Humans possess a code that you can crack to make your digital branding engagement rates skyrocket. These six psychology hacks can put your digital brand on the right path to success.
Using basic psychology hacks, it’s easy to access the human brain and find out what appeals to your audience. You just need to follow these simple steps to maximum audience engagement.
6 Psychology Hacks That Immediately Improve Your Digital Brand
Psychology has been a beneficial addition to many different facets of life, and your digital brand engagement is no exception. These six psychology hacks are all you need to get your brand on the right track and increase your digital brand engagement rates.
Psychology Hack #1: Use Images of People
It’s common knowledge that adding pictures to your posts will increase performance rates and engagement. The human mind gravitates towards images and is more likely to read an article that formatted for easy reading.
But did you know that changing the type of image you share can cause massive changes in the number of viewers you get?
Posting pictures of yourself and your team will do better to build up interest than any stock photo you post. An image on Instagram of a human face will get 38% more likes than those without a face.
Our captivation with the human face has been influencing our decisions since we were infants. An infant will stare at an image of a face twice as long as they will a bullseye target. As an infant, this makes sense. They need adults to take care of them and are constantly searching for them, but why does this still happen as an adult?
Hormones get to take the blame for this one. When we look at an attractive human face the reward system of our brain goes crazy. This influx of feel-good hormones will have us continually going back to the same stimulus to recreate that feeling.
Once you know this basic fact, its time to apply it!
SEE ALSO: 5 Tips to Create A Great Headshot
Using a Facial Psychology Hack in Digital Branding
Time to embrace the camera and put yourself out there. When people come to look at your brand, they want to see the real people behind it. This will help them connect with who they’re buying from, promoting trust and a relationship.
Pictures that are posted with human faces in them will receive more comments and more likes than those without. Balance your pictures of other interests with at least 1/3 of yourself or your coworkers.
Incorporating yourself into your brand will see an increase in media engagement rates.
Psychology Hack #2: Build Curiosity
Curiosity has driven the world. Cavemen needed curiosity to discover fire, and explorers needed curiosity to discover the world. We may only have this on a smaller level now, but our mind is still curious and looking for the next discovery.
Today we’re not exploring the wild west; we’re combing through the vast reaches of the internet with curiosity still our main motivator.
This curiosity has us checking our social feeds over and over throughout the day to see if anything new has been posted and keeps us reading the news to see what’s new in the world.
Using a Curiosity Psychology Hack in Digital Branding
This is where you’ll tease your viewers a little bit. Create a sense of mystery with your posts. Let people know that new posts are coming but don’t share when. Doing this will increase the number of people to press ‘follow’ because they don’t want to miss out on new content.
Posting a work in progress picture can drum up excitement from your followers, or it may cause you to travel in a different direction based on the level of engagement you receive. This engagement will cause you to create better content that will influence the people you’re the most interested in, your followers.
SEE ALSO: Should Influencers Play a Role in Shaping Your Brand?
Psychology Hack #3: Use Fear Wisely
Just like curiosity, fear can drive people to action too. The fear of missing out is a great motivator.
We constantly check our social media because we have a fear of missing out. Humans possess a compulsion to know what’s going on around us and what we may be missing. We feel like if we don’t keep checking in, then we’ll miss out on something interesting or funny. So we just keep checking in.
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Using a Fear Psychology Hack in Digital Branding
Using this hack can cause you to post the opposite of what you might be drawn to. Instead of posting all about an event you’re promoting, you post what will happen if your viewers miss the event.
Give your viewers a taste of fear by confirming what their fear of missing out is telling them.
Find out what your viewers stand to lose if they don’t listen to your call to action. Call them out on it.
Research shows that losing something, or in this case feeling like you’ve lost out on something, hurts twice as much as any pleasure we receive from gaining something. This explains why some people hate to lose more than they care about winning.
Psychology Hack #4: Focus on Inclusivity
Humanity’s need for love and belonging is so strong that it made it onto Maslov’s Hierarchy of needs right after finding food and safety. We need to interact with others on a continual basis to stave off feelings of isolation and depression.
Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary (1995) argue that the need to belong is a fundamental human need to form and maintain at least a minimum amount of lasting, positive, and significant interpersonal relationships. Satisfying this need requires (a) frequent, positive interactions with the same individuals, and (b) engaging in these interactions within a framework of long-term, stable care and concern.
Individuals often take to the internet to find other people who share their same interests and values to fulfill their need for inclusion. Hashtags have made easy filters for finding exactly what you’re looking for, no matter your location.
SEE ALSO: How To Use Small Business Hashtags To Promote Your Brand
Using an Inclusivity Psychology Hack in Digital Branding
Adding how many people are already involved is also a good strategy to promote feelings of inclusion. Think of McDonald’s, what do all of their signs say? Billions served.
McDonald’s is positioning itself as a club that all your friends have joined. In fact, they say it’s a club with billions of people. Regardless of your views about this brand, we all have joined that club at some point in life.
Like McDonald’s, the words you choose make all the difference in your advertising. Keep that in mind when building your digital brand.
Psychology Hack #5: Create Urgency
Developing a sense of urgency in people can feel the same as a loss. Act right now, or you’ll miss out!
This relates to instilling a fear of missing out; you have to taunt your viewers with something awesome that will only be available for a short period. This will make your viewers have to act quickly if they don’t want to miss out.
Black Friday is a classic example of creating a sense of urgency. Millions of people flock to stores on Thanksgiving because of crazy sales that are for a limited time only. The urgency gets people moving when they otherwise wouldn’t.
Using an Urgency Psychology Hack in Digital Branding
Give your viewers a small window to get something from you. Starting an event? Only give a small time frame to sign up for it. Selling a new product? For a short period let people preorder it for a lower price.
This will give people the feeling that if they don’t act soon, then they’ll be missing out.
Psychology Hack #6: Use Reciprocity
Reciprocity keeps us giving back after we’ve been given something.
If a friend invites you to their party, there’s an obligation for you to invite them to a future party you are hosting. If a colleague does you a favor, then you owe that colleague a favor. And in the context of a social obligation people are more likely to say yes to those who they owe. – Influence at Work
This has to do with tangible objects like gifts. Studies have shown that people will tip better if their waiter gives them a small treat, like a piece of chocolate.
This also has to do with random acts of kindness. A good deed done to you by someone else will most likely create an act of kindness in you.
Using a Reciprocity Psychology Hack in Digital Branding
If you give your viewers valuable material, you’re more likely to see the favor returned. This is a basic fact.
Here’s the thing though, you can’t ask for it. Asking your audience to like, share, or comment on your post is a turn-off. Find a way to make them want to do those things on their own.
A great way to do this is to issue a challenge.
Issuing a challenge can get people adding to your brand with their responses. Pictures of what they did to solve a problem, or trying to solve a problem can be a great way to get your audience involved.
Final Thoughts
By adding your face to your brand, building curiosity and fear, promoting inclusivity and urgency, and developing reciprocity, you’ll be able to connect with your audience. These personable and thrilling attributes will drive digital branding engagement, and you won’t even have to ask for it!
Is there another psychology hack that can be added to this list? Post your comment below…
