Growing up in the electronic world, we have learned, by either osmosis or hard work, how to find exactly what we are looking for on the internet. It all starts with a question “what is?” “who is?” “where is?” etc etc… Depending on what you are looking for you ask different questions, and go to the right places on the internet to get them answered.
The General Inquiry
As a world we have grown increasingly dependant on the internet to solve the “Jeopardy” style questions of life. We are in conversation, or even just sitting at home, and you brain might go “what is that song called?” or “how many seasons are there of this show?” But more than seemingly useless knowledge, great search engines have been built to replace the time and resources it might have taken to find more useful information such as “where is the nearest drugstore?” or “Who sells X product I am looking for?” A few years ago we may have had to search the Yellow Pages or even driven to every surrounding store, wasting gas just to find the product we are looking for.
“Searching” is a common important path to get them on your radar because it has become a second nature to us to use search engines for any general inquiries we might have.
However this initial question only gets us as far as a search engine does. You may now know the stores that sell Product X, but which one do you choose?
Who Should I Trust?
Closely related with this initial general search, this path connecting customer to business is just as important. Now that you have found who sells Product X, or you have found a list of books about Topic B, you can begin to ask “Who do I pick?” This decision is all based on trust, and things that gain our trust (known as trust indicators) come from a few main things: “Have I liked their business in the past?”, “If this is my first interaction with them, what are my initial findings and reactions?” and the most important “What do others think of them?” Reviews, recommendations, likes, follows, other stats can help us gain more information from others on who we should place our trust and business in, this is why business is such a two way, give and take situation.
I personally have seen this key piece become a point of turmoil for many “social media” based personalities and their businesses. They could have millions of followers, but if their followers don’t watch, interact, or share their content, they can fail anyways. The same works for content creators with a large number of people who view, appreciate, and share their content, but don’t subscribe, follow, or like their business pages to increase their trust indicators to potential new viewers; balance between these two aspects of recommendations/reviews is vital.
What is this?
There are three main paths underneath this question, and they all have their pros and cons.
1. To start with the least appreciated of the three we have a path called “interruption,” commonly known as “spam.” The cons of this is potential customers could say “what is this? This doesn’t even apply to my interests, therefore I have a bad view of them as a business,” however it could also go “what is this? This is exactly the specific niche I was looking for but couldn’t find anywhere” allowing businesses to reach their niche audience from diverse and divided backgrounds of interests. Example: Scrolling through Facebook after years of not logging on, I saw suggested article after article of topics I was not interested in at all. Through all this spamming however, I eventually scrolled past an article that actually piqued my interests enough to click on and read. Had I ever expressed to Facebook that I wanted to know “10 Incredible Uses for the Common Kitchen Sponge?” No is the answer. Not any more than I had wanted to see “What Chick-fil-a Doesn’t Want You To Know,” yet here I was, unsurprisingly not surprised at what a kitchen sponge can do.
2. Lucky as the above example was, we usually find content we would like to see in our “suggestions” while we are “browsing.” Businesses try to create a path to potential customers based on what they are already viewing and consuming. You may start looking on Amazon for a shoe rack and a whiteboard, and soon find yourself looking at billions of other dorm essentials you never knew you needed! “What is this?” turns into an inquisitive click that spirals you further and further into their algorithms.
3. And perhaps the most dangerous, and useful, pathways to businesses: “Electronic Word of Mouth.” On the internet, with the supreme power to filter who we see content from and who we don’t, we often fall into “filter bubbles.” We like to follow people who we pre-existingly agree with, and say things that validate what we also believe. Because we agree with their opinions on other things, we automatically begin to agree with the views they have on topics we haven’t formed our own opinions on. This is a jackpot for business however. If your “friend” likes something so much as to share and support it on social media, you are much more likely to place value on that recommendation over a review made by a stranger. “What is this?” “My friend who I agree with likes it, therefore I must like it too.”
In Short:
“Searching” is the content we find for our general inquiry searches on large search engines to answer broad questions.
“Trust” is built of “Reviews/Recommendations” providing more information and answers when we ask “who should I go with?”
“Interruption,” “Browsing,” and “Electronic Word of Mouth” make us ask “What is this” hoping to gain our interest and business.
Sources: D., Jason McDonald Ph. Social Media Marketing Workbook: 2016 Edition – How to Use Social Media for Business. Createspace Independent Platform, 2016. Print.
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