Maximizing the Art of Persuasion Using Social Media

Persuasion, in its very essence, is psychology.

You’re technically addressing the brain and convincing it to believe what you’re saying and do what you’re asking. But the brain is a complex organ. It doesn’t easily get persuaded by minor ads it sees as repetitive.

For marketers, the art of persuasion has been a daily challenge especially now that the market’s perception is easily affected by the barrage of external information it sees. For industries undergoing tough competition such as the mobile app developmentcompanies in the Philippines, being able to persuade clients is vital in their operations.

Below are some proven-effective strategies that would make your persuasion tactic even more efficient!

Bank on testimonials

If there’s something that works just as good as advertising but for free, it would be actual testimonials from your customers. What real clients say builds up your credibility as a company. The more positive feedback you receive, the better.

Facebook has a feature that allows page owners to provide a review option for the public. This way, clients will have an easier way to review your service through star ratings. It will also help prospect customers get an idea of your average satisfaction rate judging from what other people say.

Share awards and recognitions

Any form of recognitions may it be from an academic body, or a government-run organization can impact your credibility as a company.

Do not hesitate to share these awards on your social media sites. Clients who are so keen in hiring reliable services are likely to get in touch with those ventures who have already received special recognitions from trusted award-giving bodies.

Show significant attention to customer service

There’s a reason why big companies such as Uber create a separate Twitter help support account apart from their official one. You can’t just impress everyone. And from time to time, clients will want to get in touch with you to ask for some help.

Creating an easier mechanism to extend your support is vital in building trust and confidence. Twitter is an efficient avenue for this. If you’re mainly promoting on Facebook, then including a ‘Message Now’ link to your official page is a good way to tell your followers that you’ll respond to their inquiries ASAP.

Partner with influential individuals, groups, etc.

There are several ways on how to persuade customers. You can invest on flashy ads on television or online and event distribute quality magazines or brochures. But one technique that remains to be a top method in getting your market’s attention is partnering with popular individuals in the industry.

The clothing business is fond of using this. We often see big stars in the entertainment industry wearing a casual shirt of a specific brand. The image alone can be simple, but its message is clear. If that particular star trusts the brand, then it must be excellent.

Of course, companies need to pay for these models, but few can do it for free especially if they’re an avid fan of your brand.

Display figures and statistics

Social media is now the go-to place for a lot of people when it comes to buying something. But with the variety of choices available for them, it could be difficult to tell which is authentic and which is not.

Including statistics and figures on your social media posts could help customers narrow down their list. If you’ve had a significant sale for the last month, for instance, then getting the numbers and making it into an attractive image or infographics is a good way to encourage others to give the product a try.

People feel the need to conform. In Psychology, we call this social proof. The ability to design a social media strategy that answers this need remains a crucial factor in determining who wins the competition.

Reassess your current strategies and see which areas need a significant boost in persuasion

The Evolution of the iPod: How Apple Tries to Keep Up With Music When It Comes to Technology

As a music lover myself, I have been keeping up with the music that is emerging nowadays. Not mentioning the music that my parents have been enjoying a couple of years ago. For me, music is something that I wish I could always have, like a soundtrack that affirms every life event, every milestone.

Image by stackexchange.com

With this, I always make sure to have my disc jockey with me back then. But when the iPod came out for the first time, it gave me a hint of ease and comfort because of the fact that it is good for digital music consumption. Don’t get me wrong, I love listening to music using my disc jockey with my headphones on, but the iPod trend got me.

Music Revolution

The time when Steve Jobs presented a new device called the iPod, a lot have been intrigued about how it would affect the music industry especially the production of CDs and physical records. However, this made music even more revolutionized. With the very handy dandy gadgets on side, surely, music can be heard anywhere, everywhere with Apple’s first iPod, which holds 1,000 songs. Clearly, it showcases a massive storage capability within just a very light and compact body.

The time iTunes was launched; the iPod made more sense because of the millions of song downloads that were acquired. What made it more popular is the fact that artists are now even using iTunes to sell their music out to the public, having more easy access for their listeners, not mentioning the comfort it gives with just a few clicks by online purchase.

iPod Evolution

Now, the lines of Apple iPods have really come a long way, in technological sense. From just having shuffle modes to touch screens and to Wi-Fi enabling features, the iPod’s evolution definitely served its purpose.

The iPod Classic

By swiftly swiping the surface of this classic gadget, the iPod Classic is definitely one of its kinds. It has set the bar for music consumption. Storing up to 160G worth of memory capacity, one can also store videos, photos and files for easy access without you needing a USB stick to transfer files.

It might look a bit huge, quite enough to fit on your hands, but definitely the iPod classic is a must have.

The iPod Nano

The iPod nano is another revolutionary invention to make things more light and easy. Still a portable media player having been able to undergo seven generation updates. This just shows that Apple is keeping up with the demands of their consumers in accordance to the usage. More often than not, most athletes, or people who wanted to maintain a healthy lifestyle by mere exercising with music usually use the iPod nano. So if you want to jog along with some music, the iPod nano is perfect for you! However, there is not definite news on what Apple’s plans are for this gadget but let us just anticipate that it will still stay for a while on store shelves longer.

The iPod Touch

Close enough to being like the iPhone, except the SMS and call features, the iPod touch is a multi-purpose pocket size electronic device. It doesn’t only hold music for storage but it also stores video. Aside from that, it can also be used as a digital camera and a handheld game device with applications you can purchase or download at the App Store. Sure enough, mobile app development firms tops this. Going back, the iPod Touch also enables you to connect to the Internet through Wi-Fi. It has similarities that of an iPhone because of its iOS operating system. More over, it holds a maximum of 64G storage capacity.

Clearly, the iPod has been undergoing different changes just like how music is influencing the public through all these years. 

Photography: A Digital Marketing Strategy

More often than not, photography has been a long time favorite hobby for most of us. And it has been one of the most trending interests globally. With photography, you can do whatever you want within that scope of clicking your camera and taking photos out of it. And in digital marketing, this is one of the most widely known marketing strategies because it is powerful and it creates impact.

Let us run through the ways in which photography can help boost marketing and make everything just so easy.

Make sure you have well thought of themes.  This will create interest to your readers and online visitors and perhaps will also create buzz around your website. Themes should have similar context based on your product, your organization and what your advocacies to have consistency in your posts.

Use social media platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram or Tumblr. With the help of social media, your photos can go to greater heights because of the fast and viral features these platforms can do. Your photos can go viral, it also creates a share-to-many rule and all the credit goes out directly to you! Isn’t that amazing?

The Pinterest site with the tags 'house'

Let’s take for example Pinterest. This social media will allow your viewers to see photos they like, search them and pin them on their dashboards for everyone to see! The sharing feat will not only limit you to these sites, but also to networks including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and many more. All you have to do is link your accounts and voila! You can even have an access to these social media platforms via your smartphones as mobile apps.

Display your products with in real life situations. Go beyond the usual basic product shoots that you do for your catalogs. Think of ways on how you can contextualize and apply your products in real life. Make viewers want them when they see them. Show off your products in a not so traditional way to make it more interesting and visually appealing.

Share your organization’s story. Photographs are powerful and when you use these to give prospects, customers and the public will have a sense of your firm’s history and physical location. You can also showcase photographs with your founder, how you started and what are the milestones the company have been into. Set a timeline for this to create a memory lane that your customers can see.

A view of Starbucks' Instagram account

Branding enhancement. For many companies, this means going beyond your traditional branding guidelines. This means rethinking of how you are going to appear in photographs and think about the backgrounds you will have. Also, you may include your employees, as they are one of the important factors, which made your company to a success. By this, it goes to show that you are thinking about your employees’ welfare and have a sense of care towards them.
Behind the scenes are also good. Photographs show who’s behind your brand and your organization. Showing a human face that will stand up as a representative is important. Either it be a senior executive, or a customer-facing employee, it is significant that your customers and the public will know and see this through your photographs.

Educating your viewers how to use your products. And by this, it means you can teach your customers on how to use your products in lieu of videos or as a supplement to other instructions. You can take photos of someone in the company demonstrating on how your products should go about. Sometimes, customers are also seen in the scene. Think beauty products or cooking, where customers can see the interim process.

Use your photos to show that you are participating. Of course, aside from your products, your customers and the public would also want to know if you are participating in some social awareness agenda. Or if you are an organization who care about such environmental and civic advocacies. Or if you are inclined to such issues as current events and news are concerned. The public wants to know how you would represent yourself to the public and photos are one of the fastest ways to show that image they want to see.

Invite customers to share product and brand related photos. This would not be effective if there is no interaction within your customers. You can ask your customers to post photos about your products being used and if they have been satisfied about them. In this way, these photos will indirectly promote you and your company through your customer’s satisfactions.

Here is a promotional video from IKEA PS 2014  about their Instagram Website

We, as humans, are visual beings, which means we get attracted to images and how they give an impact to us through photographs. As marketers, you have to ensure that your images (and your photography) are an integral part of your content offering. Photos help a lot to achieve your marketing objectives and extend readers’ engagement with your content.