Let me share something with you. I am a communication theory geek. Mc Luhan, Adorno, Horkheimer, Noelle-Neumann, Umberto Eco, Watzlawick, Van Dijk, Tufte, and many other great minds live in my library shelves and drink Scotch with me in the evenings.

This post is going to be the first one of many in which I explain Communication Theory elements that have a direct impact on your SEO and Viral Marketing Campaigns.

During the time I was exclusively a Black Hat SEO, these guys did little for me in terms of business and generating revenue. How could they help when I was building millions of auto-generated pages to trick the search engines?

However when I decided to get in the business of Linkbait and Viral Marketing, well, what can I say. The communication studies university fees started to pay off big time.

So without further introduction let me introduce you to the first communication theory that you need to keep in your mind tool box.

The Spiral Of Silence

I already described how the fear of social isolation is the key to unlocking the power of Tribe Penetration Marketing.

I didn’t expand on the theory behind this concept though. This is what this post is about.

The spiral of silence theory is based on the premise that the majority of people is afraid of isolation, and that when expressing their opinions they are in fact trying to identify themselves with the majority (thus, avoiding isolation.)

The main source of information contributing to create the dominant climate of opinion is the complex of Mass Media Communication.

In other words, it is the Media that creates a certain conception of reality, and people will inevitably stick to it because they feel that if they don’t they will become isolated.

Why is it called Spiral Of Silence? Because the logic within the theory states that the more one version of the facts is broadcasted, those who oppose it will be more silent about it.

The author of this theory (Noelle-Neumann) illustrates how this process occurred in Germany in the years between 1960 and 1980, benefiting the Social-Democrats in the government due to the undeniable leftist bias amongst journalists in the main Media Outlets.

Some of you may be thinking about the United States of America and the dominant climate of opinion after 9/11 that allowed a president to violate international laws and go to war using evidence that was being challenged by most of its ally countries and proved to be wrong in the end.

This theory is the result of research conducted in times when the Internet wasn’t a reality yet, so it will be up to us to take it one step further and see how it applies to Online Marketing.

SEO and Viral Marketing

But Marcos, you mentioned something about Scotch, and then you went ranting about theories and mass media communication. How is this relevant to SEO and Viral Marketing? Are you drunk?

I am so glad you asked.

The theory describes a communication model that applies to social groups when there is one group of messages that become more dominant than others, provoking most opposing voices to become silent.

Do you still not see how is this relevant to your Viral Marketing Campaign? Do you really need me to draw the B and the C or you already jumped from A to D?

Just in case, here is the B and the C. Let’s talk about the one social media site we all love to include in our marketing campaigns. That’s right, Digg.

What is the dominant climate of opinion amongst such social group? Would you try to market anything that opposes such climate? What do you think that bury button is for? What do you think the Bury Brigade is there for?

Don’t get me wrong. A polemic hook can be a killer linkbait. But that’s one home run you will have a hard time enjoying again, at least from the same domain.

When you are trying to build a consistent and solid relationship with your target group the future proof strategy to success is to decode the complex of messages that are mostly accepted and agreed upon in such group. Map them up and become the most committed messenger of such messages.

The targeted social group will embrace you as one of its own and be receptive to what you have to say.

Then you will be in a position to inoculate your virus, I mean, spread your message.

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He wakes up and finds himself walking in his apartment, holding a packet of cigarettes in his hands. What the hell is going on, he thinks.

He sees his girlfriend looking at him curiously.

- Hun, where have you been? Why are you holding those cigarettes? You don’t smoke…

- Yes… I… I mean, I went for a walk, and then Chris called me on the phone and asked me to get him cigarettes for him.

- Really? Can’t he buy his own cigarettes?

- He said, just in case, because sometimes when we hang out here he runs out so he doesn’t need to go out and buy more.

Geez… what a lousy excuse

What do you make of this situation? What do you think the guy was on?

I’ll unveil the mystery. It was a psychological experiment. The guy had been hypnotized and told to walk out of his apartment. He was handed the cigarettes and told to walk back in. Then he was woken up. He didn’t know what he was doing and why he was holding those cigarettes.
The experiment consisted on testing his reaction when he found out he had no idea what he was doing.

Would he admit he didn’t know or would he make up a story to rationalize his behavior?

Empiric evidence show that statistically, 6 out of 10 people tend to do the latter.

Psychological experiments show that 6 out of 10 people will agree with their peers even if they know they are right and everyone is wrong. On experiments where the accomplices agree on a false visual perception, 6 out of 10 subjects tested end up agreeing with their peers even if their eyes tell them that the longer stick is not the one everyone else claims.

This is incredibly dangerous. It means that given the right propaganda and public opinion manipulation, 60% of the population can agree on ideas that are contrary to their beliefs. Like, I don’t know, go to war with France, the UK, Russia, and wipe out a few million jews in the process.

Why is this relevant to SEO?

Listen up. I’ll tell you in one sentence why this is relevant to SEO, and more specifically to Linkbait Development: Human Beings are not rational, they are rationalizers.

Given a certain belief they will do anything they can to find rational arguments to support it. Even if they know they are wrong, they will end up convincing themselves, so they can fit better on that social group they want to be a part of.

This is what you want to keep in mind when you work on your linkbaits. What tribe am I targeting? What is their view of the world? What do they think about global warming? Are they pro Mac? Are they pro Google? Are they pissed at Matt Cutts about the whole paid links circus? Do they consider Danny Sullivan a Hero? Do they consider John Reese a hero? (not comparing Danny ) Do they like sports? Are they conservative or liberals?

Please please please think about this when you work on that headline, when you work on that description, when you work on that post. Because if you don’t something horrible will happen: your linkbait will fall on deaf ears, discredited because it is a subversive threat to someone’s symbolic system.