By Nitin Chhoda
Psychology is an integral part of marketing, and understanding the psychological factors behind decision making can help business owners increase their client engagement on social media.
Many people think they make decisions based entirely on factual data, but research has amply proven that decisions are based, in large part, on an individual's past experiences. If you're a business owner, you likely know how important this is when it comes to customer experience. This decision-making bias is already part of our ingrained psychological process.
As the owner of several businesses and a consultant to other small business owners, I've learned that psychology is just as important as fiscal responsibility when it comes to developing tactics to grow revenue streams and engage clients. Here are five psychological tactics to help you achieve this.
Provide a sample.
People often become attached to objects, ideas and beliefs, and assign value to them. When it's a physical item, people may designate a greater monetary value to the object than its actual worth: this is known as the endowment effect.
An easy way to put this to work in your own business is through an opt-in offer. Provide individuals with a sample of something in exchange for their email address. Typically, the exchange is in the form of expanded or enhanced access to your product. Asking a prospect to call in gives you their phone number, asking someone to send a text message to a short code gives you their cell phone number, and asking someone to request a free report in the mail gives you their mailing address.
Give something to get something.
The concept of reciprocity is unique in its ability to transcend cultures. When someone gives something, the other person will often return the favor by giving something back.
People are most likely to respond when they feel that a gesture is sincere, there is no expectation of a return gesture, and it was given as a way of saying "thank you" or as an attempt to serve.
In the growth of my own businesses, I have found that any marketing campaign I implement is exponentially more successful if I start by first providing something of value (like content) before ever asking anything of my customer. I recently ran a standard Facebook campaign that acted as a mirror to an older campaign: same copy, same sales point. In this case, however, the new campaign's funnel began with a free content piece that my audience saw genuine value in. The results were astounding: 12 times the amount of engagement on the new post than the original.
Ask for a favor.
Someone who has performed a favor for another person is more likely to do another favor for that person than they would be if they instead received a favor from that person. This is known as the Benjamin Franklin Effect, and it's an effective way to build goodwill among fans and followers. Simply asking for feedback, thoughts and experiences will help build rapport and likeability. People who respond to a request for a favor rationalize it by telling themselves they like the person, or else they wouldn't have complied.
On the part of the business owner, the way you handle reciprocity impacts your perception. Reward those who respond to the request with a public "thank you" and mention them in an email, blog post or article. But don't tell them beforehand: the recognition should be perceived as a pleasant surprise rather than an incentive/hidden agenda. Prospects will perceive that they helped the business instead of doing them a favor -- an important distinction.
Offer plenty of exposure.
In social media marketing for physical therapy, I've found that the more frequently someone is exposed to something, the more they tend to like it and attach a positive association to it. One way to gain maximum customer impressions across multiple platforms is to post the same information on different social media outlets, but staggering the release by a few hours.
As studies have shown, social proof can also be at the backbone of decision-making and exposure outcomes. A text or video testimonial by a client provides others with social proof that the business is trending. Social proof can take many forms, ranging from awards received and clients served to client testimonials and length of time in the industry.
Consider emotional proximity.
Social media enables people to be close to those they know, like and trust. It affords the individual bragging rights and social proof that they're "somebody" and they know "that person." This has a powerful effect and leads to an indication of social status through proximity.
Don't be afraid to show your human side: the better a business owner is at demonstrating that he or she is similar to fans and followers, the better the community will feel about the business. Everyone has had an amusing or frustrating experience while shopping, sitting in traffic or interacting with children or pets. Don't hesitate to share your own. People who frequently interact with the same individuals in turn begin to feel closer to them through proximity.
Understanding how people think is key to keeping your existing clients happy as well as acquiring new ones. Knowing the psychology of how your customers think, perceive value and build long-term relationships helps business owners engage their audience for profitable, lasting relationships.
Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT is the founder of physical therapy newsletter marketing systems, medical electronic documentation software like In Touch EMR and medical billing companies like In Touch Billing. For more articles and information, click here to visit his physical therapy marketing blog.