Emotions play a great role in our day-to-day lives. Harnessing emotions in social media campaigns is a winning tactic to grow your customer base to increase sales.

1. When making purchasing decisions, consumers rely on emotions
rather than information.
We think we make purchasing decisions rationally, but the fact is we
make decisions emotionally. And, it has been scientifically proven.
According to a study, our decision making is 30% rational and 70%
emotional.

2. The 2002 Nobel Prize winner, Psychologist Daniel Kahneman, in his book Thinking, Fast
And Slow, demonstrated how we have two systems working in our mind.
System one – Intuitive and Automatic
System two – Lazy and Calculative
The system one is fast thinking that relies on our gut instinct, emotions and
unconscious decision-making, while system two is slow, conscious and rational
thinking. System two often overrules system one by rationalizing it, and most of us
believe we use system two while taking decisions, but we don’t.
The matter of fact is we use both the systems while thinking, but we tend to avoid
slow thinking as much as possible relying more on our gut instincts, and this is the
reason why emotions take over logic.
A content that comes with an emotional heading would immediately attract our
attention. Similarly, emotional social media campaigns engage more customer
attention. The emotional connect helps in bringing down loyalty and buying barriers,
easing the decision to take action.

3. Since the onset of advertising, brands have been appealing to emotions, and social
media marketing has added to the appeal by provoking consumer’s emotions that
trigger their subconscious reactions. Also, social media makes it easy to connect with
the consumer on a one-on-one level making every consumer feel special and unique.

4. Consumers, who follow brands on social media, are more emotionally connected to them.
A lot of consumers feel that their purchases from companies they follow on social media brings joy
and pleasure to their life as these brands proudly reflect their personal lifestyle.
It’s a natural instinct; the more we hear about something, the more we start believing in it.
Repetition helps the audience remember the brand and its related content.
By replaying an idea or campaign, it is implanted in the audience’s mind, and since it is familiarity
and not logic that we rely on, repetition makes your brand familiar.1

5. Consumers use social media as a means of relaxation and don’t want to think too hard or make
difficult decisions. They come on social media mostly to distract themselves from the nitty-gritty of
life, and want to feel happy, hopeful & joyful. So, trying to connect with them on an emotional level
works pretty well rather than appealing to their logical way of thinking.
Knowing the audience and what they identify
with allows brands to build a loyal customer
base, which can further be leveraged to
create long-term loyalty towards the brand.
People connect with a brand for some
reasons. Either the brand adds value to them
or offers a unique solution to their problem.

6. Overusing emotional hook makes it passé.
Using emotional appeal works really well, but
too much of anything becomes irritating, and
the same goes with emotions. We can wear
our customers out if we do too much of
emotional tugging. There has to be a balance
of emotion and ideally, any social media
campaign should register in the following
four emotional areas, using the fourth with
utmost care.

7. Consumers want to feel happy about their purchase and you need to tap into the happy factor.
The bittersweet feeling is powerful and advertisers have been using sadvertising for decades to
develop trust in a brand.
Fear motivates more customers than their pleasures, and campaigns that dispel their fear can
hit the right notes.
One of the strongest emotions, anger has the power to move people to action. Since it carries
a universal appeal, it can directly improve association between a consumer and a brand.
If you still aren’t tapping on emotional appeal to connect
with your customers on social media, start today.
When used at its best, these emotions can be a hit with
audiences, but what most consumers look for are
emotions that make them feel happy and hopeful.