November 8, 2008Comments are closed.attitude, marketing
When we speak to the media, it’s often about the reason de jour that people are giving when surrendering their animals. Obviously the latest trend is ‘the economy’ and you don’t have to search very hard to find a rescue group lamenting that financial issues are causing people to hand over their pets.
SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) – They’re man’s best friends, but apparently not in times of financial stress, as hundreds of people in Australia are abandoning their pet dogs and cats, often because they cost too much.
Coming up to the xmas holiday period, the rescue media blitz is on owners who surrender because they couldn’t find a boarding kennel or because they wanted to go on holidays. And the old chestnuts, allergies or moving house never really seem to go out of style.
So what would you say if I told you that by promoting these reasons for pet relinquishment, we’re actually encouraging people to surrender their pets? Would you reconsider your next media release?
‘Social proof’ is a psychological phenomenon described by Robert Cialdini in his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Call it the ‘herd mentality’. If unsure of what to do, people will look to others and just… do what they do.
It’s the reason teenagers all dress alike and why advertisers use slogans like ‘1000 happy customers can’t be wrong’. Because we care a great deal about what others think of us, we work hard to fit in and avoid being criticised. We are highly susceptible to ‘popular opinion’, as when we’re not sure, we assume others know more than us and just fall into line.
Social proof can be an extremely powerful tool in marketing. If convinced that ‘everyone else is doing it’, people often overcome any reservations and comply. Also, the more people that engage in a particular behaviour, the more acceptable this behaviour becomes. Think rubber bracelets, recycling or Red Nose Day.
In the case of social proof bringing about accepted social change, anyone who falls outside the new ‘trend’ will be ostracised and the community will essentially self-regulate. As anyone who’s watered the lawn outside of their non-allocated day will tell you!
Testimonials are a very powerful form of social proof and your adopters are by far your best advertisement. By including the stories of other happy adopters we say ‘Look! They’ve done it and they’re really happy’, and help to alleviate any reservations people might be having about taking home a rescue.
Social proof isn’t all good news. This ‘monkey see – monkey do’ also extends to unfortunate events and leads to negative ‘copycat’ behaviour. If a celebrity commits suicide for example, mass media coverage soon leads to more suicides. The simple explanation being that they feel validated by the suicide of another, so they act.
From Copyblogger;
In other words, social proof also tells us it’s okay to do what we already want to do. This isn’t all bad, especially when it involves the acceptance of your message. But it can also result in negative social proof, in that it motivates people to do the opposite of what you want because you’re trying to change behavior already supported by social proof.
Take a look at these well-intended messages:
- This year Americans will produce more litter and pollution than ever before. ~U.S. Forest Service
- 4 years ago, 22 million single women did not vote. ~Women Vote
- 42% of college graduates never read a book again. ~Dan Poynter’s ParaPublishing
These messages point out important problems. But what are some people really hearing?
- Everyone litters, it’s not just me.
- Voting is a hassle, and others like me think so too.
- I don’t enjoy reading, and I’m in a lot of good company.
These are all examples of negative social proof. Instead of prompting people to change, it encourages people to stick with the crowd that hasn’t changed (especially if the change is inconvenient or undesired). It can even lead people to engage in behavior they otherwise wouldn’t, once they know others are doing it.
So social proof can actually backfire completely and increase peoples bad behaviour because they have proof that lots of others also engage in the behaviour.
If we say people are surrendering because of the economy, voila! People will dump their pets citing the economy as their reason;
Australia’s animal welfare agency, the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (RSPCA), said “can’t afford it” was now the fourth most cited reason for people dropping off pets at the shelter, up from number 8 last year. ref
Copyblogger offers these tips for avoiding negative social proof.
Understanding that people need other people’s approval to feel they’re making the right decision will go a long way to using language that supports this process. We can change the community by harnessing the power of social proof, but we must ensure that we focus on the positive behaviour we’re trying to promote and choose what we say carefully so our message has only the desired effect.
