UPDATED 15:37 EDT / SEPTEMBER 15 2011

Data is what You Need to Change Consumers’ Minds

This week’s DEMO Fall 2011 conference has really brought some innovative attention back to the social enterprise space.  A lot of companies showcased here, and some – like Hewlett-Packard – discovered some interesting statistics that may help marketers optimize their campaigns.

A study conducted by HP Labs using  Rankr, a web-based mobile polling app developed by the company’s social Computing Group, reveals that when you’re looking to change a consumer’s mind about a given product, less people disagreeing with their decision can actually prove to be more persuasive than a crowd.  The company polled a couple hundred people and conducted an experiment that involved a choice between two different pieces of furniture. Here’s what they found out:

“Analysis of the resulting choices showed that receiving a small amount of social pressure to reverse one’s opinion (by being told that a just few people had chosen differently) was more likely to produce a reversed vote than when the pressure felt was much greater (i.e. where an overwhelming number of people were shown as having made a different choice).”

Over at DEMO, a few interesting startups also emerged into this space.  ModiFace , founded by Parham Aarabi, showcased its Modiface Mobile Apps offering that allows users to covert their mobile device into a smart dressing room.  LiveAdvisors is also a good example; it’s a one-on-one video advise service conceived by Navid Nathoo, a student at Richard Ivey School of Business.

SocialBakers, a social media marketing analytics firm, also demonstrated at the event.  Its product offers advertisers the ability to peer into social media references, user engagement etc, and view the same stats about their competition.

In the social enterprise scene, Mindjet acquired social task management company Cohuman the other day.


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