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Which emotions should we invoke through social media? #DigitalInsights

Author's avatar By Susanne Colwyn 26 Sep, 2014
Essential Essential topic

Should we give our content more personality - the most common feature of the most shareable content?

We talk about targeted and relevant content for our audience, though can we cross the line with humour and show our personal side, or does it have to be  ‘corporate’?  Some companies play it safe and keep it less personal where others show more personality with humour, if it aligns with their brand and tone of voice.  Once we share content then we know that we can’t remove it, so is there any research to help us?

Which are the top 3 emotions we invoke in our social media content?

Over 10,000 top most shareable articles were analysed by Buzzsumo and the topic and tone matched to an emotion as shown in the chart. Interestingly, ‘the top 3 invoked emotions are awe, laughter and amusement.'

BUzzsumoemotionalcontent

Source: OkDork.com

Publishing for content marketing involves a psychological contract, so it's important to understand how to invoke the right emotions, to make those positive on-line connections.  We know people can get angry and this can result in damaging our brand, resulting in loss of sales, though can we still be controversial without being personal and political?

Balancing positive, engaging shareable content for our brand can be a challenge though in some sectors such as B2B, so the question prompted by this research is... should we play it safe or push the boundaries by invoking entertaining content?  New York Time's research illustrates entertaining content is shared because recipients 'like to share valuable, entertaining content, stay connected with great content and it’s about self fulfilment and initiating conversations.' An interesting topic and be great to see some examples.

Author's avatar

By Susanne Colwyn

Susanne is a Marketing Consultant and Trainer, with over 20 years marketing experience in the public and private sector. She's passionate about supporting companies with practical result driven marketing, to help focus companies on evaluating and driving their marketing forward. Experienced in Integrated Strategic Marketing Planning, Data Segmentation, Customer Relationship Management Systems, Customer Insight and reviewing internal systems, data and processes, to maximise conversion strategies and the customer experience. You can connect with her via her LinkedIn or follow her @Qtymarketing.

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