Social media is still considered a fairly new form of communication. Almost every day, studies appear, the results of which demonstrate how social networks affect a person's perception of information, the attitude of users to advertised brands and, oddly enough, to each other.
Today we will talk about several psychological theories, the use of which will help you not only increase the effectiveness of social marketing, but also, perhaps, change your outlook on life. :) Follow the link to learn more about how to check marriage records.
1. After writing a post, users doubt whether it is worth publishing
Most social media users are familiar with that slightly uncomfortable feeling before a new post is posted. Sometimes it becomes the cause of a creative breakthrough, but in 90% of cases a person simply abandons his idea.
Adam Kramer, a data scientist at Facebook, and Sauvik Das, an undergraduate student at Carnegie Mellon University, analyzed the so-called "self-censorship" on Facebook.
For 17 days, the researchers monitored the activity of 3,900,000 accounts. During this time, 71% of users typed at least one post or comment daily and deleted it at the last moment. As we found out, on average, every fifth entry and every third comment were deleted.
According to the hypothesis put forward by the researchers, people most often refuse to update their status when they cannot determine the target audience of a particular message.
Kramer and Das also found that men delete much more posts than women, but women outnumber men in the number of unpublished comments. Well, the least self-censorship is resorted to by users whose friends have different political views.
Remember, if you don't often get feedback from your target audience, it doesn't mean that you aren't being heard.
2. Emotions are contagious (especially positive ones!)
In social psychology, there is such a thing as "psychological infection". According to one of the most popular definitions, psychological contagion is the process of transferring the emotional state of one person to another during personal communication.
However, scientists from the University of California managed to prove that the emotions expressed by users of social networks are no less “contagious”.
For 2 years, scientists tracked the emotional content of the posts of 1,000,000 Facebook users. The researchers paid special attention to rainy days, since at this time the probability of publishing posts written under the influence of negative emotions is several times higher. To learn more about usa people search, follow the link.
The graph shows the total number of posts posted by residents of a particular city on rainy days (the direct impact of bad weather on the mood of users - the abscissa axis), and the number of posts written by residents of other cities after reading the status of their friends (chain reaction - the y-axis). In cities whose names are colored in blue, the number of users "infected" with negative emotions was the highest.
An analysis of weather reports allowed scientists to determine that the "rainy" mood of users was transmitted to their friends living in cities where there was not the slightest hint of rain.
While the researchers focused on studying the spread of negative experiences, they also found that positive emotions are more contagious: each post a Facebook user posted during a bad weather triggered an average of 1.25 posts, while For every positive post, 2 more were published.
Remember to keep an eye on the weather and remember that your messages should give people positive emotions. :)
3. The first impression of a person is formed by his profile picture.
Today, the right profile photo is just worth its weight in gold. ;)
A recent study by researchers from Princeton University and Columbia University found that we can judge a person by looking at a photograph in 40 milliseconds.
The photographs used by the researchers were taken under the same lighting, but the facial expressions of the people depicted in them were completely different. The participants of the experiment had to pass an online test and compare the viewed photos with such qualities as attractiveness, competence, extraversion, meanness, reliability and intelligence.
The results of the experiment showed that even a slight change in the facial expression of a person depicted in a photo can radically change the idea of him.
4. User activity depends on the country in which he lives
According to an Ipsos marketing survey, 24% of social media users share "everything" or "almost everything" online. The share of users who do not distribute any information is 19%, and the number of people who are active at times varies depending on their place of residence.
The American daily The Washington Post noted "the clear relationship between user activity and the ability to access the World Wide Web":
“Practically all the countries whose inhabitants are in the 19% of the most passive users of social media are in Europe, where everything is always online. At the same time, the most active users live in Asia, Africa and Latin America, where access to the Internet is still a luxury.”
5. Feeling of belonging
The possibility of a virtual community is not just a phrase. This is reality.
According to a study led by The University of Queensland psychology professor Stephanie Tobin, being active on social media makes people feel connected to what's going on in the world.
According to the terms of the experiment, the first group of participants, who updated their Facebook status an average of 8 times a day, had to continue to be active, while the second group of participants were told to simply observe the activity of their friends.
At the end of the experiment, users who had gone from top news distributors to regular browsers said they felt upset and depressed after just 2 days:
“Social networks like Facebook serve as a kind of reminder of a person’s social relationships and allow him to stay in touch with other people.” - Stephanie Tobin.
Participants in a similar study, in which users shared various information with their friends but did not receive any feedback, also worsened their mood and self-esteem dropped sharply.
Don't be afraid to keep the discussion going around your content. The more you interact with customers, the stronger their commitment to your company. :)
6. The excitement people feel increases the number of shares
You can find many articles on our blog on the role of emotions in marketing (in particular, how age and gender affect user activity on social networks). If you follow us regularly, then you know that most often people share content that causes strong emotional feelings.
It remains to understand why? Marketing professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania (The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School) Iona Berger (Johan Berger) in one of his studies put forward the following hypothesis:
“Emotional arousal activates the activity of the human nervous system and makes him feel some connection with the information he has just read. By sharing this or that material, a person seems to get rid of this feeling.
Part of the participants in the first experiment conducted by Berger watched special videos that caused a strong emotional outburst in a person, while other participants watched a film, the plot of which most often left the audience completely indifferent.
According to the conditions of the second experiment, several students had to run in place for 3 minutes, while the rest just sat and watched what was happening. Participants in both trials were then asked to read a paper preselected by the scientists and answer the question of whether they would like to send or simply recommend this material to someone else.
The participants, who were highly aroused after completing 2 independent experiments, were more willing to share the article they had read. In the first case (chart a) it was associated with watching specially selected films, and in the second case (graph b) it was associated with a little physical activity.
Later, in an interview with The New York Times, Berger explained the results as follows:
“Excitation is a state that, over time, causes disgust in a person. People share their experiences only to get rid of them as soon as possible. Suffering - like any other deep feeling - loves company.
7. "We're just made that way"
Each of us loves to talk about ourselves. Neuroscientists at Harvard University say that we love this activity so much that we simply cannot resist the urge to share our thoughts with someone. The thing is that talking about yourself brings a person as much pleasure as food, money and sex.
Some studies show that sometimes people are willing to give up money in exchange for the opportunity to discuss their thoughts with someone.
In support of this, scientists found that 80% of the posts that are published on social networks contain information about a person’s experiences and recent events that happened to him.
“Your interlocutor is a hundred times more interested in himself, his desires and his problems than he is in you and your problems.” - Dale Carnegie (Dale Carnegie).
Learn to listen to your clients—even if they want to tell you about a bad therapist visit—and talk less about yourself. :)
So, armed with this knowledge, you can not only increase the effectiveness of social marketing, but also rethink the way you relate to social media.