This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Social Proof for Your Nonprofit
Can you see the power in this? Psychological research in human interactions, including that done by Robert Cialdini, shows that when we’re trying to make a decision we intuitively look for social proof. Whether we admit it or not, we tend to assume that the actions of others, especially of people like us, indicate correct behavior. Robert Cialdini even did an experiment with door-to-door fundraising. People were more likely to make a donation when shown a longer donor list. And they were even more likely to give if the list included people they knew.
It stands to reason. Each of us wants to see that other people like us are already doing whatever we are thinking about doing. Google+ gives you tools to super-charge social proof for your nonprofit! With the search results like those in Figure 1.2 showing people the searcher knows, clicking on your website is a no brainer!
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In later chapters, you learn how to set up your organization’s Google+ page in a way to “train” Google to show your site in results. But for now, just think about what landing on the first page of search results could do for your nonprofit. Could you use more support for your cause? Would you be open to new donations? Will your email list grow?