Why Emotion Beats Logic Every Time on Social Media

Do you ever post on social media and all you get back are crickets? Hardly any likes, hardly any engagement at all. It's really common, and today we're going to unpack why that might be and what you can do to fix that.

One of the things you'll hear me talk about throughout this podcast is storytelling. Why is that so important? You've probably heard about storytelling ... it's been all the rage for several years. But why does it matter so much?

Features and benefits just don't matter anymore to customers. I'm not saying do away with them ... I'm saying that they certainly don't stop the scroll. They don't build trust, because they're just a list of features and benefits and facts that are, frankly, quite boring. And they don't really do much to differentiate you from your competition, and they just don't make you unforgettable.

So they don't do any of the things that small businesses need them to do.

What can you do instead? It doesn't mean your features and benefits need to completely go away. You still want those on your website and in certain other places. But you don't want to lead with those all the time ... just as a list on your social media, or frankly anywhere, because they don't stick in anybody's brain.

Studies have shown that facts and figures are not nearly as memorable as things shared in the form of a story. So what you can do is take each one of those features and benefits and turn them into an individual story ... hopefully featuring a hero. And the hero should almost always be the customer, and what you as the sidekick were able to help that customer achieve because they used your service, your product, or hired you in some capacity.

Breaking that down further means we have to trigger emotion in most of our posts. And that does not mean you have to get people crying, weeping, or gnashing their teeth. It just means that emotion makes things memorable. Scientifically proven fact ... way more memorable than facts alone. So if we share those facts couched in a story that triggers emotion, that's a home run right there.

Rather than saying "family owned and operated" ... which I see all the time, because a lot of small businesses are, and there's nothing wrong with that. I think it's a great thing. You just have to figure out a way to turn that into a story.

If you don't have a lot of space ... a mailer, a postcard, a leave-behind, something like that ... what I don't like to see is cramming that flyer full of boring features and benefits, because that's what all your competitors do.

Instead, can you figure out a different way to say it? Like "family owned for 52 years." Or better yet: "family owned since disco was in style." Anything like that is going to trigger an emotion ... maybe nostalgia, or a laugh, or a memory someone has with that era. You have just become so much more unforgettable. And that also makes you stand out from all of your competitors who are just stating the fact.

"Open 24 hours" ... what's a different way you could say that? How about: "We have people work the night shift so that you're always covered." Find any way to say it besides the boring "open 24 hours" that your competitors are using, and you are going to find that you get a lot more eyeballs on your material.

I love injecting a sense of humor into things, like the disco example. But if you're not in a business that lends itself to something laughable ... I love to use the mortuary example ... you can find ways to still use humor. If you're not marketing to people who have an immediate need, but you're just trying to be memorable, there are absolutely ways to use humor.

Another thing that always triggers emotion is using pets ... dogs, cats, guinea pigs ... or babies, kids, and family. I spoke in an earlier episode about a guy who owns a car repair shop. He had been posting forever using stock photos of cars with perfectly clean mechanics who were clearly models hired to pose ... and who probably never unscrewed a lug nut in their lives.

But instead, what he did recently was post a picture of himself with his son, who looks to be about three years old. He's crouched down next to his son, and they are both looking at a tire. An image can trigger emotion as much as the right sentence, or as much as a video. It doesn't always have to be a video.

What can you do that showcases what you're about, or tells a story through visuals? Through video, or through what you write. I hope that you're mixing it up ... not always just posting text, and not always just posting a photo. Mixing it up and doing a combination of different types of formats, because those hit differently. They resonate with different audiences.

Some people are readers and are drawn to your text. Other people prefer video, because we are largely a video-consuming society these days. But sometimes a photo can accomplish the exact same thing.

So how can you take every single one of those features on your website and find a way to highlight a customer ... or a problem that was solved by one of your amazing staff ... making other people the hero, shining the light on other people?

You are allowed to every now and then brag and take credit for things. Just don't do it all the time. A good humble brag works better than a straight announcement. On LinkedIn you'll see this all the time ... "I was so honored to be chosen for store of the year" ... that's better than just saying "just announced: store of the year." There's no emotion behind that. Even a little bit of a humble brag is so much better than just an announcement that has no personality and no humanity to it.

So that's this episode ... one of the shorter ones. I hope it's helpful, and I would love to hear your thoughts. While you're at it, grab a copy of my new book ... it's called Small Is Your Superpower, and it's available on my website, thebuyerinsider.com, or from Amazon.