Human psychology is not only fascinating, but it can also provide keen insight into how consumers make purchasing decisions. By understanding the triggers that encourage consumers to take specific actions, your brand can take advantage of the opportunity to boost your marketing campaign's performance. Understand however that while psychology can be relevant to both offline and online marketing, implementing psychological marketing in your online and social media marketing strategies requires special planning.
When it comes to developing brand conversations on social media, it is important for marketers to evaluate behavioral psychology. No longer is it simply enough to evaluate your social media marketing campaigns in terms of whether you receive positive or negative comments. Given the social nature of social media, it should certainly come as no surprise that psychology plays heavily into social media marketing, which is why some posts are more likely to go viral than others. The tips below can help you to utilize behavioral psychology in your next social media marketing campaign.
Title case vs. all caps
A study released by Conductor found that 64 percent of users preferred sentence case when presented with a variety of headlines. Sentence case, sometimes known as title case, refers to the use of initial caps for primary words rather than all caps. Along with simply being more visually appealing, the use of sentence case is also believed to increase reading speed, which means that it takes users less time to read a post or tweet. This is vital as users with short attention spans may more likely skip a post or lose interest altogether if it appears to be too long. Given this information, the key here is to make sure that you utilize initial caps to attract more readers. Keep in mind also that all caps, particularly in a social media setting, can sometimes have the appearance of an angry tone, which can be somewhat of a turnoff to readers.
Jumping on the bandwagon
From a human psychological standpoint, everyone wants to feel as though he or she belongs. Social proof can be used to your advantage in social media marketing to draw users into adopting the actions or beliefs of a group. The best way to utilize this method in your social media campaigns is to use follow and share buttons. Such buttons should be prominently displayed along with the number of followers that your social media accounts have. Additionally, make sure that all pieces of content have the number of shares that each has received. By doing so, you will be able to encourage others to jump on the bandwagon and join in with the "me too" philosophy by sharing and retweeting.
Creating exclusivity
Whenever something is limited or exclusive, it naturally has more of an influence over human actions. No one wants to feel as though he or she is being left out of something. Utilizing an invitation-only strategy in your social media marketing helps to establish a level of exclusivity. When someone has been invited, he or she feels as though they are now part of an exclusive club. He or she will feel compelled to take action because they wish to be part of that exclusive club, even if it is subconscious. Great way to incorporate this form of behavioral psychology into your social media marketing campaigns is to create a sense of urgency and issuing invitation-only events. To leverage this strategy even more, invite industry experts first and then promote the group publicly. You may also find it helpful to establish parameters regarding what someone must do in order to receive an invitation or participate. Doing so helps to create more of a sense of value.
Providing acclamation
There are very few people who do not enjoy seeing their names recognized, especially in public. This is simply the way that most humans are hardwired. By providing recognition to both current and prospective customers, you show them that you value their opinion. A great way to do this is by tagging their names in discussions with others and sharing their posts and tweets. This will have the effect of giving your customers and prospects the feeling that they are respected and valued. As a result, they will naturally want to be involved with your brand.
Paying attention
When your customers feel as though they have been acknowledged, the next step is to ensure that they know you are paying attention to them. This does not need to be a complex or even a time-consuming process. All it takes is sending your prospect a short message or comment in response to their post or commenting on their tweet. Doing so helps to establish the foundation for continuing discussions while helping to keep your customers and prospects engaged.
Sense of authority
Finally, think about how you can create a sense of authority. Humans will naturally follow those whom they view as being authority figures. By positioning your brand as an authority, your customers will be much more likely to trust it because you are viewed as a credible source.You can utilize this in your social media marketing campaign by prominently featuring information from subject matter experts in your posts.
Consumers always have a tendency to make purchases from brands they trust. By taking the time to help your customers feel as though they are recognized, valuable and appreciated, you will be taking significant steps toward building trust with your customer base. Approaching your social media marketing campaign using a psychological standpoint can also help you to leverage the power of the human psyche to increase brand exposure and actually convert your customers and prospects into brand advocates. As a result, you may find that you can do less actual marketing while focusing more on your customers and prospects.