By
Pius Boachie, DigitiMatic
Facebook announced it would prioritize posts from friends and family over those from publishers. The implication? An already diminished organic reach will decline even further.
The only solution left for serious marketers may just be paid ads. But ads are not going to magically enchant your audience.
In fact, consumer disenchantment
with
social media advertising is not peculiar to Facebook alone. Across
social media channels, consumers are seeking content that feels "human"
and improves their sense of community. Small wonder, then, that the most shared ads are those that rely heavily on emotion.
If
you’re a marketer hoping to be heard above the din, your best solution
here is to run campaigns that satisfy consumer needs for friendship,
family and community. And, one of the ways to do that is through
emotional advertising.
Not that that's something new:
Psychological principles have long been used by marketers to elicit
desired responses from consumers; and, here, emotional advertising is an
all-time favorite strategy. A Nielson
report,
after all, found that ads which generated a high emotional response --
as opposed to those that didn't -- also generated sales by up to 23
percent higher.
And a
study
by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising also found that ads
with emotional content performed twice as well as those with only
rational content, and delivered better profits.
What these
findings show is that emotional advertising works. So, if you’re looking
to revamp your social media campaigns by tugging at the sleeves of your
audience’s emotions, here are suggestions for how to do it.
Identify the emotions you wish to associate your brand with.
According to findings from a
2014 research
at the Glasgow Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, we humans have
four basic emotions: happy, sad, afraid/surprised,and angry/disgusted.
To
strike a chord, emotional ads need to speak directly to what your brand
represents, matching the brand in tone and style. For instance, ads run
by a local watch-seller would have an entirely different feel than
those run by Rolex. Although both sellers may choose to target happiness
as the response they want from their audience, the delivery will be
different for each brand.
Your ad should also tie in with your brand’s goals for more effectiveness. An example is an anti-smoking campaign titled
Smoking Kid, which was run by ThaiHealth. The message was so powerful that the ad went viral in 30 countries and coincided with a 40 percent increase in hotlines that help smokers quit.
Keep
in mind that although emotional ads increase sales, they are often
difficult to create. Many companies have tried and missed, like
this one and
this one. In addition, ads that run on social media can quickly get out of hand.
What's more of a sure thing are the following five psychological hacks to help you launch compelling social campaigns.
Set the stage, with the right visual content.
This
is by far the most important aspect of your ad. Human beings are wired
to process images faster than they do text. In fact,
90 percent of the information transmitted to the human brain is visual. And it takes the human eye just 13 milliseconds to see an image.
But what has that got to do with emotion? Pictures
affect our emotions in two ways: through how we relate to the colors in them and through the memories they evoke.
Red,
for example, is an emotionally intense color and is often associated
with energy, passion or desire, making it a favorite of energy brands.
Contrast that with yellow, which often represents happiness, or with
blue, which evokes feelings of calm.
A picture of a smiling child
holding a gift can trigger memories of the gifts we received in our
childhoods. Paired with the right words and colors (say, red and
white at Christmas), this kind of image could, for instance, drive
traffic to a gift shop.
Choosing the right visuals for your
ads, therefore, is a must for a successful campaign. The right visuals
will not only make the message more powerful, but the campaign more
memorable.
Include a human face.
Ever heard of the fusiform face area? The
fusiform face area (FFA) is a part of the human visual system that is specialized for facial recognition.
Studies have found that humans are hard-wired to spot faces.
One of the many reasons for this is that
facial expressions are universal
and we read emotions in faces. Irrespective of tribe or background, a
human is able to tell whether someone is sad, angry or happy in a
picture. By leveraging faces in your ad, you can set the mood from the
start, using the model’s facial expressions to trigger desired emotions
in your audience.
Tell a great story.
Next to
visuals, the other thing human beings love is a well-told story.
Storytelling especially works with ads that aim to increase brand
awareness. This primes your audience members, making them more receptive
to ads that actually sell something.
An example is the Airbnb Facebook ad
Wall and Chain, which
was nominated for a Webby Award. By telling a story of a man trying to
find his sense of place, Airbnb not only delivered an ad that resonated
with its audience but aligned with the brand image.
Another way to
tell great stories on social media is through
sequenced messaging.
Refinery29, a fashion and beauty website, partnered with Adaptly and
Facebook, tried this out. It found that the test group which was told a
story through the ads
converted at the highest rate compared to other test groups.
For
best results, then, pair your campaign with a great story. In a world
of fast scrolls and short attention spans, you might get a chance to
linger longer in the mind of your audience.
Sell the benefits, not the features.
The
world’s most powerful brands are those that have mastered the
benefits-versus-features hack. Coca-Cola has become a household name by
selling the “feeling of drinking a Coke,” not the drink itself. It’s so
effective that the sight of Coke’s iconic red can make some people
thirsty for a drink. Who wouldn't want to “open happiness”?
In
other words, sell the result, not the product. Give some thought to the
benefits that your products and services bring to your audience and sell
that satisfaction.
What does home delivery actually mean to your
consumer? It means: “You don’t need to visit our store. We will bring it
to you so you won’t have to leave your kids.”
Leverage "FOMO."
FOMO -- or fear of missing out -- officially became a thing way back in 2004 when Patrick McGinnis wrote about it in
The Harbus, a magazine of the Harvard Business School.
One
of the hallmarks of social media is that people want to be part of
events as they unfold. FOMO refers to “a pervasive apprehension that
others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent.”
This phenomenon is especially true for millennials;
69 percent of millennials,
according to the Harris Poll, experience FOMO. So, if you’re targeting
millennials, throwing in a bit of FOMO might give them the final nudge.
FOMO marketing techniques use countdowns, show social proof and promote experiences.
Closely
related to FOMO is exclusivity. By making your product somewhat
unreachable (through limited editions or offers), you can increase the
desire for it.
Address a social issue.
One of the
surest ways of gaining traction with a campaign is to take on a social
issue. However, this s also a dicey method because it requires careful
execution. Done right, it can set your up your brand as thoughtful and
sensitive.
An example is the Always
Like a Girl campaign
which addressed the self-esteem and confidence issues faced by teenage
girls during puberty. The campaign won several awards and received over 65 million views on YouTube.
While brands like Always have excelled with this technique, other brands have also failed. The key here is to study your audience members thoroughly and understand their motivations, fears and passions.
Conclusion
An
excellent emotional social campaign is a mix of many things done well:
great visuals, excellent storytelling and copy that sells the specific
benefits of the product or service. Promoting exclusivity can also
trigger desired responses in your audience. More daring brands will take
on a social problem for even more impact. Overall, the perfect campaign
can be achieved only when brand goals are crystal clear and the
audience is thoroughly understood.
