The Psychology of Online Influence

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Despite the plethora of social channels and unending releases of more powerful technology, we are still at heart cavemen and cavewomen. We still have the same basic instincts and brain patterns as our ancestors who emerged from Africa 100,000 years ago which is why social media channels are so successful. They fulfill the age-old desire to sit around the campfire and share stories and information. Social media and technology don’t change that instinct. They amplify it.

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The Psychology of Online Influence

The Breakfast Club 27th March 2012

The caveman behind the computer

Social media channels are so successful because they fulfill that age-old desire to sit around the campfire and share stories and information. Social media and technology don’t change that instinct. They amplify it.

We are all individuals

I’m not!

Which Waterhole?The Caveman Consumer in…

#1 Influence Who do you trust? 

“I trust people I know”

“I trust people I don’t know”

Trust your customers

Trust your staff

#2 Keep it Simple

Get visual

“Our lives are composed of millions of choices, ranging from trivial to life-changing and momentous. Luckily, our brains have evolved a number of mental short-cuts called heuristics and biases that allow us to quickly negotiate this endless array of decisions”.

Wray Herbert – “On Second Thoughts”

#3 Get Emotional

Source: Daniel Kahneman, Nobel for Economics, 2002

System 1

(Non-rational brain)

95%

System 2

(Rational brain)

5%

How we make decisions

“Emotion leads to action,while reason leads to conclusions”Donald Calne, neurologist

#4 The journey has many paths

Nudge people

Scarcity

#5 A numbers game?

Freemium

Collaborate

#6 Make them feel good about their choice

“When people feel confident about their decisions two things happen. First they derive more utility from the product, and second their excitement makes their decision contagious”

Professor Baba Shiv: Sanwa Bank, Limited,

Professor of Marketing,

Stanford Graduate Business School

6 steps• People trust people• Keep it simple• Get emotional• Faciltate the journey• Quality not quantity• Continue the journey after

purchase.

But it still all comes down to story-telling

"We fixate on the latest technologies and the outer reaches of cyberspace, but forget that there is a caveman or cavewoman behind the mouse and the keyboard".Michael Gilbert, 

Senior Fellow at the

Center for the Digital Future,

Martin Talks• @Talksy• www.linkedin.com/in/martintalks• martin.talks@draftfcb.com

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