Make The Business Of Influence Work For You
July 28, 2008
The power of mass influence never ceases to amaze me. Some people will do absolutely anything if everyone else seems to be doing it.
Check out this video on Barbara Ling’s blog and discover how many people were easily persuaded to sign a petition to ban water.
So Just How Easy It To Influence Thousands Of People?
50,456,002 people voted for George Bush in the 2000 Presidential Election.
Millions of people signed up to Hotmail.
Amway has recruited enough people to make their owners multi-millionaires.
Facebook has around 75 million members.
As Ari Herzog explains in this article, a major part of friendship is the desire to know what the other person is doing. This goes a long way toward explaining why social networking is so popular. But it doesn’t explain how so many people were persuaded to join Amway, or Avon etc. So, I’m guessing there must be other factors involved too.
Why do you think people are so easily influenced by what others are saying and doing? How could you use this to your advantage in business? Please discuss your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.
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16 Responses to “Make The Business Of Influence Work For You”
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Wow, that’s a big question!
I’m sure it has something to do with evolution, survival instincts etc. People stood a much better chance of surviving if they attached themselves to a group and followed its rules. Individuality is a modern thing. I don’t think it was rewarded in the past.
How can we use it for our business? Well (warning self promotion), I work part time at Up To Us, http://www.uptous.com/, a social network for parents. One of the terms we like to use is “viral”. We want to make Up To Us viral, so that once a parent signs up, they tell about the service to other parents who will then sign up too.
Of course, the service has to be good in order for the “virality” factor to kick in, and we are working to make sure that it is.
Another thought: ProBlogger (yes I read him) recently advised to put the Feedburner widget on blogs. He said that when people see that you have subscribers, they want to subscribe too. I decided against it, because I find that the number of subscribers is just too volatile. But I think he has a good point.
Vered’s last blog post..Powerful Men, Half-Naked Women (Best Shot Monday)
Hi Catherine,
Often, it’s “follow the leader” mentality. Peer Pressure. Desire to make money.
Blogging is no different. There are millions of blogs, but how many of them actually survive past the first 3-6 months. Not many.
In business,if a person can “bottle” that “secret recipe” and get tons of people to jump on the band wagon, they’ll soon be on their way to great success. I’m guessing it all comes down to marketing.
Barbara Swafford’s last blog post..Interview With Lorelle VanFossen - Part 4 - Finding Fresh Content
Hi Vered - the survival instinct thing is a good point. I hadn’t considered that.
It’s ok to mention where you work. I know you mentioned in your last post that you have a part-time job and I was keen to know what you’re doing.
Getting people to recommend the business is important isn’t it? It really helps if you have a great story, or a message that is simple for your customers to pass on. But coming up with one isn’t as easy as it sounds. And as you said, the service has to be good to begin with for it to work.
I didn’t read that Problogger post. But I can see how it would work. I’ll definitely have to think about getting one of those widgets. Thanks.
Hi Barbara - That is a good point - there’s millions of blogs out there. And I’m guessing you’re spot on when you say that a lot of it is to do with the desire to make money.
When you mention “bottling the secret recipe” Coke springs to mind. I think it was originally used as some sort of tonic and it wasn’t particularly successful. But as soon as someone else bought the formula and found a better way to market it. Coke was an amazing success.
Cath Lawson’s last blog post..Make The Business Of Influence Work For You
For me, Cath, influence comes from being seen as someone other people can trust and in whom they can respect.
These require major investments in time to achieve and certainly don’t happen overnight.
I think it also helps if you position yourself as an authority figure- someone who everyone goes to for advice on your particular niche. Again, this takes time.
On the other hand, influence takes a while to build but can disappear in a flash if the influencer misuses their power. This can happen when they “sell out” or offer advice that benefits themselves rather than their audience.
Hi Scott - That’s a good point - trust is important isn’t it? People like to buy from folk they trust. And I guess they like to receive referals from people they trust too.
Abuse of power is important. I can see how they would lose popularity if they did that. I suppose that could happen if they recommended a product that was no good, just to make an affiliate commission.
I think Barbara hit on some good points. In particular, I believe a big part of that is herd mentality. It even happens with educated people.
From a NY Times article a little while back, it described how having fat in the diet is really not a bad thing, but one influential diet researcher claimed this in the 1950’s and other researchers initially didn’t agree, but since the person was so influential in his field, everyone else just bought into it.
Al at 7P’s last blog post..Jump Right In!
Morning,
Thanks for including my post! And this point:
>> Amway has recruited enough people to make their owners multi-millionaires. <<
The owners, yes, but remember - 99.79% who try….fail dismally in MLM.
But their uplines become richer and richer.
It’s the ’selling of the dream’ as well as the ‘want to believe’ syndrome as well.
Enjoy, Barbara
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach’s last blog post..Today’s Thought To Share - Lego World Record
You’re welcome. That’s the thing Barbara - they made such a lot of money and still managed to sell the dream, even though most folk under them weren’t making any. How did they manage to pull that off?
Is it because of the way they recruit people - eg. When folks are recruiting others, they haven’t yet realised they’re not going to make a heap of cash?
So many people seem to join MLM schemes. They must really brainwash people.
Hi Al - I agree on the herd mentality. Most intelligent people seem to do the opposite of what the crowd is doing.
It sounds like a lot of it could depend on how influential the person is who is doing the promoting then. I guess that would explain why many charities use celebrities to promote their cause. I guess many young people will take more notice of their favourite celebrities.
“Anything to help the environment…”
Call it a chemical, and it’s evil. The whole environmental thing is one huge scare tactic to gain political control over other people’s lives. Should we be responsible stewards of our resources? Yes! Is global warming coming to get us in the next 10 years? The facts are mixed.
Two prime instincts motivate people: Fear and Greed. When you add the “mob”, you create jet-fuel behind these instincts. After awhile, people start believing without questioning…
Did you hear anyone ask: “Ok, exactly what is Di-Hydrogen Mon-oxide?” (sp?)
Yep, if someone else, especially an authority figure says it’s ok, then it says us the ugly mess of thinking for ourselves.
The applied marketing lesson: Make liberal use of testimonials. Use celebrity or authority figures to endorse your product or service. People don’t really want to think. They want to believe… (or, make the fear go away)
Back again to the environment and “fear peddling”… As Scott wrote:” influence takes a while to build but can disappear in a flash if the influencer misuses their power. This can happen when they “sell out” or offer advice that benefits themselves rather than their audience.”
Sure seems to me that Al Gore’s act is more designed to line his pockets rather than really save the planet. He has the power of influence, but his lifestyle and extensive stock holdings in environmental and alternative fuel companies sure appear to benefit him more than the “curly light bulb crowd”.
The crowd’s fear. An individual’s greed. Always a dangerous combination.
Walt Goshert’s last blog post..State Farm Insurance: Matt Williams, Stevens,PA
First off - let it be known I did not vote for Bush. Uggg…I don’t get how he got re-elected.
As per your questions:
I think people are so easily influenced by what others are saying or doing because they believe it is not only what’s “popular,” but also what is “safe.”
Everyone else is using it, so it must be good for the environment, my health, losing weight, etc.
Human instinct is to be safe and secure. Many business owners do the same advertising other businesses do; target the same customers; provide the same product; etc.
The thing is, being safe is often times the more riskier way to go. Doing what everyone else does usually means we have to compete with companies that can outspend and out class us.
How can I use this to my advantage in business:
Well, like Vered said, “that’s a big question” and I don’t think you want me to write a series on my opinion LOL.
In short, we could use this to our advantage by finding those crowds and seeing what products they are all following and what it is they like about that product (or service).
Then, turn it around and find out where something is missing. Is it a hairspray that everyone’s GOTTA HAVE because it holds so well.
Perhaps you sell hairspray and can create the same product but in a different kind of bottle . . . hey, didn’t someone do that and become rich when they found spray cans were bad for the environment?
John Hoff - eVentureBiz’s last blog post..Hello & Welcome To The eVentureBiz Blog
Have you heard of “group think”? Group think is exhibited by members of a group where each individual tries to minimize conflict by agreeing with the group consensus without bothering to conduct critical analysis or evaluation of the issue before them. People do this because they don’t want to appear foolish and they don’t want to anger other people in the group.
People also have a tendency to think: well, if there’s lots of people here this must be a good place to be.
Marelisa’s last blog post..Creating Your Dream Life: Practical Intuition
The banning of water thing made me think… when was the last time I was at someone’s home where tap water was served? Honestly, how long ago was it that bottled water was a silly concept? Now, everyone I know drinks bottled water. Are we really all that more educated about disease or water contaminants? Or were folks just brainwashed?
I guess there really is something to be said for that whole “do this or die” kind of marketing. Now I’ll have to figure out how to convince more attorneys to hire me to blog for them with that one. They’ll probably want a death contract.
Amy Derby’s last blog post..Live Bait: Best Way to Lure a Customer
Hi Walt - Good point re: fear and greed motivators. And not one of them in the video did ask what that dangerous chemical was and what it could do to them did they?
You’re right - Al Gore has really cashed in on the environment. I even bought his book and I barely ever read anything written by a politician.
Hi Rita - Stuart says he has seen The Wave and it is excellent. I’ll definitely be checking it out.
I understand what you mean re: folk just wanting to fit in. And as for the going back to school - you have no idea how many people tell me school was the best days of their life. They must have really boring lives. I’ve had some far from perfect times, but I would never wish I could go back to school.
Hi John - safety is a good point. And it’s so true - playing safe doing what everyone else is doing is often more risky.
And that is another good one - find out what everyone wants - do it better, or present it in a different way. I guess - like the hairspray, you could find something everyone really loved, but make it environmentally friendly.
Hi Mare - I never heard of the term but I understand the concept. It is scary that folk go along with something just because the majority do. And I guess fear of looking foolish would be one of the reasons they do that. Also, I wonder if they’re scared of becoming an outcast?
Hi Amy - that is a great point. And so true - a few years ago we would have laughed at the idea of buying bottled water.
I only buy it when our tap water tastes disgusting. I often wonder whether these bottled water companies are paying someone to slip some extra chemicals in our tap water, so we won’t drink it?
But I guess some people drink it regardless, because they truly believe tap (faucet) water is bad for them.
[...] wrote on how you should make the business of influence work for you. It is only a short post but contains some great [...]
Wow, some amazing comments so far. I am humble in what I’m about to suggest, but take away the internet and what do you have?
Vision.
Martin Luther King, Jr. had a vision of black and white together. He tried to sell it. Was he successful? Or is his vision still on the assembly line of concepts, ideas, and influences?
The wonder of the internet, though, is the notion of six degrees of separation can be erased in an instant. All it takes is your 6th degree to mention your name to someone, anyone, anywhere, for whatever reason and you and your 6th degree are now connected and the world is smaller.
The business of influence goes back to relationships and one person having a vision. Do you understand what I mean?
Ari Herzog’s last blog post..Weekly Roundup: 9 Must-See Sustainability Blogs