Facebook Use These Secret Psychology Hacks To Engage Users

Social Media audience is just growing exponentially every year. With the advent of new Social Media platforms like Instagram,  Snapchat  &  We Chat the average daily time that users are spending on social media has just skyrocketed in the last few years. 

                                                                    Source: Global WebIndex

                                                                               Source: Statista

But, do you know what’s the real psychology behind  Like, Comment & Share features that every Social Media is banking on to earn billions in revenues?  If you can understand what actually goes through a  user’s mind when he or she is on Facebook you can then produce engaging content according to your niche audience & generate more traffic.

Let’s dive into our research!

Connection With Brain’s Reward Center

It has been discovered that there a  strong connection is established between Facebook activity & brain’s reward center “nucleus accumbens”  which is the pleasure center of the human brain. This part lightens up when we get a positive feedback whether in person or on Facebook through “Likes” & “Comments”.

Research also shows that while browsing Facebook there is a change in pupil dilation which is an indication that the users are happily engrossed in the activity.

Why We “Like”

“Like” is the social currency of Facebook.

According to Facebook:

“Like” is a way to give positive feedback or to connect with things you care about on Facebook. You can like content that your friends post to give them feedback or like a Page that you want to connect with on Facebook.”

Pew Research Center surveyed thousands of Americans discovered that 44% of Facebook users “like” content posted by their friends at least once a day, with 29% doing so several times per day.

According to research, there is a scientific reason or psychology behind liking a particular status or photo.

It’s a quick nod to show your support  & to cast your vote

According to Elan Morgan who conducted   2-week experiment, she chronicled on Medium  –

“The Like is the wordless nod of support in a loud room. It’s the easiest of yesses, I-agrees, and me- too.”  

Affirm Something About Ourselves

According to study of more than 58,000 people    we can predict gender,  race,  political inclination  etc.  just by analyzing  the “Likes”

Expressing  Virtual Empathy

We can express solidarity to someone’s status updates & cause through Facebook “Likes ” which shows we are on the same line of thinking. A study reported in Psychology Today shows this almost has the same implications like real-world empathy.

[Tweet "The Secret Psychology  Behind Facebook Engagement."]

Why We “Comment”

We comment when we have to say something to express our opinion regarding anything.

According to a research conducted composed communication like comments & messages seems to have a greater effect to on alleviating loneliness.  In fact, according to the experiment, it has been discovered comments seems to decrease loneliness more than private messages.

If you have a business page then replying to “comment”  on a consistent basis can boost the fan engagement ratio.

Why We Post Status Updates 

Posting reduce loneliness & make us feel connected

A group of students was studied by researchers of Arizona & Berlin and tracked their “loneliness levels” while posting Facebook status updates. The study found that when students updated their Facebook statuses more often, they reported lower levels of loneliness independent of the feedback of their statuses.

What Stops Us From Posting

Researchers found that people are more likely to self-censor when they feel their audience is hard to define. People engage only when they feel connected to one another and understood by their audience.

Why People “Share” 

The audience usually tends to share something when they find something valuable, interesting, funny content or when they want to promote some product or services or support any cause.

[Tweet “The Secret Psychology Behind Facebook Engagement.”]

This awesome infographic from Quicksprout gives us a comprehensive insight into the psychology beyond this behavior of users in Facebook.

                                Courtesy: QuickSprout

If you’d like to consult me for devising a customized marketing strategy tailor-made for your business you can send me a message here on FB Messenger for a quick consultation.