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Looking for a way to connect with your audience on a deeper level? By implementing these basic psychological marketing principles into your social media activity, you can attract, engage, and form emotional bonds with your target audience.
1. Color Psychology
Effective social media posts rely heavily on their visuals so it’s fitting that our first tactic revolves around color theory. While people might argue about the meanings associated with certain colors, there are general assumptions that hold true when talking about tone and imagery. For instance, red is often associated with pain, anger and whereas yellow can linked to joy, serenity and happiness. The message of your post can align with the mood of a color but the coordination of color throughout your entire page can also differentiate you from your competitors through a creative and organized approach. You can see a great example of this on our Instagram page.
2. Credibility
Social standing signifies the measurement of our social value but in this case, we are talking about measurements that can be objectively observed. Popularity in the form of testimonials, reviews, post likes, comments and follower counts tends to give an indication of your business’ success. Or at least, that’s what social media aims to do.
By boosting your social standing on platforms like Instagram you engage in a psychological marketing trick that pre-sells your product or service to users. If people browsing the web or scrolling through Instagram see that your business page has a high follower count, lots of posts and engagement then they are more willing to trust your brand. This encourages them to follow your social media page and compels them to take action when your posts pop up on their feed. Such action might be to simply learn more about your brand or to follow through with a purchase.
Take A Stance
This tactic refers to the content of your post. When making a post, we recommend adhering to the theory of the Amplification Hypothesis, which means that if you display certainty when making a claim, people are more likely to believe you. Furthermore, and especially on social media, boring, generic or vague content tends to get overlooked. When you take a stance on a certain topic, like-minded people are more willing to voice their agreement with you.
3. Evoke Curiosity
Humans are known to be curious creatures, and sometimes less is more. When making a post, don’t always give the whole scoop. Often times users will engage with content to inquire more information from a post. By inserting captions and headlines that spark curiosity, you will generate more traffic on your page.
4. Address Controversy
You might see a common theme among these tactics: engagement. Your social media strategy should revolve around stimulating engagement. Data shows that controversial social media posts drive interaction the most. Platforms like Instagram have algorithms that collect increased post interaction and then introduces these relevant posts onto feeds of new users as priority content. By addressing controversial topics in your posts, your content is more likely to perform well. Engaging in controversial conversations does not necessarily mean hosting heated political debates on your page. It can be as simple as sharing content that not everyone agrees with, such as milk or cream in your coffee.
5. Polarization
Similar to being controversial, polarization is a tactic that sets you apart from your competition. By featuring polarizing content on your page, you differentiate your brand from your competitors. You align your brand with a certain set of values that inherently attract a certain type of consumer. Polarization is a great tool for narrowing your target audience and ideal buyer. Studies show that brands who don’t try to appeal to everyone are the most successful long term.
6. Isolation Effect
Similar to the color effect mentioned earlier, the isolation effect is a visual strategy and is great for amplifying promoting physical products. All you have to do is center the subject of your post in the middle of the photo and designate plenty of white space around all sides. While simple in theory, the isolated visual clearly communicates to the audience what they should be focusing on, whether that be something such as new packaging or a new ingredient. Content like this gets users to stop scrolling because it stands out by being simple and crisp in presentation.
7. Frequency Illusion
The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also known as the frequency illusion, explains that after we see something for the first time, we start to notice it everywhere. The goal is to get the attention of your intended consumer. 42Growth suggests that you dial in on a specific audience rather than try to market yourself in a generic way. Think of the content, hashtags, topics and platforms that these users frequent and establish your presence by consistently posting.
8. Aspirational Content
Online users are inspired by emotion, which encourages engagement and expands the algorithm reach. Nowadays, aspirational content is often associated with materialistic luxury products or unrealistic lifestyles. We suggest using aspirational content to inspire users in a more applicable sense. For example, showing how your product or service helped someone in their day-to-day life demonstrates to potential customers that your company can make an impact on their lifestyle as well.
9. Persuasive Content
Writing persuasive copy is one of the most effective ways of delivering your message about your brand. Persuasive copy is executed when content:
Speaks to the audience directly and uses the word “you”
Makes the audience feel that the product/ service is a necessity
Shares a possible negative consequence of what can happen if users do not take action to purchase the product or service
Uses humor or captures attention with exciting phrasing
10. Reciprocate
Last but not least, reciprocate-- being generous with your audience and making them love you, is an incredibly effective tool. This tactic plays on the tendency of our human nature to want to offer something when something is received. By offering valuable advice or giving away free coupons you promote your product or service and at the same time, encourage immediate purchase because the customers feel they have received something of value beforehand. The smallest gesture can make a customer feel that your company does more than simply sell itself.
By implementing these psychological marketing tactics in your social media posts, your business will be better equipped to understand and cater to the needs of your customers.
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