundation for information delivery and social interaction throughout a launch. One of the the things that makes blogs so powerful in launches is their ability exude social proof.
Like the parking lot we notice outside a busy restaurant, a busy launch blog with lots of posts and content is a sure sign to onlookers that the “food” inside is probably worth stopping by and having a taste of.
In the next installment, we will delve deeper into “proof” and how it differs from social proof when applied to a launch.
Tags: Product Launch, product launch strategy, Social Networking, social networks, social proofRelated posts:
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