Innovation: Adoption And Diffusion in the Age Of Social Media

December 27, 2014

In these days’s variation of back to advertising and marketing fundamentals I’d like to talk about innovation, more specifically about adoption and diffusion. Adoption and diffusion are arguably extra vital than new product building components of innovation as a result of that’s where the rubber meets the road — with the intention to speak — and any innovation that doesn’t plan for adoption and diffusion is doomed to failure even if the product itself is stellar. for those who’d like to study more in regards to the innovation course of, including ideation, that you may read my overview right here.

Adoption and diffusion

To my way of thinking, diffusion is the macro process of products shifting through a market, whereas adoption is the micro means of individual acceptance of a brand new product. clearly then, adoption is vital (and the motive force) of diffusion. The image under, courtesy of Chris Maloney and constructing on the diffusion ideas of Richard Cialdini, Ev Rogers (creator of Diffusion of improvements and the regularly occurring father of diffusion), Forrester research and Malcolm Gladwell, shows the connection between the associated concepts of adoption and diffusion.

Adoption

Adoption is a non-public frame of mind — being innovative, but it surely’s additionally a perform of your connectedness to people. no longer tremendously, Ev Rogers (father of diffusion thought) was a communications expert, not an engineer or perhaps a advertising individual. The extra related you’re to parents who’re more modern, the sooner you’ll undertake an innovation, all issues being equal, because they share their experiences with the innovation thru both verbal and non-verbal conversation. clearly, in the age of social media, opportunities to watch adoption abound within the photos and movies pals share, their suggestions, even their social check-ins and different kinds of shares.

Innovation diffusion

the concept of innovation diffusion draws upon the diffusion idea from physics and chemistry where the conception is that drinks move thru porous supplies at a defined rate in line with the porosity of the fabric — ie drinks move more fast via paper than rock (ok, I’ve oversimplified the idea that, however I don’t assume the nuances of diffusion add so much to the analogy). Innovation diffusion, then, spreads improvements through a market with some customers being more receptive to the innovation (innovators) than others. Diffusion types the familiar bell shaped curve as adoption sequentially spreads via a market. Inherently missing from the concept that of diffusion of improvements, on the other hand, is the belief that some consumers resist innovations and will by no means undertake — non-adopters. for instance, my very own mother by no means used the web for anything else beyond electronic mail and firmly believed her banking data was once by hook or by crook much less safe if she did her banking on-line. In contrast, I do most everything online and virtually never do one thing in the true world that isn’t more environment friendly within the digital one. So, even having more desirable communication thru seeing and hearing in regards to the innovation can’t overcome an inherent non-adoption bias.

constructing a success adoption and diffusion

I’m an lively member of a few innovation groups (meetups) as an innovator myself (I’m a co-founder at Groupsurfing and we’re launching our new product, hexsee in mid-January). unfortunately, most of the startup demos convey they lack so much advertising effort, which is principally real while you imagine their plans for overcoming resistance to adoption. this is a “build it and they’re going to come” mentality that regularly interprets to failure. after all, there are glaring exceptions, like fb, but they’re the exceptions that show the rule and that i wouldn’t counsel you observe their instance. As you propose introduction of your innovation, don’t omit to consider adoption and diffusion. in truth, revolutionary products want to embody innovativeness as part of the persona they improve. Innovators additionally wish to imagine inspire the varieties of conversations about their product that pace adoption and diffusion.

speeding adoption and diffusion

normally, other folks prefer the status quo — they want issues to stay exactly the way they are. Overcoming this inertia, more so than outright resistance, is your major job as an innovator. here are some strategies for speeding adoption of your innovation:

be aware how personality impacts adoption. in step with Rogers ebook, Diffusion of innovations, innovators and early adopters share essential traits that differentiate them from later adopter categories. they’re:
1. youthful
2. better skilled
3. more affluent
4. better related — read more, data seekers, share new issues
5. they’re extroverts
6. they’re keen to take risks
keep in mind how innovation characteristics have an effect on adoption. now not all innovations face the same hurdles. Product factors that affect adoption are:
1. advantage — how significantly better is the product than other to be had products. clearly the more advantage a product has over current products, the simpler adoption will be.
2. compatibility — how smartly does the product fit with others the shopper uses. customers resist trade so the much less they have got to change to make use of your product, the easier adoption might be. So, if the shopper retains current products and habits, they’re more more likely to adopt your innovation. for example, Blue Ray avid gamers unfold slightly quick as a result of additionally they play your library of present DVD layout disks.
3. complexity — how troublesome is it to examine to use the product. Making a product straightforward (even intuitive) greatly speeds adoption. just ask Apple whose products feature nice person experiences right out of the box — my 6 month previous grandson loves my iPad.
4. trialability — can other people reduce their risk via making an attempt out the product earlier than buying. Giving doable consumers experience together with your product speeds adoption. That’s why so many inventions supply a trial duration or use a fremium model allowing users to expertise a restricted model of the product sooner than upgrading to a paid version.
5. observability — can others see you using the product. merchandise used in personal spread a lot slower than these utilized in public because others see them using the product.
building adoption and diffusion into advertising and marketing plans. not best do innovators wish to construct adoption and diffusion into their personas, they want to adjust their marketing plans in response to an figuring out of the adoption and diffusion procedures. listed below are some explicit concerns:
1. Product characteristics that velocity adoption (see above) should be baked into your innovation. Many innovators inherently do this, hanging emphasis on consumer expertise and offering free trials of their merchandise because they apply best practices for lean startups. however, in a global filled with “me, too” products, I don’t see enough consideration of the relative benefit of an innovation over existing products. for instance, eating apps. Face it, if I’ve already acquired a similar app on my cellphone, I’m not gonna download yours until you supply more value than the one who’s already there. And, protect your advantage or any individual else will create a better one ahead of you realize it.
2. fit your verbal exchange to the stage of your adoption/ diffusion cycle. within the early days, you’re communique should focus on innovators/ early adopters. inspect the characteristics above and focal point on these traits for your communique. in the early degrees, your innovation must construct figuring out of your product amongst these other folks so, instead of promoting your model, you’ll need to focal point on explaining what your product does — the use of an training focal point quite than a model center of attention. remember, consumers buy solutions, no longer merchandise, so be clear about what drawback you clear up. Doing demos, guest posts, and dating press with non-promotional training pieces works very best at this stage. For a startup with restricted instruments, specializing in a small market may pay larger dividends than looking to attain your entire market. for instance, with hexsee (as with facebook, Twitter, and a few other a success startups) we’re focusing on the geographic space surrounding our places of work — DC metro space. this enables us to succeed in possible users a couple of instances, which is what it takes to convert folks early in the adoption cycle (or anytime for that subject. On moderate, any person desires to peer your advert 3-5 instances sooner than it makes an affect).
3. imagine the process shoppers go through in adoption (see below). suit your conversation type to where customers are on this course of. As diffusion progresses, recognize that you just’ll have completely different groups of shoppers (early majority, late majority, laggards) transferring in the course of the process at their unique p.c. so you’ll seemingly need several types of communique aimed toward other people in every stage of the process.
  1. awareness
  2. pastime
  3. analysis
  4. Trial
  5. Adoption
4. Enlist innovators and early adopters as model ambassadors. establish a gadget to reward innovators and early adopters who advocate for adoption. These rewards might be tacit ones — ie. the usage of gamification to award points in keeping with sharing your message — or tangible — ie. offering reductions or different financial incentives for sharing. These people are your highest guess for spreading your innovation.