OPINION: The impact of social influence on our world

Look at world events. Egypt. A government is about to fall because once loosely-associated groups of individuals opposed to the government have been united and galvanised via Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms. The government’s strategy of blocking the sites and jamming the mobile phone networks just added fuel to the fire of social influence, prompting millions of citizens to take control of the streets on Friday 28 January.

By no means was everything organised online, but it clearly shows the power of old and new media working together. Online allows for discussion, decision making, strategic planning and agreement on tactical execution, without the need for a meeting. How powerful is that ‘like’ button. Old media reported the activity, spreading the message across all three screens. An amazing outpouring of dissatisfaction that now has the attention of the world.

Look at the corporate world, companies like Dell whose service model failures were exposed online, and the large Australian electrical retailers who have lost massive share to online retailers, exposed for the margin they apply to goods.

But the power of social influence can be harnessed and used for the greater good of the community, and for the greater profit of companies. Not by reacting to comment or seeding product news or offers, but by really listening to the market to gain real-time insight that will define how a product is packaged, how it is sold, how it is priced and how its features are presented.

An example of an organisation that is investing in just this is Gatorade, with its Mission Control Centre. The company has erected a room that sits in the middle of the marketing department and monitors every aspect of the brand, its competitors, athletes and sports nutrition. This data is visualised and used to improve the product offering, encouraging interaction and inviting greater participation within every aspect of the traditional marketing mix.

And then there is Groupon. A company that has seen the profit in collective purchase and is slowly taking over the world. But are they really providing people with what they want, or are they just doing what sales people have done for centuries? Making an offer that is so good you can’t refuse. Even if you don’t want or need it.

Now of real interest is the collective. Really smart people who get together on social networks and decide they really want something. Something that is not available to them. They know that if they get enough interest, they can approach a company to custom make the product for them. Volkswagen has reacted to this, not in a big way, but they customised the interior of a model to meet the wishes of the crowds, and they did it at a highly competitive price.

If you listen, you can react with relevance and harness the power of social influence to build support for your offering. Today you can view emotions, morals and passions. We just need to clearly understand what we do with this information.

The traditional power base may have shifted. We are at a tipping point and it’s an amazing opportunity for those who have a strategy, those who invest to understand and those who are future-and not organisationally-focused. Those that are prepared to question their business models and restructure them to invite the consumer in and allow them to customise their needs.

And for those that don’t? Well the people have a voice… wait until they really learn how to channel it…