Marketing promotion skills: Turn the masses into a “mob”!

Introduction: It is not only Socrates who was killed by the voice of the majority, but also you who were caught up in desires. Capital has turned us all into a “mob”.

Three cobblers are better than Zhuge Liang, but a group of cobblers are not as good as one cobbler.

Individuals who are swept up in the will of the masses will gradually lose their ability to think for themselves. That is why the French nobility voted to give up their privileges on that emotional night in 1784, even though none of them would have thought twice about doing so in private.

Such a phenomenon is not uncommon in the marketing market.

The "aunties" who bargain for a few cents with vendors in the vegetable market can spend huge sums of money with the tour group when they travel and buy a lot of souvenirs; the "slum" girls who live frugally can't help but continue to "shop" when they see the popular lipstick swatches on the Internet, and empty their Huabei; on your way home from get off work, when you see a promotional banner that says "10 yuan clearance sale", you can't help but squeeze into the dense crowd and end up buying a bunch of goods you don't need.

When we are alone, we can still think independently, but when a group of people gather together, a "mob" will be born. In the voice of the crowd, reason is drowned, the self is swallowed up, and only endlessly spreading desire remains.

What you have to admit is that you are not as rational as you think. When individuals are in a "group", they are more likely to make irrational decisions, which also brings many business opportunities for marketing.

1. “Group” steals “self”, where are the marketing opportunities

     The wonderful thing about the "group" is that the original intention of people gathering together is to pool wisdom and improve survival rate; but when the "group" is truly born, people unconsciously give up their individual wisdom and follow the will of the "group".

“The individual who gathers together is not only radically different in his conduct, but, even before he has lost all independence, is transformed in his thoughts and feelings, so radical that it can turn a spendthrift into a miser, a skeptic into a believer, an honest man into a sinner, and a coward into a hero.”

In his book on mass psychology, The Crowd, Gustave Le Bon explained three characteristics of a crowd: intellectual differences are leveled out, emotions are contagious, and the crowd is susceptible to suggestion.

Therefore, when an individual is in a group, it is particularly easy for him to lose his rationality and act according to the group's emotions. In the activities of the group, "public opinion" and "trend" were born. A woman who usually never wears makeup may buy a lipstick she doesn't need under the hype of the Internet. Normally rational scholars will also buy clothes and change their hairstyles according to fashion trends. The lower-tier markets and youth groups who are easily instigated are more likely to follow the trend of group "public opinion."

It is difficult for people to develop the desire to consume based on rational self-thinking. But when swept up in the desires of the group, people can easily lose the ability to remain calm. That's why traveling aunties are always prone to falling into shopping traps and buying rubber mattresses and electric kettles they don't need.

This is because in an atmosphere where everyone around is shopping crazily, the individual has fallen into the carnival of group desire.

1. The birth of consumer desire: group desire undermines individual rationality

How to get a rational and prudent consumer to start spending? Just let him change from an individual into a cell in the group.

Rather than viewing a group as a collection of individuals, we should view it as an individual being that has life, that breathes, moves, and thinks. Each of us is a cell of the "group". Cells cannot think independently, so people will instinctively follow the will of the group and gradually lose themselves.

Under the cover of the group, education, rationality, and social masks are all abandoned, and people are driven by instinct to do things they would not normally do.

A well-dressed scholar who puts on a "disguise" on the Internet may also swear, a highly intelligent university student from a prestigious university may go down the path of "pyramid selling" under the instigation of the masses, and even honest people who usually follow the rules may gather to "smash, loot and rob" under the angry public sentiment.

Firstly, since the number of individuals in the group is large, any behavior of the group has the natural rationality of "the law does not hold everyone responsible"; secondly, since the group puts masks on each individual, individuals can act under the "anonymity effect". The group has become low-intelligence creatures that only act according to instinct.

In the crowd, under the influence of the will of the masses, the mob of desire is born.

From the perspective of marketing psychology, if you want consumers to consume, you need to amplify their inner desires and undermine their rationality. When an individual is in a group, he or she will be more easily swallowed up by the group's desires and become an instinctive creature.

This is why marketers are always working hard to create marketing hype and strive to build trends.

2. The magical power of “opinion leaders”

There are three characteristics of a crowd: low intelligence, susceptibility to infection, and susceptibility to suggestion. In contrast, when one person in a group speaks out or expresses emotion, such emotion is particularly likely to spread to the entire group and infect everyone in the group.

But what we need to think about is, who should be the voice?

Lazarsfeld gave us the answer in his famous two-level communication theory. The process of mass communication can be briefly divided into two stages. In the first stage, the influence of mass media first reaches opinion leaders. In the second stage, opinion leaders convey the information they receive to the general public. Therefore, "opinion leaders" play an important role as a transit station for the public to receive information.

Here, opinion leaders are what we often call KOLs (key opinion leaders), who are individuals who have a popular influence in a group and can cause the public to imitate them. In the era of mass entertainment, not only political and business celebrities play the role of opinion leaders in our lives, but also stars and internet celebrities are even more so.

Therefore, opinion leaders can amplify specific voices and transmit them to every individual in the group. But the magic of opinion leaders goes beyond that. In a group, the public will develop an "imitation instinct" towards more prominent individuals and imitate the words and deeds of opinion leaders.

This is why the ability of “Internet celebrities” and “stars” to bring goods is so strong, and many products will be sold out once they are recommended by stars. At the same time, popular trends are also led by internet celebrities and stars, and the same outfits worn by stars always trigger a buying frenzy.

2. How does marketing turn us into a “mob”?

One monk carries water to drink, two monks lift water to drink, and three monks have no water to drink. Democracy belongs to the majority, but truth belongs to the minority. The accumulated wisdom of the masses not only fails to produce the effect of one plus one being greater than two, but instead gives birth to a "mob".

“The crowd is like a sleeping person whose rationality has been temporarily suspended.”

When individuals are in a group, they become impulsive, passionate, and driven by desire.

So when you originally just wanted to go to the supermarket to buy a roll of paper towels, you couldn't help but squeeze into the snack discount promotion line; you just scrolled through Douyin, but you were "recommended" a product you didn't need in the overwhelming soft advertisements; you didn't follow the trend, but you couldn't help but follow the crowd to choose clothes and jewelry.

In a group, our ability to think independently is reduced. However, this is a good thing for marketing. Or in other words, the biggest thing marketing does is to try its best to suppress our rationality, awaken our instinctive desires, and turn us into a "mob."

1. Creating trends and creating popularity

There was no "group" in the world. When people gathered together, a "group" was born. In a "group", people become susceptible to infection and suggestion, and the "follow the trend" phenomenon occurs. This is the famous "herd effect".

(1) Creating trends is the first thing marketing needs to do.

If there is something that everyone is doing but you are not doing it, you will not only feel that you are out of touch with the times, but also feel that you are out of touch with the group. This is why Internet language can go viral among young people. Even if there is no demand, you can't help but squeeze into the rush to buy. Even if you don't know Marvel, you can't help but spend money to buy tickets for "Avengers 4".

"Everyone is doing it" has become a mantra. If there is something that "everyone is doing" and you are not doing it, you will always feel a little dissatisfied for not catching up with the trend.

Marketing takes advantage of this mentality and successfully makes consumers fall into the illusion that "everyone is doing it".

The most typical example is the price reduction promotion in a supermarket or a store with a banner that says "clearance sale". Even if the discount is not big, as long as the idea of ​​"getting a bargain" is used to attract the first batch of customers, subsequent people will "follow suit" one after another.

By the same token, if a small stall with few customers gathers around it, it will attract more customers. Because of this "follow the trend" effect, some businesses even hire "trailers" to pretend to be customers, hoping to attract more customers.

However, this traditional marketing method is gradually failing. When people find that a store with a sign saying "Last three days, 10 yuan each" is still open three days later, no customers will follow suit like sheep.

Marketing has other insights into how to create the illusion that "everyone is doing it".

The most typical example is in advertising. A common advertising and marketing strategy is to create an illusion in the advertisement that "everyone is using it" and that people around you are using this product.

The slogan of Guazi.com is, "Guazi.com, the second-hand car direct sales website that everyone is using." In the advertisement of Biostime slimming tea, there are pictures of people of different ages and genders drinking slimming tea. The advertisement ends with the slogan "It is safe for men, women, young and old to drink" to give consumers the illusion that everyone around them is using Biostime slimming tea. In addition, the positioning of slimming tea itself as "healthy weight loss" and "weight loss without side effects" is very correct. The sales of Biostime slimming tea increased significantly after the advertisement was broadcast.

Such cases are not uncommon in IP drama marketing. The TV series "Eternal Love" did not top the charts in terms of number of views when it was first aired, but discussions about the TV series on self-media platforms were "overwhelming", giving people the illusion that people all over the world were watching the show. "Curiosity" and "following the trend" attracted more netizens to fall into the "trap".

(2) Creating “trend” is also very important for brand marketing.

In a "group", people are always susceptible to infection and suggestion, so chasing trends is a major trend of the group. Therefore, whoever grasps the "popular" trend will win this war.

The most obvious example is the competition among luxury goods. In order to attract consumers, luxury brands always strive to establish themselves as trend leaders and continuously innovate clothing design concepts. From the seemingly weird PVC bags and shoes to the retro and print styles that GUCCI has revived, to the different popular colors and designs between each season.

The competition for popularity will never end, because the giants know that as long as they can create popularity, there will never be a shortage of people following it. This is why every fashion week is like a competition arena and the competition for popularity is like a war.

2. Make use of the “power of opinion leaders”

Why is it that as soon as Li Jiaqi shouts “oh my god”, thousands of slum girls will rush to buy the goods and sell them out in seconds? Why is it that the facial masks and skin care products recommended by Fan Bingbing cause people to scramble for them?

In group activities, the slightest sound will be infinitely amplified, and one person's emotions will quickly spread to the entire group. People in groups become more vulnerable, sensitive and easily influenced than usual. Opinion leaders, due to their natural characteristic of "high attention", can more easily convey emotions and information to the public, achieve better publicity effects, and stimulate consumers' desire to buy.

According to statistics, Li Jiaqi successfully achieved a transaction volume of 3.53 million in a five-and-a-half-hour live broadcast during the International Women's Day. The power of opinion leaders in our lives cannot be underestimated. How to cleverly utilize "opinion leaders" has become a question that marketing needs to consider.

(1) How to directly use opinion leaders for marketing?

The simplest way to use opinion leaders in marketing is to invite influential celebrities and internet celebrities to endorse and promote products and use the influence of opinion leaders to expand the influence of products and brands themselves. Therefore, every brand that has just entered the market and hopes to occupy the minds of consumers as quickly as possible will hire an influential spokesperson. Wang Yuan, one of the “Four Major Traffic Stars”, became the spokesperson for Xiaomi mobile phone, and Wang Junkai also became the spokesperson for Dell computers.

The purchasing power of these stars’ fan groups cannot be underestimated. Coupled with the stars’ own enormous traffic and influence, inviting stars to endorse a brand can quickly “go viral” and become known to more people.

Through celebrity endorsements, the brand image and the celebrity image can be tied together, further expanding the brand's own popularity. At the same time, opinion leaders’ ability to “bring goods” is also considerable. Inviting opinion leaders to conduct hard advertising and soft advertising promotions are both good ways to expand brand influence.

The street photos of Yang Mi, Liu Wen and other stars wearing "Feiyue" sneakers at the airport successfully made this pair of sneakers popular, bringing "Feiyue" a second spring.

The propaganda power of opinion leaders is well known, but brands must also be careful about "overturning" when using opinion leaders.

First of all, brands should choose celebrities and influencers that fit their brand image. In order to attract the attention of urban white-collar workers, Luckin Coffee invited "goddess" Tang Wei to conduct advertising. Luckin's target audience is mature urban elite white-collar workers with a certain economic foundation. If it chooses "fresh meat" and "fresh flowers" from the mainstream, it will not be able to correctly hit the hearts of the target audience and achieve good publicity effects, and may even have a counterproductive effect.

A certain micro-business brand invited William Chan to be its spokesperson but suffered a setback, triggering a "fight" between William Chan's fans and the micro-business owner. Since the fission method of Wechat Business can easily lead people into the trap of "pyramid selling", most Wechat Business brands have not been registered. Therefore, the micro-business brands have gone from being very popular in the beginning to being "unworthy of being in the mainstream". As a new traffic star, William Chan has always been the focus of attention, and his fans describe him as "high-end, classy and classy." Therefore, Chen Weiting's endorsement of a micro-business brand will naturally cause fans to ridicule and boycott the brand.

(2) Creating opinion leaders is to create traffic portals

According to statistics, the traffic attraction of a super opinion leader is far greater than that of some traffic platforms. Wang Yuan’s smoking incident has been on the hot search list for a long time, and the number of reposts of Cai Xukun’s Weibo post can reach tens of millions. The power of traffic cannot be underestimated. In a group, opinion leaders are opinions and truth.

Xu Xin's definition of a super platform is: first, it has over 100 million users, and second, the average annual usage frequency per person is more than 8 to 10 times. If this standard is followed, the top opinion leaders undoubtedly possess all the characteristics of a super platform.

However, in contrast, the endorsement and advertising fees of opinion leaders are also staggering. The endorsement fee of Nine percent, a boy group that debuted in "Idol Producer", was as high as 12 million.

Instead of paying high fees after opinion leaders have been formed, brands should launch an opinion leader building program. Ruhan’s success is a good example. By selecting potential talents, marketing promotion, online influencers and other operations to form a closed industrial chain, Ruhan has created a series of opinion leaders to the greatest extent and will maximize its benefits by relying on the influence of opinion leaders.

What is worth considering for marketers is that the opinion leaders being created can not only be real people, but also virtual characters, or even cute animals.

Tencent successfully entered the public eye by creating the cute QQ penguin. Starbucks relied on the "cat economy" to create the cute cat paw cup, which attracted thousands of people to buy. The newly released Pikachu movie easily grossed over 100 million yuan. Here we find that virtual images, IP images and cute pets can become popular "Internet celebrities" in our lives and play the role of opinion leaders.

This is why a Pikachu can leverage the entire capital market.

According to the latest statistics, "Detective Pikachu" broke the 18-year-long record for the best opening of a game-adapted film in North American film history, earning $58 million at the box office in its first week and ranking second on the weekend list. Its domestic box office has also exceeded 400 million yuan.

3. Conclusion

When you are alone, you are an elite who can think independently. But when you are with a group of people, you can't help but be swept away by the public will and lose yourself. When people gather together, a "mob" is born and people become susceptible to infection and incitement.

However, this also brings many new business opportunities to marketing. When people gather into "groups", they tend to be less rational and more likely to have the desire to consume. In this regard, the author makes the following suggestions:

1. Create the illusion that "everyone is doing it" and let people fall into the "herd effect".

2. Create trends, become a trendsetter, and lead consumption trends through trends.

3. To create opinion leaders is to create traffic entrances and use opinion leaders to change public perception.

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Author: Fang Yun

Source: PR Home