The Wisdom Of The Crowd

The crowd with their seemingly complex behaviour carry a lot of influence in deciding whether or not a concept or a movement becomes a thing. Crowds are generally a vehicle to effect change and politicians(who are great at it) know this well. Public speaking is an art that only a few master.

In the business front, the crowd is leveraged to gather ideas, to understand trends and to capitalize on them. Up until recently, the traditional idea was to build first and then sell. Nowadays, businesses are considering leaning more to the reverse, to sell first and then build.

Through tapping from the wisdom of the crowd, businesses are able to have a higher chance of success, make more profits and stay relevant.

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Social Proof: A Fire That Fuels Consumerism

Social proof, which was made famous by Robert Cialdini, is psychological in essence. In a nutshell, it means relying on other people's opinions and actions to make our own. This happens through validating the decision and actions we make by using other people as proof, hence social proof.

If I see all my friends buying an electric scooter, I will think that it is good and I should also buy one. And based solely on that. I will get one for myself. Pretty common and basic right? Yet social proof has more influence than we think especially in an age of consumerism.

Consumerism is a boon for Direct to consumer (D2C) businesses. Since there's generally more disposable income among the general population, consumers are not shy in spending on things that they don't need and businesses are always happy to take their money!

Social media has evolved over the years and social commerce is becoming more than a trend. Many individuals make their purchases via social media and social proof is right at the heart of it. With social proof, consumers are 5X more likely to make a purchase.

The popular saying that the best doesn't always win is evident in this digital age. For a business, having a good enough product with a lot of social capital can bring the cha-ching effect. Whereas, the best product without enough social capital will take the business nowhere.

A Short Digression

I can't help but think about Consumer to Consumer(C2C) in light of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Blockchain is essentially peer to peer, meaning there are no intermediaries. In a traditional sense, a business is multifaceted and complex. With this technology, a consumer, so to speak, can be a business and trade with his/her fellow consumers without any intermediaries and the unnecessary hassles that come with a D2C business.

In Conclusion

For a business, Building social currency and tapping from the wisdom of the crowd is no longer an option to consider. It is quite mandatory in this changing times.

There's this subjective feeling that the crowd is out there somewhere. But the reality is that the crowd is all around us. We just have to open our eyes to see and know what the wisdom is.

Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.

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