Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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December 27, 2011

What IS Most Crucial to Influence? What Moves People to Action?

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 7:23 am

Redux: I wrote this post in Dec. 2010. Based on recent conversation, it seems even more relevant now and so I choose to pick it up, add some clarity and publish a newer version this week.

The Outcomes We Achieve

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Every person has influence. What what we say, and how we act has an effect on how others think, feel, and behave. As a writer, an observer, and manager, I’ve watched and studied how people respond to what we do, what we say, and what they see.

As every parent and pet owner knows, sometimes the outcome we’re going for — a change in belief or behavior — isn’t the outcome we achieve. Our intent, our feelings toward an audience are only one side of the equation. How that audience interprets our words and deeds determines the change in belief or behavior that might result.

Our influence is highly affected by context.

We don’t control how other people think, what they feel, or how they interpret what they hear and see.

Though we may carefully consider and choose the most generous way to communicate and interact within those those contexts, the audience will choose their interpretation of that interaction. The same authentic, highly influential, collaborative message to one audience will be a disingenuous, controversial, alienating rebuff to another audience. We see that all of the time in the world of politics.

The most crucial element of influence is understanding what the audience already knows and already believes. If we want to influence people, to move them to an important action, to change their core beliefs, we need to know the audience, listen to their world view, champion their cause, and honor their reality.

Do likes, follows, impressions, site visits, retweets and the similar quick expressions of attention really qualify as actions. Have they influenced anything?

Don’t fool yourself by the game of numbers — don’t start thinking that 1 in X000 of those likes, follows, impressions, site visits, retweets and the similar quick expressions of attention will buy!!

The kind of influence that gets me to buy a product isn’t a result of a frivolous passing gesture on the Internet. Talk to the people who buy your products and ask …. what moved them to action? what got them to believe?

I know it’s a novel idea, but the people you want to influence know what will get and keep their attention and most of us would be relieved if you’d just ask.

How do you decide what will move people to action?

Be irresistible … and ask them.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Filed under Marketing, Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 3 Comments »




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3 Comments to “What IS Most Crucial to Influence? What Moves People to Action?”

  1. December 27th, 2011 at 8:23 am
    Shakirah Dawud said

    Very thoughtful of you to suggest asking, Liz.

    I shall have to blog my thoughts about the word influence shortly. I also feel there’s a dangerous undertow to the word itself–the implication of control–that deceives those of us who believe the numbers.

    But yes, I’ve just recently been asking and I’ve learned quite a bit from the answers I received.

  2. December 27th, 2011 at 11:59 am
    15 Amazing Women Bloggers You Should Get to Know — Janet Fouts - Social Media Coach said

    [...] Liz Strauss [...]

  3. December 28th, 2011 at 1:32 am
    Jure said

    Liz you are straight on points here and i am fully with you. Ask, listen and response are 3 essential elements when it comes to discovering or spreading influence. # of RT, likes, linke shared means nothing at all. I did test myself way back i asked 10 people who RT my post question related to the post. 2 out of 10 replied only. We have no way to know if person really read the post before RT or sharing. The only way to see it, is once we start conversation and exploring people around us. I still strongly believe that influence is ability to change people’s beliefs. And to measure that in numeric way is a bit difficult IMO :) And let me not started on impressions, they are wrongly presented in first place. Companies who measure for example twitter impressions are forgetting one crucial element, active users vs passive users.
    # of impressions = number of tweets x number of followers. But more correct would be number of tweets X number of followers – number of passive followers of a user :) #justsaying :)

    J.

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