The Blog Of Greg Rollett

The short version: Because if the popular kids did it, you probably would too. And you just might even like it.

Long answer: The social proof principle.

Over the past 2 years of really looking at 2 things: human psychology and Internet Marketing, social proof has been at the height of both. From the positive aspects to the highly sketchy techniques. And I’ve seen both, used both and tested both in many marketing campaigns. In this 3 part series I am going to look at 3 aspects of social proof and do my best to explain why the psychology of your parents teachings isn’t half bad (or at least not wrong).

• Part 1: What is social proof and why does it matter?
• Part 2: Borrowing social proof vs. actual social proof.
• Part 3: How to get social proof quickly

Let’s begin and start to get twisted into some psychology…

What Is Social Proof?

Perhaps the first big business to utilize social proof in a highly profitable way (and somehow it still works today) is the “As Seen On TV” products. In fact they’ve made a whole business out of infomercials and products that have been seen on tv. But aren’t pretty much all products seen on tv now? I think it would be really ironic if there was a “as seen online” social proof element that comes into play.

Anyway, what makes this marketing strategy powerful is that people can relate to it, they can piece it into their minds as something that is familiar, that others have also seen and thus makes it socially acceptable for them to be interested in the products.

Mass Control Psychology

The concept was really ingrained into my head in Frank Kern’s Mass Control. Essentially in order to get mass control, you need to make it seem like that masses are already flooding you with whatever shower of appreciation makes you look awesome.

For Frank Kern it was his massive launches that preceded Mass Control. The big launch numbers from Stompernet, Pipeline Profits, The Annihilation Method and his Underachiever Series. Those combined launches did something like $23.8 million or something ridiculous, so his implied social proof was that if you learned his marketing secrets you too could make money like that.

Social proof also came into play by using things like shock and awe testimonials, videos that showed how he did it, getting affiliates to vouch for the course, going through case studies and then using “cool” tactics in his email marketing like:

I am only selling 500 of these and there are 1 gagillion people on my email list (the implicit thing here is that there are a gagiliion other people like you on the list, so you are not alone in wanting this cool stuff)

After going through Mass Control, I started to learn more about social proof and was drawn to the book “Persuasion: The Psychology of Influence” by Robert Cialdini. The book is the most dry, boring read on the planet, but if instead of reading it, you study it, takes notes and apply what he is saying, it may be the most effective book on selling and marketing ever written.

Cialdini’s Social Proof

This book was written 1984 at a time before high pressure sales letters and marketing videos that don’t have play controls on them (beyond irritating), and before the Internet, but not before Direct Response Marketing made people uber-rich. But it does factor in that people are highly influenced by the actions of others.

He starts by talking about canned laughter, possibly best described as the sign in the studio audience that Jay Leno has light up whenever he snaps off another bad joke and needs a quick laugh from the studio audience to make said joke appear to be funny to the audience watching at home

The thing that Cialdidni points out that is simply amazing to the marketing eye is that even though people have told tv studios how much they hate canned laughter, it still works. It still causes those same people that know it is “fake” laughter to chuckle, smile or laugh. Kinda like how we know reality shows are not reality, but we relate and obsess to them anyway.

Here is Cialdini’s definition of social proof:

[O]ne means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct…We view a behavior as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it.

So using Cialdini’s concept, if our friends jump off this mythical bridge, we see it as an acceptable behavior. If others are speeding on the highway, then hell, I’m going to speed on the highway. And if you have some crappy, worthless testimonials on your site from the same people that leave testimonials on every site, then I am going to yet again buy another info product I don’t need and just like everyone else, not read it/watch it/take action!

We sure do like to conform to the behaviors around us.

If you are downtown with a group of friends, passing some bars looking for a drink, are you going to go into the bar that is empty with the promoters outside begging you to come in and get a free fruity shot of Juicy Juice, or the one with the fresh music and the people that are like you?

Do you want to be the only fan at a concert, or do you want to be in a sea of other fanatical people?

Non Conformists / Lifestyle Designers / Internet Cool Kids

Two years ago it was cool to be a nonconformist, or a rebel or a 9-5 hater. Now it’s the norm. People expect it.

“Rebel against the system, yo.” I hear people screaming it all the time. That part is easy and the part that has social proof written all over it.

It’s easy to start a blog and start talking like everyone else. The topics, the comments, the way to grow your audience, the way to build subscribers, or a tribe, or a community, use buzz words, whatever.

The element here is that we all wanted to be like the guy the Internet Lifestyle promises to be - on the beach, maxing and relaxing, checking emails for sales and talking to our VA that runs our million dollar empire from a hut in an impoverished country that we feel awesome about paying her $5/hr.

And we all buy into it. We all buy stuff from long sales letters, even if we hate them and we all fall subject to wanting to know what the secret to this internet lifestyle is. If there was only the 1 tactic I needed to know so that I can have a lifestyle like “insert name of supposed cool dude here.”

Anyway, it’s just social proof in action. Following a crowd.

But social proof can be used for good, and it can be used in sales situations where you want to infleunce others who:

• Can afford your product
• Have a use for your product
• Can benefit from your product
• And the damn thing is actually valuable

In the next 2 pieces of this series I am going to show some examples of social proof in action and how you can build up social proof that will actually make a difference in your business.

But today, let’s leave off with some gut-checking: when have you followed the crowd and done something, either consciounciously or unconsciounsly and fallen victim to good old social proof tactics?

Let’s discuss and digress in the comments.

Top photo by Stromboozle