With the number of influencers growing by the day, and on multiple different channels, the power of online influence is certainly real. But the power of influence has always been there, long before our online world. In fact, offline personal influence is just as powerful.
We live in a world of recommendations – whether it’s a new dinner or lunch spot, cute outfit details or fun things to do in new areas, the impact you could potentially have from one conversation is immense. Right?!
Take a moment to think about the last time you made a big purchase like a holiday or new electronics. It’s likely that you did a lot of research to understand what the best choice was, the pros and the cons of each and perhaps you read a few online reviews. But when it came down to committing to the purchase, what swayed your decision the most? It most likely came down to the conversations you had with a trusted network, whether friends, family or colleagues.
That’s because, at the end of the day, word-of-mouth is still more powerful than ever. It makes sense – we trust people we know and who tend to have similar backgrounds and interests as us.
Believe it or not, there is some strong research surrounding personal influence offline and evidence that proves just how powerful it might be.
According to Talent Culture, two Harvard-trained social scientists conducted a series of exciting studies that showed how human beings are profoundly influenced by the behaviour of the people closest to them in their lives. Although their research shows what we have long been suspicious of, it also indicated that our personal influence can have a much bigger impact than we ever imagined.
The two researchers wanted to determine whether having an obese friend made one more susceptible to becoming obese themselves, being influenced by actions, choices and conversations. A team of analysts dissected over 50 years of data from the Framingham Heart Study, where over 15,000 study participants committed to visiting their doctors every four years to have their key health indicators and weight recorded. They were also asked to update their list of family members, co-workers and friends after every appointment.
The result? After the four years were over, the research team identified that 5,124 of the participants were connected and linked to over 50,000 friends, family and co-workers and that human behaviour is highly influenced by those you are connected to. When one participant became obese, his or her friends proved to be 57% more likely to become obese as well! It was also found that a person was roughly 20% more likely to become obese if a friend of a friend gained weight, and a person’s risk of obesity went up 10% if a friend of a friend of a friend gained weight.
The fascinating study results were then published in the New York Times in a front-page article titled Are Your Friends Making You Fat? as well as in the book published by the researchers called Connected: The Surprising Power Of Our Social Networks And How They Shape Our Lives.
As shocking as the discoveries were, the research proves one person’s behaviour can spread well beyond their closest contacts. Here are a few things we can learn from the study.
You’ve heard the saying, “you are who you surround yourself with,” and this study proves it couldn't be more true. We directly influence the people around us and they influence us – whether we know it or not. What the researchers discovered was that most of what one does or says can be ripped through networks, having an impact on first degree connections, but also second-degree connections and beyond.
How exactly is this possible? The conclusion was that people pick up subconscious signals from those around them, using those clues to define “normal” behaviour and acting on it themselves.
An important takeaway from this research is the fact that humans copy one another unconsciously. Everything we think, feel, do and say can spread far beyond the people we know!
With that being said, knowing how moods and emotions can be contagious should give us great direction in how we want to communicate with those around us. Could changing the world be as simple as starting great conversations and speaking with kindness, encouragement and inspiration? Absolutely!
This research really validates how powerful social relationships are. Our human behaviour is influenced not only by those we see but also by those we don’t see. Have you ever landed a job because of a friend of a friend? Perhaps you’ve started a new hobby after hearing a conversation about one of your friend’s friends? The point is that the value of each relationship we have is far greater than we’ve ever understood because of the multiplication of behaviour. According to one of the researchers, “There will be conversations and moments where people are spreading information, and learning about how to behave from one another that’s going to multiply.”
Personally, we think the study is fascinating, but it really makes us think about influence BEYOND recommendations and influencer marketing. To us, it proves that one doesn’t necessarily need to have a social media following to influence others. And you can make so much more difference to the world than you think! You don’t need to have the title of ‘influencer’ to influence others, nor do you need to participate in paid campaigns to do so.
Whether you are an influencer or not, you are still influencing those around you every single day, so why not do it for the good? Each and every one of us has the power and ability to positively impact and influence those around us through the simple actions, behaviour, and conversations we have. How incredible is that?
Coincidentally, if you are already a social influencer, you don’t need to make money as an influencer, you can do it simply for the love of helping others. We work with so many influencers who are genuinely in the business to help and inspire others, without making money.
One example we would like to share is our One Million Rand in One Month campaign (One Mil One Month). We wanted to use our platform for good and raise R1 Million in ONE month to help those affected by the SA Unrest. We called on our network to donate R500 to our #OneMilOneMonth campaign in order to help those in need and in return, they’d receive a beautiful People Have Influence beanie. We also partnered with Quench, a South African based tech startup, who delivered the beanies to the people who donated. Through the power of social media and personal influence, we managed to raise R35000 in 30 days with a total of 60 people donating to the cause! Although we may not have reached our one million mark, we sure did make a difference and prove that influence can have an impact.
There’s a reason we’re called People Have Influence, and not Influencers Have Influence. People are our heartbeat because we know the power and impact they hold, as well as how much impact each and every person can have in this world.
Our take-home message is this: surround yourself with people who also want to do good in the world. Why? Because it’s clear that no matter where you are in the world, you are directly influenced by those around you, and in turn, you are influencing them.
We hope you enjoyed this different, and thought-provoking read. We love to inspire (and influence) each of the amazing people we work with, interact with, and even those we don’t. We hope that, if you made it this far in this blog post, you continue to (or start to) influence those around you in a positive way and that you spend your time with people who will do the same in return.
Share this if you found it inspiring, or if it forced you to think of influencing from a different perspective.
With the number of influencers growing by the day, and on multiple different channels, the power of online influence is certainly real. But the power of influence has always been there, long before our online world. In fact, offline personal influence is just as powerful.
We live in a world of recommendations – whether it’s a new dinner or lunch spot, cute outfit details or fun things to do in new areas, the impact you could potentially have from one conversation is immense. Right?!
Take a moment to think about the last time you made a big purchase like a holiday or new electronics. It’s likely that you did a lot of research to understand what the best choice was, the pros and the cons of each and perhaps you read a few online reviews. But when it came down to committing to the purchase, what swayed your decision the most? It most likely came down to the conversations you had with a trusted network, whether friends, family or colleagues.
That’s because, at the end of the day, word-of-mouth is still more powerful than ever. It makes sense – we trust people we know and who tend to have similar backgrounds and interests as us.
Believe it or not, there is some strong research surrounding personal influence offline and evidence that proves just how powerful it might be.
According to Talent Culture, two Harvard-trained social scientists conducted a series of exciting studies that showed how human beings are profoundly influenced by the behaviour of the people closest to them in their lives. Although their research shows what we have long been suspicious of, it also indicated that our personal influence can have a much bigger impact than we ever imagined.
The two researchers wanted to determine whether having an obese friend made one more susceptible to becoming obese themselves, being influenced by actions, choices and conversations. A team of analysts dissected over 50 years of data from the Framingham Heart Study, where over 15,000 study participants committed to visiting their doctors every four years to have their key health indicators and weight recorded. They were also asked to update their list of family members, co-workers and friends after every appointment.
The result? After the four years were over, the research team identified that 5,124 of the participants were connected and linked to over 50,000 friends, family and co-workers and that human behaviour is highly influenced by those you are connected to. When one participant became obese, his or her friends proved to be 57% more likely to become obese as well! It was also found that a person was roughly 20% more likely to become obese if a friend of a friend gained weight, and a person’s risk of obesity went up 10% if a friend of a friend of a friend gained weight.
The fascinating study results were then published in the New York Times in a front-page article titled Are Your Friends Making You Fat? as well as in the book published by the researchers called Connected: The Surprising Power Of Our Social Networks And How They Shape Our Lives.
As shocking as the discoveries were, the research proves one person’s behaviour can spread well beyond their closest contacts. Here are a few things we can learn from the study.
You’ve heard the saying, “you are who you surround yourself with,” and this study proves it couldn't be more true. We directly influence the people around us and they influence us – whether we know it or not. What the researchers discovered was that most of what one does or says can be ripped through networks, having an impact on first degree connections, but also second-degree connections and beyond.
How exactly is this possible? The conclusion was that people pick up subconscious signals from those around them, using those clues to define “normal” behaviour and acting on it themselves.
An important takeaway from this research is the fact that humans copy one another unconsciously. Everything we think, feel, do and say can spread far beyond the people we know!
With that being said, knowing how moods and emotions can be contagious should give us great direction in how we want to communicate with those around us. Could changing the world be as simple as starting great conversations and speaking with kindness, encouragement and inspiration? Absolutely!
This research really validates how powerful social relationships are. Our human behaviour is influenced not only by those we see but also by those we don’t see. Have you ever landed a job because of a friend of a friend? Perhaps you’ve started a new hobby after hearing a conversation about one of your friend’s friends? The point is that the value of each relationship we have is far greater than we’ve ever understood because of the multiplication of behaviour. According to one of the researchers, “There will be conversations and moments where people are spreading information, and learning about how to behave from one another that’s going to multiply.”
Personally, we think the study is fascinating, but it really makes us think about influence BEYOND recommendations and influencer marketing. To us, it proves that one doesn’t necessarily need to have a social media following to influence others. And you can make so much more difference to the world than you think! You don’t need to have the title of ‘influencer’ to influence others, nor do you need to participate in paid campaigns to do so.
Whether you are an influencer or not, you are still influencing those around you every single day, so why not do it for the good? Each and every one of us has the power and ability to positively impact and influence those around us through the simple actions, behaviour, and conversations we have. How incredible is that?
Coincidentally, if you are already a social influencer, you don’t need to make money as an influencer, you can do it simply for the love of helping others. We work with so many influencers who are genuinely in the business to help and inspire others, without making money.
One example we would like to share is our One Million Rand in One Month campaign (One Mil One Month). We wanted to use our platform for good and raise R1 Million in ONE month to help those affected by the SA Unrest. We called on our network to donate R500 to our #OneMilOneMonth campaign in order to help those in need and in return, they’d receive a beautiful People Have Influence beanie. We also partnered with Quench, a South African based tech startup, who delivered the beanies to the people who donated. Through the power of social media and personal influence, we managed to raise R35000 in 30 days with a total of 60 people donating to the cause! Although we may not have reached our one million mark, we sure did make a difference and prove that influence can have an impact.
There’s a reason we’re called People Have Influence, and not Influencers Have Influence. People are our heartbeat because we know the power and impact they hold, as well as how much impact each and every person can have in this world.
Our take-home message is this: surround yourself with people who also want to do good in the world. Why? Because it’s clear that no matter where you are in the world, you are directly influenced by those around you, and in turn, you are influencing them.
We hope you enjoyed this different, and thought-provoking read. We love to inspire (and influence) each of the amazing people we work with, interact with, and even those we don’t. We hope that, if you made it this far in this blog post, you continue to (or start to) influence those around you in a positive way and that you spend your time with people who will do the same in return.
Share this if you found it inspiring, or if it forced you to think of influencing from a different perspective.
We’d love to hear from you. For any enquiries, questions or conversations, feel free to contact us.
