The transition of marketing campaigns from communicating toward consumers to communicating with consumers is an important distinction that has many traditional businesses thrown through a loop. The efficacy of standard marketing practices is steadily decreasing, and the consumers are responding to a more interpersonal approach with surprising fervor. Brands are now publishing more content and displaying human characteristics in order to connect more with their target demographics, and going viral can mean the difference between the success of a newly emerging business and the absolute destructive failure of such a company. There are more than 5.3 trillion ads displayed online per year, which makes the odds of going viral relatively slim, even for preexisting companies with staunch brand recognition. So, how is one small company supposed to cut through all of the noise and advertisement pollution of social media and go viral? Studies have shown that emotional engagement is the number one factor for a successful viral campaign.
Using Strong Emotional Drivers to Make People Respond
When you want to truly engage an audience in a way that maintains attention and devotion, you have to create an immediate maximal emotional excitement. An audience tends to respond better when they are battered with quick swipes to their emotions, as long as those swipes aren’t laced with branding and logos. Emotional content is only effective if it doesn’t come off as a sales pitch or advertisement. The appeal comes from that suspension of disbelief, and by interspersing branding into an otherwise successful commercial or advert, a company immediately breaks that illusion, causing all of their hard work to come crashing down around them. With that being said, what types of emotions should a company seek to inspire in their audience? Would making the individuals happy and nostalgic have a positive impact, or would a touching, somewhat saddening tale take the cake? Well, it actually depends on the format and medium of the advert.
Videos Need An Emotional Rollercoaster
If the advert in question is going to be a part of a video marketing campaign, then the emotions you play on should be both positives and negatives equally interspersed to draw in attention. By showcasing heavy content that is certain to inspire upset, you are going to capture interest. When you break up the negativity with blips of happiness and pleasantness, you keep them on the hook. Such an aptly designed emotional rollercoaster is guaranteed to leave a distinct impression on everyone. The contrast between different emotional highs allows the audience to become thoroughly engaged without risking boredom, contentment, or excess reactivity. Emotions are a tricky business, but their uniquely human capacity renders them the perfect tool for marketing ploys.
Text-Based And Image-Based Content Needs to Be Focused
Negative emotions are big turn off for image-based or text-based adverts. Playing on negativity in such a distinctly oppositional medium does not give the opportunity for an emotional palate cleansing, and therefore, an oscillation between bad and good emotions has the inverse effect. For a viral marketing campaign that results in interest and support, text and image adverts need to emphasize a lack of negativity. The best positive emotions to play on in order to sell content the most efficiently are curiosity, amazement, interest, astonishment, uncertainty, and admiration. These emotional inspirations will not have the desired effect, however, if your company fails to actually associate themselves with the messages being conveyed. There needs to be a strong emotional attachment to the ad, and in consequence, a strong emotional attachment to the company itself. That means that the content being conveyed has to address a specific attribute or facet of the company.
