For quite a few months now, the team at Hester Designs and I have been doing in-depth planning and strategy work with one of the largest non-profit organizations in the world. We were assigned with the task of helping the organization, which is over 150 years old, find relevance and new life with it’s supporters.
So for the last few months I’ve been in research mode, exploring the psychological forces behind what motivates people to join a cause and why they donate their time and money. To say it’s a complex subject is an understatement.
During my research I ran across a study that seemed so obvious on first read, but as I continue to think about it, has become intriguing and I think it has some great applications to social media strategies. It’s called the foot-in-the-door phenomenom, which is defined as,
the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.
The term actually originated from when door-to-door salesmen would ask small requests of homeowners in order to get inside the house ask for the sale. They found that it was harder for people to say no once they had said yes once.
A good example of the foot-in-the-door phenomenom in action is the little lapel pins that the American Cancer Society asks people to wear. In a study done on these pins found that when people were asked a day ahead to wear a lapel pin publicizing a drive in their area, they were twice as likely to donate to the cause.
So what does this have to do with social media?
Well, start thinking about ways that you can you create a foot-in-the-door in your social media strategy. Think of how you can lower the barriers to entry to experience your brand, creating easy ways for consumers to become involved in some way.
Facebook Fan Pages immediately come to mind. There’s no risk. It’s just one click. And if someone is even remotely interested in an organization or product they have nothing to lose. In turn this gives you an in with them to drip information to them, slowly easing them in the brand and ultimately leading them to a bigger yes.
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What other foot-in-the-door opportunities do you see for brands?
I welcome your comments!
(Photo via: Herodoto)
Great concept, and I agree that it ties in really well with social media. The big issue to me is that there is a very low commitment level to loose connections in social media, because there is no real “cost” involved, other than perhaps, in the case of Twitter (and perhaps Facebook, FriendFeed), an incremental time/opportunity cost of having to filter more information the more connections you have. In some ways, this does parallel over to the salesman in your living room, the problem is, in social media, there might be a thousand salesmen in my living room at any given moment, so that means each of them has less impact on me…
So the real question to me is, in applying this concept, how do you make your foot-in-the-door efforts in social media really and truly in that consumer or client’s living room? Or maybe, if everyone else is in the living room, how do you get to the heart of the home? I’d call this meaningful connections, perhaps.
I think that is really important, especially as more organizations and voices begin to add to the mix. As a consumer myself, filtering is becoming really important to me, so that’s my reflection on this concept. I also think content matters a lot. I am going to pay most attention to the salesman in my living room who is solving a problem I have.
What do you think?
Tiffany,
I think you’ve pointed out a fundamental difference between the the foot-in-the-door of the door-to-door salesman and a social media foot-in-the-door. In social media there is a lot of noise. Providing consumers opportunities to connect with a brand in a small and easy way is half of it. Then it is up to the brand to provide value to consumers, something that cuts through the noise, and ultimately something that leads them closer to taking a desired action somewhere in the future.
Your comments also made me think about how foot-in-the-door of the past was heavy, in your face, push marketing. But a foot-in-the-door in social media is a core part of a pull marketing strategy. Instead of hitting people in the face with a sales pitch day one, a foot-in-the-door provides consumers a way to become more familiar with a brand and maybe even develop some sense of trust with the brand, greasing the tracks for bigger buy-in down the road.
You’ve really gotten my wheels turning now. Another value that a foot-in-the-door can provides is a word of mouth trigger. Not everyone is who says yes, will become a customer, but that doesn’t mean that someone who becomes a Facebook Fan, for instance, doesn’t have value to the brand. This person could very well be the bridge introducing the brand to another hub of people in a different circle. Even loose connections have value.
As always, thanks for your comments!
I would say another opportunity for brands is using Twitter Search. It costs nothing but time, no signup involved, and is a great way to listen. One mistake that I’ve seen companies (both big and small) make with social media is jumping right into the conversation before listening to what’s being said first. Twitter Search is a good way to listen first.
To address what Tiffany mentioned in getting through the noise, 1.) be relevant to your consumers, and 2.) have a good product. If you lack those, you won’t be successful anywhere. The best social media strategy can’t help a poor product. If you provide value and relevance to your consumers, you will get through the noise one way or another.
Social Media Foot in the Door http://tinyurl.com/mozpaz
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Social Media Foot in the Door from @freshpeel http://bit.ly/y4dko
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Hello!
Speaking of Social Media, we saw your post regarding Cheeseburger in Paradise on Twitter. We were wondering if you wouldn’t mind sharing your ideas with us on how to make CIP better for everybody! Please email me at [email protected]
Thanks for your Time.
Warm Regards,
Cheeseburger in Paradise