Social Media Optometry Super Stars And The Principle of Consensus

Astrophysicist Carl Sagan in his best-selling book The Demon-Haunted World wrote “one of the great commandments of science, is ‘Mistrust arguments from authority… Too many such arguments have proved too painfully wrong. Authorities must prove their contentions like everybody else.” We live in a world where top talents have returns that have never been higher throughout; history, not even in the time of Michealangelo, Leonardo Day Vinci, or William Shakespeare. Returns are not necessary the fruit of professional success. It appears as if the winners take all. Today’s teenagers may not recognize TV celebrities, however, they know all social media superstars and follow their daily moves. They know where they went to a diner, who they met with, and what they ordered.

Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Shakespeare were all preeminent in their era among their contemporaries. Yet they did not exploit their creativity and professional talent to become the richest persons of their time. Today’s superstar’s income is related to both merit and marketability. Marketability requires high levels of effective persuasion. Cialdini’s influence model is one of the most employed models of persuasion. Cialdini’s influence model is based on six principles of persuasion: reciprocity, commitment, liking, social proof, scarcity, and authority.

Social proof or consensus persuasion principle dictates that people will conform to be similar to society. Normative social influence, peer pressure, groupthink, and what others think are the key motivators for people’s decision-making. The consensus principle is mostly known in hotels. Because it matters to people what other people think, people were more likely to reuse towels in hotels when they were told that most people who stayed in the same hotel reused their towels.

Shakespeare and Da Vinci’s achievements were not stopped by the lack of wealth, however, the lack of telecommunication stopped them from becoming millionaires. Today’s superstars in Optometry have social media followers that exceed 20k. This does not necessarily mean that superstars are the best performers. The best performers may not see that number of patients to build that number of followers. However, an Optometrist page that has 20k suggests in a way that, most people visit this Optometrist, be like, do the same, and schedule an appointment!