Why should you care about visibility?
Well, the easier it is for people to see what others are doing, the more likely they are to imitate it. A whole segment of marketing which has dominated the last decade is based on this simple concept.
Yep, I’m talking about influencers. Love them or hate them, they have the power and influence your habits and buying decisions (🫠).
⏪ Let’s rewind even further before influencers were mainstream and brands had to rely on traditional marketing ads.
When Apple launched the first iPod with white headphones in the early 2000s, this was revolutionary. Back then all headphones were black. It’s such a simple design choice, but this was extremely clever and impactful. Why? Because they created a distinct product without the use of a logo. Apple is a master at this, you know an Apple product from miles away. You don’t need the logo to tell you it’s part of their product line.
At the time when they launched their very first iPod, adoption was critical, they needed first movers to signal to the rest of the world that they had adopted Apple products, making it easier to imitate.
A decade later, white AirPods are just as recognisable. In fact, the product line is so successful that the AirPods segment of the business is worth $175 billion alone. That’s the combined worth of Spotify and Uber.
People imitating one another is quite a basic psychological idea. It happens all the time, both consciously and unconsciously. You want to be like Apple and find ways to make your product more visible to make imitation more likely. As they say, “Monkey see, monkey do.”
Thanks to social media channels, influencers have the perfect platform to signal what we, their loyal followers, should be doing. They’re making what used to be private, public, and we do it too by sharing what we eat, where we travel to and sharing what our home renovation looks like. 15 years ago, few people shared this kind of content on private accounts. That was reserved for magazines, designers, chefs, artists etc.
People want to be doing what everyone else is doing because people’s behaviour provides a visible signal of social proof. But, we can only do what others are doing if we can see what they’re doing.
Let’s look at a practical example we can all relate to. Say you booked a last-minute weekend trip to Copenhagen. You arrive in the city centre just in time for dinner. Chances are you’re not going to consult Yelp or TripAdvisor for the best restaurants. You are probably tired, hungry and not in the mood to scroll through your phone, analyse menus and access photos for 30-40 minutes. Instead, you’ll use the tried and tested technique - if a place looks busy and full, it’s typically a signal that this is a good spot. You assume if other people are eating here and seemingly having a good time, it must be good. This is using social proof to point us towards a great meal, and this explains why you end up copying others in social situations, like when we order the same meal as our friend. You’ve already checked the menu online and had your heart set on the crab linguine, but when your table comes to order the food, everyone else orders a salad, so what do you do? You order a salad. Or is that just me?
Social cues lead us to make decisions that we wouldn’t otherwise make on our own. Social proof means looking to others for information, especially when we’re unsure of what to do. Again, we can only do this if we can observe people to imitate them.
There are four strategies to make your offering visible:
👠 1. Make the product or service advertise itself
One easy way to do this is with a logo. Did anyone say Dior saddle bag? (Guilty 🙈) Large logos make it easy for people to see when someone is using or wearing a particular brand. In fact, it’s not only fashion brands that have increased the size of their logo, this trend is observed across various industries. Again, Apple understands this concept by backlighting the logo on the Macbook, another simple yet effective example of optimising logo placements. But logos aren’t the only way brands can create distinctive marks, colours and patterns are other ways of making people aware. Think about Burberry’s signature plaid or Christian Louboutin’s red bottom shoes. Most people, even if you’re not the most fashion-savvy, recognise the two brands.
📦 2. Make the packaging or delivery process more visible
Think about Tiffany’s and their famous little blue box. It’s so iconic that they trademarked the robin egg blue. Or how about Lululemon and their reusable totes? It’s perfect for carrying around your lunch when you’re on the go, so it offers functionality and visible social proof that someone used the brand. (These sell on Amazon for $10-20!)
🏅 3. Create behavioural residue
What if you don’t have a physical product? Behavioural residue is the physical trace that actions or behaviour can leave in their wake. If you follow the US Presidential campaigns, you see ‘I voted’ stickers which are ‘residue’ that remains after someone has voted. The same goes for the medals you receive after completing an Iron Man. This information sticks around after the event has taken place and provides long-term proof that someone has done ‘that thing’. But my favourite example has got to be the ‘Sent from my iPhone’ email signature. Simple simple yet smart.
📑 4. Surfacing information
When Sensodyne say that 9/10 dentists recommend their products, people are more likely to listen to the recommendation even though there is no ‘proof’, but it displays data that other people are using the toothpaste. Here’s a fun topic: taxes. In 2009 the British Government used this tactic and released a campaign stating that 9/10 people in a particular borough pay their taxes on time. The ones who were late in submitting received a letter stating the statistic and mentioning that they were in the ‘minority’. Living in London, I understand the dreaded feeling of shame that is instilled in the English, in fact, this campaign led to the government collecting 30% more taxes on time.
Another example of surfacing information is Spotify’s annual wrap-up. The app helps people surf through their listening history and allowers users to share this on social media profiles outside the platform, making the private public, and nudging others to push the play button. By doing this, Spotify made people’s tastes and the brand more visible, and last year people shared their 2022 Wrapped 453 million times.
Visibility is a great tactic your brand can use, and like Social Currency, it’s easy to implement. But as with any great strategy, there are a few common pitfalls.
🚩 Too often people jump at making anything they can public. For example, years ago companies such as restaurants, bars or cafes would make everyone announce that they were there to access the free wifi. But more often than not, this backfired. People don’t want to be announcing everything on social media unless it gives them social currency or provides practical value.
As a brand, you need to think about how you can use the opportunity to generate something that’s public. How can you make it easy for them to amplify that occasion and customers happy to announce it and make it visible to the world?
Take the brand Glossier and its highly instagrammable product experiences and brand aesthetic. Users want to make their use of Glossier products visible on their social media, without the brand asking them to do so. The brand has over 700K shares on Instagram with users and influencers mimicking the brand’s distinctive natural beauty look. The brand leveraged this UGC and added a section ‘Glossier in real life’ on their website.
By encouraging people to make charity donations or volunteering visible, you can make people copy generous behaviour, like the “Live Strong” yellow wristbands. The initiative raised over $1 million for Cancer research and the ALS ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ raised $115 million in 1 year.
To make the private public, consider 3 key takeaways:
🔑 Make your product or service visible - this helps people to imitate others’ behaviour and strengthens social bonds. Brands need to constantly create new ways to make their offering visible.
🔑 Create behavioural residue - increase visibility and advocacy by leaving things that stick around even after someone’s ‘done’ from doing something. This makes them more likely to repeat the behaviour.
🔑 Focus on surfacing information - make the private public and create unique ways for customers to share content. If lots of people are doing something with your product or service you need to make that visible so people can see it.
Thank you for tuning in to my newsletter! See you next tomorrow as we investigate one brand that implemented this tactic in their strategy.
Have a contentful day 🌞
Emma