The Harvard Business Review article "Harnessing the Science of Persuation" by Robert B. Cialdini makes the argument that persuation is a skill that can be taught, learned and applied. He presents six different principles of persuation and how that can be applied to the fields of general management and organizational behavior.
The field of marketing can be seen as the art or science of persuading consumers to consider your products and convincing them to eventually purchase it. As such, several of the same principles used for persuation in management can be easily adapted and applied to the field of marketing.
The principle of liking and the principle of social proof are both readily adapted for marketing purposes and offers essentially the same application. For a company trying to sell a product or service, the strategy when developed involves connecting potential customers to people they like or trust, while providing the context and means for them to market to each other in subtle ways. The advent of the internet and social networking also provides additional means for the company to build the context for this interaction and actually participate interactively in the communication process.
The two principles when combined together mean that people like to hang out with people they like both online and offline, and are more likely to follow each others recommendation on purchases rather than recommendations that come from strangers provided by the company.
Traditionally this is accomplished through word of mouth advertising. The advent of social media worldwide mean that people are in constant communication with each other. Experience has shown that people share their interest. product purchases, and recommendations freely with their friends through social media. The challenge for companies is to figure out a way to direct, promote and enhance the communcations that are positive for its own products. Many companies have already provided direct links to social networks for people to share product information and recommendations. This provide an easy way for someone to share products they are interested in with their friends. In addition, companies are also directly involved in social media sites and broadcast information via their twitter and facebook accounts to people who follow them. Another creative way for companies to provide the context for interaction is through online fanclubs and forums in social media sties for custemers who use and love its products. Promotional offers can encourage customers to join and post on the site. This allows a company to put together a group of people who like similar products and through their interactions with each other, help market and sell the company's products to their friends.
The direct implication is that word of mouth marketing has a much broader market reach than before and can also instantly reach a large number of people who can easily be persuaded. A company that harnesses this power will gain an advantage over competitors in marketing its product. At the same time, a negative recommendation can also reach a large audience quickly and companies need to monitor and manage the online communication regarding its product so that they can respond quickly to negative or incorrect information regarding its products.
That's all well and good for B2C companies where consumers more easily share their likes and dislikes. What about the B2B company selling IT products or other complex equipment that is considered secret because its part of the buyers' infrastructure? How do they foster this social persuasion?
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