Ah, influence. We all know what it is, we know it’s important to achieve (when communicating) but sometimes, we get stumped on what we need to do to actually influence others.
Drawing on theoretical perspectives, influence is a multi-step process that moves the “influenced” through four key stages.
#1 – Awareness
#2 – Knowing
#3 – Liking
#4 – Preference
And as an influencer, you have to focus your attention on #4. Why? Because you want your influenced, your audience, to align with your visions, your beliefs, your messages. In a nutshell, your communications.
Yes, well-crafted messages help the degree to which you influence others, but drawing on a cool concept coined at MIT, the law of propinquity is what you need to need to expose yourself to. Pun intended.
Law of propinquity
There are two dimensions to propinquity – there is physical propinquity and psychological propinquity. Let’s focus on psychological propinquity as it directly relates to creating influence through content creation.
This theory tells us that the more people are exposed to your content the better they get to know you.
Ah-ha! Expose someone to something 7 times and they will get it..right? Right. This makes sense. Each time someone is exposed to your messages, they are interacting with you, your thoughts, beliefs, mandates, visions, etc. The law goes on to explain that this leads to a feeling of knowing you. The more someone is exposed to you, the more they like you. And because they like you, they will consume (and want to consume) more of your content.
As your audience consumes your content, they will find a common ground with your words. This intersection of beliefs, interests or personality with that of your audience creates psychological propinquity. And this is what leads to preference and further influence.
Create propinquity
Be methodical, have a plan. Communications is never not intentional. Lay out how you want to achieve propinquity and get going. The idea is that you want to expose yourself to your audience as much as possible. Here’s how:
Know info sources: Compile all the places your audience turns to for information and leverage for your purposes. Is there a particular intranet page employees turn to frequently? Post your message there. Is there a particular VP your audience trusts and admires? Equip the VP with speaking points that help your cause. By knowing your audience, you’ll know where they look and turn to for information. Make it available there. Go to your audience, don’t expect them to come to you.
Listen to your audience: What do they want to or need to know? Put out a survey. Welcome feedback. Tap into their preferred social media and scan hot discussion topics. Tailor your messages as appropriate so you can stand out and make an impact.
Time your exposure: Nothing is worse than a communication that is poorly timed. An email on a Friday at 4pm? Even worse if it’s before a long weekend! It won’t be read. Could even be deleted entirely. Build a communications map so you can strategically share your communication at high-impact moments. Don’t let your messages drown; instead, distribute when the time is right. For when the timing is on, you’ll heighten your exposure potential!
Overall, the higher the exposure (to good content), the greater the likelihood of influence.
The post Propinquity: A mouth-full, yes, but worth creating! appeared first on Elena P. Iacono.