Social media has been the answer that marketers have been looking for to elevate their efforts. Since the advent of the internet, they consider it as a quick marketing ground to be influential—with a single click, their content can reach a wider scope around the world, their message can be repeatedly executed and delivered in a creative manner.
Click To Tweet >>> 11 Keys Of Persuasion For Social Media Marketing
Marketers use social media actively for their various marketing efforts. According to the Social Media Examiner’s 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry , 92% of marketers indicated that social media is highly relevant for their businesses; and this finding is relatively higher than 86% from last year’s results. With various social media platforms available, most marketers jump into the bandwagon by posting instantly, but all they get are paid likes, with no engagement at all. Is this what we want to achieve?
In order to win the marketing influence game, incorporating the science and art of persuasion is a must. But how do you do it?
Here are 11 keys of persuasion for your social media marketing efforts
1. Give And Receive
Robert Cialdini’s book, “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”, says that we can influence other people’s decision by sharpening our communication skills and incorporating persuasiveness to it. Use persuasion techniques to express the real and genuine similarities between you and your audience in order to connect with them.
Persuade your audience through the principle of reciprocity: respond to a favor given to you by returning it in the same extent or even greater. Start by clearly identifying your target audience, your reason for influencing them, and what they really want. Then, reciprocate by providing your users with free valuable content such as an e-book, free download of apps or programs for a certain period of time, or invitation to your events and trainings that users might find valuable. This will make users visit your site regularly, and share your content in their social media handles as their gratitude to what you have given them.
2. Get In Touch With People’s Emotions—Through A Story
People love stories. They like stories that matter to them, especially if they can easily relate to it. Once you get to the core of their emotions, you have the perfect opportunity of persuading them to check out your website, which will eventually lead to their purchase. You have the role to convey a good story that will touch directly into people’s hearts and minds, and evoke right emotions without hard-selling your product.
Coca-Cola launched its “What is Happiness” campaign, banking on the idea that you can find happiness when you least expect it. It focuses on different heartwarming stories that made people happy because of a bottle of Coke shared. Campaigns like this, when injected with proper social media marketing efforts, are a sure-fire hit that will increase conversions for your business. Consider the in order to produce the right type of content for the right emotions of your users.
3. Consistency Counts, All The Time
They say that it is easier to keep an existing customer, rather than attract a new one. Be consistent in what you say to your customers so that they stay on your side. Consistency also counts for higher conversion rates, and leads you to your loyal customers.
Start by offering a free trial for your product for a certain time to gauge their consistency. Try to direct your customers to your mailing list subscription, webinars, or articles in a consistent way. After they have experienced these from your website, they will feel more committed in purchasing. Each site visit or click, no matter how small, can be their small steps of consistency.
4. Show People That You Are Their Option
Each day, people are faced with choices. Sometimes we feel strong with our preferences, but oftentimes we are stuck between two equally strong options. In this situation, we tend to investigate how others are choosing in order to have a social proof that one is working and one isn’t.
Since people follow trends, persuade your customers by including sentences such as “9 out of 10 people prefer this…” to apply this principle in your next marketing activity. One good example for this is Amazon: they use star ratings, recommendations, and comments to help people in their decision making on a certain product. This is another perfect way to persuade your customers to visit you regularly.
5. Increase Your (Like)ability
Research says that we are more likely to follow someone whom we like. There are lots of factors to be considered, such as how a person looks or talks, and how he carries himself. And we tend to buy something from someone we knew—friends, family, and people whom we look up to, rather than from a stranger. This is true, even for social media marketing.
Influence your customers better by being more likeable online. Be more empathic with your content production by incorporating images or videos that your users can easily relate to. This will increase the probability that people will like you, and your conversion rates will go higher. Do take into consideration the proper use of SEO and content marketing strategies to better reach your audience. Be more creative with your “about” page and show your similarities between you and your clients. Once done properly, people will feel that you represent them, and they will feel a strong connection to your company’s brand.
6. Shout Out The Authority
Authority in social media means that you have established a good relationship with a well-known brand, especially if they left positive comments. Proudly shout it out to the rest of the world through social media. This will show users that your business is trustworthy. Build greater influence by showcasing your achievements locally and globally, and share your content that has been published in credible online and offline publications.
Also, include a highly influential person for your testimonials. This can help when people are doubtful of a certain brand. Adidas, over the years, has always used prominent figures in their campaigns, such as Lionel Messi, in order to push for a certain brand message. People are more likely to follow these authority figures, even in social media, so you need to highlight them in your marketing strategies.
7. Be Limited To Gain Their Unlimited Attention
Being scarce or limited in your product or services is not a bad thing, especially if your offering is of high value to your clients. This persuasion principle lets people know that they’re going to miss out on something valuable if they don’t decide or act quickly.
Weave this with your strategies by telling people that you have limited time with an influential guest. For example, if you have Tim Cook in your webinar, tell everyone via social media that he only has 1 hour for the said event. People will be flocking towards your website because of this. Also, give deadlines for the availability of a certain product or service. Ticketmaster offers lots of event ticket deals for a limited time. Being limited increases the chances that people will regularly check on you as long as you provide people with that they want, in good quality.
8. Share The Power Of Influence
Word of mouth combined with social media is a powerful combination for your business. The Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report for 2011 conducted by Experian reveals that 54 percent of adults in America stated that word of mouth still influences them heavily when it comes to their purchase decisions.
Share the power of influence by giving your customers simple platforms to give feedback and connect it with their social media handles. Since people are most likely to consider recommendations from people they know, they will be interested to click on your website to gain more information about your company when they see a positive comment or post from their friend discussing your brand.
Quick engagement with people is one of the qualities that social media boasts. Seeing this advantage, you need to use effective social media marketing techniques for better engagement. A social media brand engagement can’t run on a one-way communication. If people connect with you, they expect a simple interaction or a “like” from their post mentioning you and your services.
If you ignore both positive and negative messages, it can give a signal that you don’t care or you don’t value them who supports your brand. Check the most popular social media platforms that your customers are utilizing and set a regular time for engagement, in order to keep them to continuously avail of your products and services.
10. Utilize Power Words
Words are powerful. The Ultimate Terms states that words have “special meaning within each culture and carry power where they are used.” If you use words properly in your tactics in a subtle and light way, you can persuade people more effectively.
The theory divides words into three categories. God terms convey blessings, sacrifice, or obedience (e.g. value), Devil terms evoke disgust (e.g. fascist), and Charismatic terms are directly associated with intangible things (e.g. contribution). Terms can change, especially when used improperly, so you need to check on the reason why you are using it. Power words can also be directed to a specific idea or concept, such as safety, health, control, and understanding.
11. Check On Your Progress Regularly
Effective persuasion also involves the right evaluation of your personal progress when it comes to your social media marketing efforts. It is recommended that you conduct quarterly review to see if you are effective and to gauge whether it is producing user conversions.
Pam Sahota suggests that to make adjustments, one should regularly analyze the traffic and leads being generated from each social media platform that you are using. If it is ineffective, then adjustments on your persuasion should be done.
These keys of persuasion for your social media marketing efforts can help you win the marketing game by engaging more and influencing more your audience. Be more persuasive without sounding desperate to meet your customers’ needs in order to build a lasting relationship with them as your loyal customers.
About The Author
Kimberly Grimms is a futurist who spends most of her time monitoring social behavior in search for new consumer and trends. She uses the information to create viral and useful content. She mostly address young professionals, educating them easy to digest content about investing, technology, and home improvement. Also, she share the latest and upcoming trends in the global market. Want to read more from Kim? See her blog. Connect with Kim on Twitter too!
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Posted in: Social Media Marketing
