Got a (business) social media account that’s not getting much attention from your followers? The geniuses at ‘Sumo’ reckon that the secret to ‘getting it right’ with your Facebook and Instagram posts lies in knowing these six tips about the human psyche.
Let’s jump straight in (because Lorrrrrd knows you just want the six hot tips - and I should be sitting on the beach with an iced coffee right about now).
#1PEOPLE ARE OBSESSED WITH OTHER PEOPLE
I was only just having a whinge to my partner, the other day, that I’d noticed anytime I posted an image to my Instagram that showed my face, it did about twice as well as when I posted an object or a quote. My complaint was that “people are just so vain the way they love stalking a (well lit and filtered) selfie”. Research shows that posting a picture of a face, produced 2.3 times more engagement. On Instagram that’s a 38% increase in attention than, say, posting a motivational quote (and shit, don't we all have enough of the "Live, Laugh, Love" clogging up our Insta feed's already).
Why, though? Well apparently we cant help but become captivated by the human gaze. Especially if your face happens to be a semi-decent looking one…studies show that looking at a good-looking face releases feel-good hormones in our brains - like the ones that are released when we meditate.
Psychologist, Robert Frantz, who studied the length of time infants took to look at black and white images of human faces vs a picture of a ‘bullseye’ page, noted that the infants looked at the images of the faces for TWICE as long as the others.
Conclusion: your audience wants to see the real person behind your brand. They want to connect with WHO they’re buying from so make sure you’re not anonymously shying away from the camera. End of.
#2 PEOPLE ARE CURIOUS CATS. PLAY ON THIS
Curiosity is what compels us to seek out and learn more about someone or something. Tease your followers on social media by mentioning new products or building up anticipation for something (like a new optin on your site or a fresh NEW range or a new service). My friend is a rep for the billion dollar skincare brand, Rodan and Fields. All those Roden and Fields reps were told to push their new range of products BEFORE THEY EVEN HAD ANY STOCK. It ended up being 3 or 4 months of this building anticipation in their followers and taking pre-orders before these reps even had any stock to start selling!
# 3 OCCASIONALLY, LET PEOPLE KNOW WHAT THEY’RE MISSING OUT ON
As copywriters, we are encouraged to sell things to customers in the form of benefits, right? “IF you buy this, you’ll gain this. It’ll solve this problem for you” etc. BUT, research shows that it's also beneficial to sell them the opposite. We all get serious FOMO (fear of missing out), and your customers are no different.
Let the customer know what they’re missing out on if they DONT buy your product/hire you.
Research shows that losing something (or feeling as though you’ve lost out on something) hurts twice as much as the pleasure we get from gaining something.
So, instead of selling your product or service like this:
“This is going to be a huge time-saver for you because I’ve spent hours coming up with this list of clever email sign-offs! All you have to do is copy and paste the appropriate one into your email and VOILA. Done”
Change it to:
“....So, download the Ebook now! Or, you could continue to waste hours of your time deliberating over your email wording, yourself. That’s hours of work you could have spent on your floor-length to-do list or finally writing that blog post for your website.”
#4 MAKE PEOPLE FEEL INCLUDED and “NORMAL”
This one’s pretty obvious. Remember learning about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in High school? Up there with the basics of food and water is our need for a sense of belonging and love. You will attract more followers & subscribers if you can find a way to speak to them on their level, remind them you are just like them, that you GET what they’re going through and that they’re in the right place.
# 5 URGENCY SELLS
How many times have you quickly chucked your credit card details in to buy something online because you panicked at the site of “limited sizing left” or “30% off for the next 48 hours”? Yeah, because urgency sells and because advertisers know that urgency also creates a sense of “loss” for people
(remember that previous point - 3 - where we talked about how people hate to feel like they’ve missed out on something?)
Urgency creates that sense of “but, what if I’m one of the one’s who MISS OUT!!?”
# 6 RECIPROCITY
Lucky last, reciprocity. Humans tend to want to reciprocate, meaning, if you give someone something, or do them a favour, they’re likely to want to return the favour by buying from you or giving you a raving testimonial, etc. For example:
- A study of customers who ate out at restaurants, forked over more money (3 % more) as a tip, when they received a small piece of chocolate with their bill;
- If the waitress dropped off a mint at their table and made eye contact with the customer, their tip went up by as much as 20%
(These were American studies, obviously. We don't tip here in Australia...stingy bastards).
These simple, small gestures were enough to convince patrons that they should return the thoughtful gift in the form of a little extra cash for the tip.
Yes, some people are assholes, and they’ll just take and take from you, BUT they’re the minority. Most people are inclined to want to ‘return the favour’. That means you should be aiming to give value and solve a problem to your followers rather than SELL and promote your product or business. Think about how you can entertain your followers for a few minutes, solve a problem for them or make their day easier!
So this here list of 6 tips about the way our magical human brains work should keep you on track with your future social media posting. Experiment with these, and you’ll soon see your social media engagement increase.
X Bec
