By tapping into the psychology behind social media you can bypass the noise and clutter and reach your audience on a whole new level. You can connect, engage and gain a wider audience.
Follow the crowd – By nature, people all want to be part of the ‘in’ group even if they are determine to retain a certain amount of individuality. Your audience wants to learn and they want to comfort themselves with the idea that what they are feeling and doing is ‘normal’ and ‘right’. Engaging with your audience on social media provides social proof. It shows that what they are following is the correct path.
Ask your audience for favours – Asking for people to do you favours will get you further with people than offering to do them a favour. Using social media to ask your audience for a favour will build the idea in their heads that you are worth the favour and therefore are liked, it will also help to build a relationship and sense of inclusion. This strategy works best amongst smaller networks.
Make them feel uncomfortable – Discomfort can be a powerful motivator of your social media audience. It forces all involved to confront their faults, change their behaviours and endeavour to learn new things. Well-constructed headlines, posts and tweets can tap into people’s cognitive dissonance, make them feel uncomfortable and then compel them to click in order to rebalance the discomfort they are feeling.
Use emotion – One of the easiest ways to spread ideas is with emotion. People will always respond to an emotional over a more rational argument. And when those emotions spread out then you create a social contagion with the ability to spread way beyond the people in your immediate vicinity.
Use urgency and perceived scarcity – No one wants to be the one that misses out. By creating a sense of scarcity (only 2 left) and/or urgency (today only) you encourage your audience to take action. Perceived scarcity makes any product or service seem more desirable and exclusive.
Don’t hesitate, be confident – The more confident and certain you are then the more you are able to strengthen attitudes on that issue. Show uncertainty or hesitation and you are more likely to lose your audience. People will follow those who ‘know’ what they want, believe in and how to get it.
To get help with your social media strategy and management, contact the team at Website Design Centre today.
