By Sabrina Ghani
Ever wondered why we like, comment, and share on social media? Discover the fundamental psychology behind social media, and learn what it takes to better connect with your customers.
What many people seem to forget about social media is the fact that it’s social. When you start your social media efforts, know that your profiles aren’t just platforms to post information about your products. It’s also a way to connect with your customers in a manner that other marketing channels can’t duplicate.
By following these three essential principles, you’ll be able to provide your followers with more personal experience and in turn, increase brand loyalty.
1. Establish trust & relate to your customers
One of the most important things about social media is relativity. So, learning how to relate to your customers should be your number one priority.
If you haven’t already done so, learn everything you can about them, from their age, interests, and everything in between. Be sure only to post content that they are interested in, and are likely to respond to. Just like being a friend, it takes time to build a relationship. The same goes with creating a social community.
2. Reciprocity
Reciprocity is the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit. So, what does that mean for social media?
When you build a social community, it’s essential to provide value to your customers (similar to how content marketing works). Over time, you’ll grow trust between your customers and your brand. In turn, your customers will be more inclined to like, engage with, share, contribute content, and, ultimately, buy your product. Enthusiasts might even go out of their way to recommend your product rather than your competitors.
Here are some ways to reciprocate with your users:
- Highlight and share community members’ posts
- Share industry resources, content, and tips and tricks
- Provide downloadable freebies
- Host giveaways
3. Captivate your audience with stunning visuals
Did you know that 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual? This further emphasizes why you should include visual marketing in your social media strategy. Visuals not only attract attention, but also enhance emotions, and affect attitudes. So, choose the right content that is both captivating and speaks to your audience. Your goal is to evoke a sense of emotion that will drive engagement.
Tip: Post a photo, quote, or video that inspires your community (such as #motivationmonday & caterday). These posts usually perform well.
The Power of Color
When considering content for your social media strategy, don’t forget the importance of the psychology behind color and how it affects emotions. Here is a quick guide for reference:
- Red: Exciting, passionate, aggressive
- Orange: Friendly, adventurous, casual
- Yellow: Cheerful, warm, serene
- Blue: Peaceful, trustworthy, honest
- Green: Natural, safe, permissive
- Purple: Mystical, mysterious, regal
- Black: Luxurious, elegant, powerful
In order to give some context to how the three fundamentals of psychology are used in social media, we’ll look at Fenty beauty (a company that sells makeup) as an example.
- Establish trust & relate to customers: Fenty understands their community of diverse makeup enthusiasts. The brand knows who their customers are, their interests, and especially what they look for in a beauty company. They do so by recognizing that their diverse customer base loves makeup that is long-lasting and products that highlight like features.
- Reciprocity: Fenty gives back to its community by sharing content their customers love. In this case, informative video tutorials on using their makeup, highlighting and sharing community members’ posts when they use a Fenty product, and posting upcoming product releases as a teaser. Their customers give back by continually engaging with their posts, providing content like pictures and at times video tutorials for Fenty to use, and buying their product.
- Captivate your audience with stunning visuals: By looking at Fenty’s Instagram feed, you can see that their posts are high quality and also visually captivating. For example, pictures of their products showcased above are photographed with exciting colors that not only matching with their brand but also captures your attention.
