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“The Tipping Point,” by Malcolm Gladwell is New York Times best-selling book about massive popularity growth that was published in 2000. The tipping point is defined by Gladwell to be the “point of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point” of a message or idea that spreads like a virus. This article will describe the principals in the book, and give practical application for small business social media marketing strategy.
“The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts.” This is considered to be the Pareto Principal – 80/20 Rule, Law of the Vital Few, Principal of Factor Sparcity, 80% of effects come from 20% of causes.
1. Connectors – People who link us up with the world. These are the people who have a gift for bringing the world together. These people “have an extraordinary knack for bringing people together.” These are people who have social networks of over 100 people (before social media).
Examples: Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, Six Degrees w/Kevin Bacon,
2. Mavens – Information specialists, or people we rely on for new information. These are people who accumulate knowledge and know how to share it with others. According to Gladwell, Maven’s start “word of mouth” epidemics due to their knowledge, social skills and ability to communicate. “Mavens are really information brokers, sharing and trading what they know“.
3. Salesmen – “Persuaders”, charismatic people with powerful negotiation skills. They tend to have an indefinable trait that goes beyond what they say, which makes others want to agree with them.
Interpersonal Ties are defined as information-carrying connections between people.The strength of an interpersonal tie is defined by time, emotional intensity, intimacy (or mutual confiding) & the reciprocal services. Wiki
Strong – Intimate
Weak – Novel
Absent – None
Epidemics – An epidemic is when a disease has a substantial increase in a short period of time. An epidemic can be local or global, which is “pandemic.” A common disease, such as the common cold is not considered an epidemic.
The Stickiness Factor is the specific content of a message that renders its impact memorable.
The Power of Context: Human behavior is sensitive to and strongly influenced by its environment. As Gladwell says, “Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur.”
Bystander Effect or Genovese syndrome is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer help in an emergency situation when other people are present.
As small business marketers, our goal is to make use of the principals we learn to grow our businesses stronger, faster and to spread our name wider by our efforts. How do we apply Gladwell’s principals to increasing and strengthening our marketing reach?
1. Build Strategic Alliances with the Right People
Seek out the those who most strongly and quickly can help us spread our message, understanding the different roles of the individuals in our network. We should build strategic alliances with Connectors, Mavens & Salesmen. We should get into dialog with them, engage with them, bring value to them, and give them a message about our brand that they can help to spread.
Part of building strategic alliances is understanding how to bring value to those with whom you seek to connect.
1. Connectors: For connectors, we can speak their language, and help expand their connections. Attend meetings, invite others, help them to get more connections.
2. Mavens: Provide them with information, send them articles and / or data pertaining to your message that they can easily repackage and / or resend to their networks.
3. Salesmen: Help them to understand your brand and to sell your name brand by giving them the info they need, plus the “sizzle factors” that will get the point across.
Identify the “few” who can help get your point across and focus your efforts on colluding with them in a mutually beneficial effort (strategic alliance).
