Persuasion vs. Influence
By Tim
per·sua·sion [per-swey-zhuh
n]
1. the act of persuading or seeking to persuade.
in·flu·ence [in-floo-uh
1. the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others.
Thinking about Social Media and the year ahead, RadicalTrust publishes the article Creating the Platform and Targeting the Audience for Social Media and opens with this paragraph:
The task of the marketer today is not to buy media for persuasion, but rather it’s to construct a platform of influence. But who will use this platform and how will they engage?
What is a platform for influence? Is it the technology we use (Wiki, RSS, etc.)? Or, the web sites and blogs (YouTube, Google, etc.) we visit? Or is just the alpha and omega of this question and issue simply that anyone at anytime can publish on the Internet?
I own this book.
I had to buy it in college for a marketing class I was taking. It’s basically about social psychology and selling stuff. What would a book titled The Social Media Platform look and read like?
Sphere: Related ContentThis entry was posted on Monday, January 22nd, 2007 at 11:14 am and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
on January 22, 2007 at 1:07 pm collin wrote:
You gave me a great topic to explore on my next posting, in fact, I wondered if I should have clarified my take on these two words as I drove into work this morning.
Influence is “to guide” as Persuasion is “to convince.”
For the word “platform” I intended, “the software” or the route “tool” of the communication. RSS, blog, wiki etc. are great examples. Build a communication platform, and you cause influence by enabling the communication.
So, build a platform of communication, you will succeed in influence.
Stand on a soapbox, and you may succeed in persuasion. But more and more, people are walking away waving advertisers off for standing on soapboxes and shouting.
cheers
collin
on January 22, 2007 at 1:10 pm Tim wrote:
Thank you for the clarification.