Stimulating the Consumer in Social Media

Success in Social Media means to stand out from the competition, create a different message that will have a positive impact and will make consumers move to action. This success only happens when the brain of the consumer is stimulated, and the message really has something special.

How to stimulate the minds of consumers in Social Media

The best strategy is to use social media to educate consumers. The days of businesses focusing their efforts on entertaining their fans on social media are behind us, at least they should be. Today, people expect more out of businesses. They expect to be shown things that they don't normally see from their friends and family.

Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes and Clara Shih, CEO of Hearsay Social, discuss the power that social platforms give consumers, both to critique and to innovate a company’s product offerings in the next video:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umFGl0yKm4s]

To do this, when you connect with the target audience, you must activate their brain, taking into account the following assumptions:

Try brain training

One way to jog the memory is offering some kind of challenge. The thirst for knowledge of the brain has no limits. Hence the effectiveness of word games, puzzles and several unknowns which arouse interest in wanting to know more.

Advancing exclusive news

Always seek novelty, we want to be trendy, be the bearers of the latest trends and news. That aura of exclusivity that permeates presentations when launching a new product or service, especially if this is done to a select group of privileged targeted people.

Arousing curiosity

Curiosity in social media has proven to be a successful strategy. Consumers have changed. Advertising no longer leads to direct sales in most businesses. Consumers are more discerning and desire more than interactivity. They want engagement. They want community.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfI8ONw3EIU]

The interest of the unknown, the intrigue to know what's behind something inevitably drives us to want to unravel the mystery, and instinctively we turn our attention. This implies a greater effort to participate, resulting in a positive experience with the message, and promoting retention.

Giving reasons that really convince

We need to have a reason, an answer that leads consumers to believe what we are saying and to trust us. Therefore, giving a convincing reason to a consumer to start to follow a brand, to like a Facebook page, or to tweet re-tweet specific news, is a powerful incentive to achieve those objectives.

Information categorized and sorted properly

The brain is designed to classify information, and in order for this to be achieved an advance social media strategy is needed. As businesses start to become more sophisticated with social media they are starting to leverage more online platforms. However, most deliver the same message over multiple platforms instead of tailoring communications for each individual site.

We love the organization, and this is what facilitates the task of assimilating the message. Therefore, the lists work great when giving advice, list the steps necessary for any process, or specify an action plan.

Optimism, good feeling and positive experience

In social networks, the good news has more acceptances that negative news. They tend to cause a greater impact and generate more widespread success. The more positive is an item the most likely to be shared. This was demonstrated by the research project Jonah Berger, a social psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, meaning that when we share a story with our friends we are usually worried about how they will react; for this reason we try to avoid the negative aspects. Similarly we enjoy causing positive feelings in our environment.

Adding an emotional component

We are irrational beings who inevitably respond to what really moves us. Adding an emotional component to the social media strategy will result in achieving more brand advocates. One of the most valuable returns of the social media proliferation is the renewed fervour around brand advocacy. Brand advocates recommend brands and products without getting paid, just by promoting positive word of mouth online.

There are many ways to give arguments to follow a brand, or promote the upcoming release of a product. If we combine these arguments with a touch of emotion, especially directed to the target audience, the answer will be substantially higher. Hence storytelling power, which is to recreate a history about the message, such that their identification with the receptor is achieved.
Brand advocates will recommend brands and products because they want to help others.

Read more about social media in Business at marketingquery.com.