Comments on: Social Proofing As Part Of Your Marketing Strategy http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/06/01/social-proofing-marketing-strategy/ Adam Singer on media, marketing and PR Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:42:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Alex - unleash reality http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/06/01/social-proofing-marketing-strategy/#comment-24636 Alex - unleash reality Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:16:10 +0000 http://thefuturebuzz.com/?p=4073#comment-24636 really interesting application of social proofing to online (i'm familiar with it in the social capacity :) ) i'm kinda torn about it though - would love to hear your take on this... on the one hand, good 'ol economics rationality theory - the disclosure principle. you should disclose numbers (ones you referred to - feed subscribers for instance) because not disclosing them when others are leads the consumer (readers) to assume that they are low (even though they may not be - hence underplaying your site's social proof) on the other hand though, your site may have few subscribers because it's new - not because it's bad or anything else. in this case showing the number of subscribers could lead people away from it (judge blog by it's cover :P ) so i'd prolly be inclined (as i'm doing on my site) to not show subscriber numbers until they're at a show-offable level :) interesting ideas all round subscribed :) +1 to social proof. go team! all the best alex - unleash reality really interesting application of social proofing to online (i’m familiar with it in the social capacity :) )

i’m kinda torn about it though – would love to hear your take on this…

on the one hand, good ‘ol economics rationality theory – the disclosure principle. you should disclose numbers (ones you referred to – feed subscribers for instance) because not disclosing them when others are leads the consumer (readers) to assume that they are low (even though they may not be – hence underplaying your site’s social proof)

on the other hand though, your site may have few subscribers because it’s new – not because it’s bad or anything else. in this case showing the number of subscribers could lead people away from it (judge blog by it’s cover :P ) so i’d prolly be inclined (as i’m doing on my site) to not show subscriber numbers until they’re at a show-offable level :)

interesting ideas all round

subscribed :) +1 to social proof. go team!

all the best
alex – unleash reality

]]> By: Marketing Donut http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/06/01/social-proofing-marketing-strategy/#comment-24590 Marketing Donut Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:12:57 +0000 http://thefuturebuzz.com/?p=4073#comment-24590 Excellent article - Really liked the violinist example with success inversly proportional to talent. It really is all about getting yourself out there but i think that if the product is of an excellent quality that will speak volumes too. Excellent article – Really liked the violinist example with success inversly proportional to talent. It really is all about getting yourself out there but i think that if the product is of an excellent quality that will speak volumes too.

]]> By: ukhustle http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/06/01/social-proofing-marketing-strategy/#comment-24586 ukhustle Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:45:55 +0000 http://thefuturebuzz.com/?p=4073#comment-24586 Brilliant article which describes the fickle world we live in, without a doubt it seems that the more something appears popular the more popular it becomes. The violinist example is a prime example of how things within the music industry are, the top selling artists are very rarely the most musically talented. http://www.ukhustle.com Brilliant article which describes the fickle world we live in, without a doubt it seems that the more something appears popular the more popular it becomes. The violinist example is a prime example of how things within the music industry are, the top selling artists are very rarely the most musically talented.

http://www.ukhustle.com

]]> By: Craig http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/06/01/social-proofing-marketing-strategy/#comment-24584 Craig Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:44:28 +0000 http://thefuturebuzz.com/?p=4073#comment-24584 Social proofing is a big part of life in general, especially on the web. In my personal movie blog, I am having trouble getting comments going because of lack of social proofing. Usually once there is a few, people are more likely to leave a comment. Same goes for RSS, once they see the numbers, people are more likely to subscribe which is why I currently hide it. For business I am about to begin personally pitching bloggers about our new site (let me know if it's ok if I can send you information) and am hoping that social proofing will develop to PR from the smaller guys and eventually lead to the bigger fish. I know it usually works the other way around but when you are a smaller start-up it is difficult to develop relationships with those bigger fish. Either way, social proof has a lot to do with everything, whether about a site, or figuring out what bar is popular on a Friday night. Social proofing is a big part of life in general, especially on the web. In my personal movie blog, I am having trouble getting comments going because of lack of social proofing. Usually once there is a few, people are more likely to leave a comment. Same goes for RSS, once they see the numbers, people are more likely to subscribe which is why I currently hide it. For business I am about to begin personally pitching bloggers about our new site (let me know if it’s ok if I can send you information) and am hoping that social proofing will develop to PR from the smaller guys and eventually lead to the bigger fish. I know it usually works the other way around but when you are a smaller start-up it is difficult to develop relationships with those bigger fish. Either way, social proof has a lot to do with everything, whether about a site, or figuring out what bar is popular on a Friday night.

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