If you missed The Psychology of Social presentation at WordCamp Boston this past weekend, or if you are interested in learning more about why consumers use social media and how that usage can impact your content strategy, here are a few key takeaways from my presentation.
- Consumers choose to build social media profiles, connect and form attachments with people and brands to fulfill mental and emotional needs like creating a sense of belonging, gaining respect or esteem, and establishing their identity.
- Once a consumer determines a need to make a connection, they evaluate each connect to determine if that relationship is needed for survival and what value they can derive from the relationship. Consumers form relationships for 'feel good'? reasons like sharing common experiences or utilitarian reasons like getting access to coupons or discounts.
- Consumer types like emotional or rational decision makers and skeptics use different combinations of content to build relationships or inform purchases. By understanding your audiences' needs based on consumer types, you can develop targeted content that will ultimately be the key to making connections with your audience and creating attachment with your brand.
- Be mindful of how your audience interacts with social media and what technologies they may use to consume media. Leverage social web technologies, optimize content for mobile devices, and use social integration to help consumers find, read and share your content or purchase your product from anywhere.
Q&A
As part of the presentation, several questions were asked that introduced two crucial elements to building a content strategy and forming long-term attachments with consumers.
1) Before you create a page on every social network you can think of, take some time to evaluate where your audience is talking about your brand or industry and what networks your target audience uses most frequently to connect and share. Even doing informal research will help in building an audience map so you can prioritize your time and resource allocation.
2) Once you've created your social media profiles and start to grow your communities, don't get caught up in simply listening to conversations. To truly build attachments with your audience, your brand must work to create an authentic relationship by developing a genuine brand personality and by participating in conversations as much as you are listening to them.
Now that you have some insight into the allure of social media for consumers, it's time to get to work doing research, developing a content strategy, and create content that will help you build strong relationships with your community.
If you would like more detail on The Psychology of Social, view the presentation below.
WordCamp Boston: The Psychology of Social Media from AMP Agency
Download the complete white paper here.
