Do you remember the 1980’s commercials with the egg in the frying pan to represent our brains on drugs? It was a direct visual approach to stop kids from taking drugs. Since social media has a similar negative reputation, we thought it would be a good idea to explore the way social media shapes our brains in order to create better social media marketing.

Let’s first look at a study published in 2012 by researchers Tracy Packiam Alloway and Ross Geoffrey. The study was titled “The impact of engagement with social networking sites (SNSs) on cognitive skills”. This study examined the effects of social media channels on our working memory and attention skills. They found that participants had better working memory (short term memory) and better attention to details when they frequently used social media sites.

A really enlightening study came out of Tokyo on emotional connections in social media. They found that emojis triggered emotional responses in participants. So the doubters of emojis have been proven wrong!

We now know that social media:

• Improves short term memory
• Improves attention to detail
• Triggers emotion with the use of emojis

How can we structure our social media marketing posts to take advantage of these benefits? We can really reach people through social media in a memorable way and they are paying attention to it. Post things that are interesting, informative and have graphics. Then use emojis to help you trigger emotion in your social media marketing. Remember to post funny things as well. People like to laugh and share the laughs with others.

The real take-away here is to use social media. It does not matter if you are in a B2C or a B2B environment, since people make up both groups you can create appeal for your product or service. Your messaging and imagery will be different between the groups of course. In order for your social media to have impact you need to be posting regularly. The most important thing is to listen to what others are saying to you and about you. You cannot control what they say, but you can control your response to it.

If you have any questions contact us today. We are glad to help!