3 Ways to Use Social Media to Persuade Consumers

3 WAYS TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO PERSUADE CONSUMERS

Without Paid Ads!

Every post your organization makes has to potential to reach billions of people, billions of potential sales. But you only post pretty pictures and sales ads? Sure, you who doesn’t love a good sale or a beautiful necklace but what does it take to really get a consumer to buy into what you’re selling without them even feel like you’re just trying to get into their wallet. Let’s look into how you to use persuasion tactics to build your brand and convert follows and views into sales!

Aesop

RECIPROCITY

Oxford Dictionary defines reciprocity as “the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit, especially privileges granted by one organization to another.” What’s in it for me? Humans at our very core are self-interested. We naturally take to things that directly benefit us. Not just something we are getting in exchange for payment because that’s just fair. It’s the EXTRA that sticks out to us! Offering something personal and unexpected through your social media users like a free sample or a giveaway. I follow dozens of pages on social media as a result of giveaways and sweepstakes and have become a paying customer of several of them. It works!

SCARCITY

People want what they can’t have. When people see there is a limitation or restriction they want it more. So target this need by creating a sense of urgency. Pre-sales, limited time products, and exclusive opportunities are likely to have consumers rushing to get in on the deal because we all know, no one wants to be excluded from something others have.

CONSENSUS

I remember growing up my mother used to say “so if your friends jump off a cliff are you going to do it too?”. The sad but unfortunate truth is, I probably would have. Why are we like this? People trust and have faith in the things that other people trust. This is why trends are so effective, if you can get enough people or influential people to endorse a product, service, idea, style, or action, you can likely get a multitude of others to follow. While not every business owner has celebrity clients or has the large following of many social media influencers, if you can convince people that the right people or alot of people are buying into your brand or product/service you will be able to leverage it.

The overall idea is while direct or hard selling techniques are effective in it’s own right, it is vital to the success of your business (and budget) that you consider the psychology behind how consumers are persuaded to act. The use of persuasion is a stealthy and clever tactic to build your social media following, increase brand loyalty, and increase sales conversions.