In ten minutes of social media time, oxytocin levels can rise as much as 13%; that’s a hormonal spike that rivals that of some people on their wedding day (but no, you can’t replace one for the other). That means people feel more connected and secure in just ten minutes of spending time on social media.

So what does that mean for your social media marketing strategy?

In this post, we’ve emphasized some psychological rationale that you can use to up your social media marketing game and connect more to your clients and followers.

The Reciprocity Effect

This is the “if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” phenomenon. It’s important for us to maintain relationships, and followers feel obliged to give back to a company that’s given them things like a product/service giveaway, limited free content, or even a resource centre they can regularly access. In return, they might share something in return, sign up for your mailing list, or fill out a survey.

Color Coordination

Humans are visual creatures, so much so that the colors you use has a major but subtle impact on how users perceive your brand, and red CTA buttons outperform green ones by almost 21%. However, when you’re using color psychology in your marketing, it’s important to make sure the color palette suits your brand and its essence, rather than stereotypical color associations.

Spreading Positivity

Ever wondered why animal rescue videos go viral so frequently? Positive emotional contagion is greater than negative, and usually, these videos aren’t about the animals, but about showing human empathy at its best: fostering, caring and nurturing. That means keeping your marketing on the sunny side, including dealing with prolonged customer issues offline, or swiftly tackling negative reviews to keep it from spreading.

The Power of Emoticons

Emoticons haven’t had the best reputation for being very professional, but on social media they make you appear more approachable, and are seen as self-expression, not advertising. Just like spreading positive messages, this study shows that using positive and relevant emoticons makes you more popular and influential on platforms like Twitter and Instagram; you can even create your own branded emoticons for your followers to share and use.

Sharing Reality Via Comments

As a brand, any comment you make online is a reflection of what kind of company you are. The shared reality phenomenon means that a person’s whole experience of a product or service is affected by how they share it with others, and often, shared values were a bigger driver than a lot of interaction between clients and a brand. Comments have the power to change people’s minds, so make sure you stay actively engaged on your blog’s comments section and respond to important customer reviews.

Source: Buffer’s A State of Social 2019 report on business marketers and what they think of social media

The Endowment Effect

This emotional bias means that people have a feeling of ownership over something, they tend to assign a greater value to it, regardless of its objective value or worth. Not only this, but people identify and define themselves and others intensely with brands and logos. Think clothes, restaurants, the logo on your phone or laptop.

But how can you use this to your marketing advantage? 

As a marketer, you can present original content of clients finding value in and identifying with your brand, and help existing clients increase their ownership in your brand through feedback and suggestions, involvement in social media, and present free giveaways to create that feeling of genuine value in your product/service.

Social Influence

Most people wouldn’t buy something from someone they don’t trust, and your demographic is no different. A study on what kind of message encourages people to act and save electricity shows that out of the four messages sent:

1. You can save $54 this month
2. You can save the planet
3. You can be a good citizen
4. Your neighbours are doing better than you

The last one encouraged a 2 percent reduction in household energy usage. This is an example of social proof, where through user-generated content (UGC) and exemplifying positive reviews, you show potential clients that others are already very satisfied with your brand.

According to Laskey, “If something is inconvenient, even if we believe it, persuasion won’t work. But social pressure? That’s powerful stuff.”

You don’t have to be a Freudian psychologist to understand how to use social media to your advantage, as long as you can portray your brand’s authenticity through the content you put up to relate to target demographics. The Tribe of Brands team can help you stay on top of trends to effectively navigate the complex waters of the internet. Our marketing agency can help you with further ideas of how to design world-class websites, seamless user journeys and digital marketing campaigns.