How are social norms created?

Did everyone have a great Mother's Day weekend? I think my mom actually likes this holiday more than her own birthday!

I read a recent Wall Street Journal article titled Under the Influence: How the Group Changes What We Think and I started to think about how the idea of social norms could be applied to direct marketing. 

"Jonah Berger, marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, studied what makes ideas 'go viral.' His team analyzed 7,000 newspaper articles in the New York Times and found the articles considered most popular on the newspaper's website were those that aroused more emotions, particularly happy emotions but also anger or anxiety."

People are more prone to adopt an idea if it evokes emotion, which is to be expected. People feel more tied to issues, ideas, causes, if they have an emotional connection. It makes it more personal.

But who is setting these issues, ideas, causes, into the universe to become viral? "Rarely does any one individual set an entirely new norm for the group. Group leaders, however, help perpetuate or shift the norm. Unlike innovators, leaders tend to be high-status "superconformists," embodying the group's most-typical characteristics or aspirations, says Deborah Prentice, a social psychologist at Princeton University."

What the research shows is that one person may not be able to instill an idea but that it requires a group. Hence the peer pressure idea. The more people who tell you an idea is good, the more likely you are to believe it.

What does this have to do with direct marketing? DMI believes that having the right messaging is crucial in a successful direct marketing campaign. The messaging must be personal and you must make sure your message is touching the prospect multiple times. Repetition is your friend!

Let me know if you want more information about creating the right messaging and what DMI can do for your next marketing campaign!

--L