Understanding the psychology of Social Media is extremely important for business owners. Marketers and advertisers can produce content suitable for social media psychology and establish a stronger bond between your potential customers and your brand or business. So how can science help us understand user behavior and increase sales regarding addiction and social media psychology?
The Internet has become the backbone of many societies, and the number of "digital natives" is increasing day by day. Social media, where users communicate and interact with each other; It has become one of the most effective channels through which you can market your brand, products and services. The main mechanism of social media is based on connecting with other people.
Most people spend half their day surfing the internet or checking social media on their mobile devices. Among these channels, Facebook is the most popular platform, followed by Twitter and Instagram.
The Science Behind Social Media
Social media is very addictive, so many people are addicted to social media. This condition is often described as “social media addiction” and refers to people who spend a lot of time on Facebook , Twitter, Instagram or one of the other channels.
Blog posts, Instagram photos, Tweets and YouTube videos can be easily created and shared by anyone, then viewed for free by millions. Psychologists and scientists began to focus on social media and try to understand why it takes up so much space in our daily lives.
There is no official medical term for social media addiction, but it should not be seen as a disease or disorder because it has been observed in many case studies that social media habits can be easily kept under control or prevented.
Instead of spending a long time on social media, we dive into social media at regular intervals throughout the day and look at what our friends and family are sharing or doing. The patterns of behavior associated with this overuse have become a subject of sociological and psychological debate.
We share selectively and actively, liking, commenting, and sharing personal content frequently. Apart from that, we express our feelings openly, but why?
Dopamine and Oxytocin
Years ago, scientists believed that dopamine was a simple pleasure-inducing chemical secreted in the brain. Recent studies have discovered that dopamine is a substance that shapes our “wants”.Dopamine is released instantly, unpredictability and small pieces of information trigger dopamine release, not knowing what we will find when we enter social media and small information about people's lives also provide the necessary conditions for dopamine release.
In their research on the effects of social media, researchers affiliated with the University of Chicago discovered that people's social media addiction is higher than cigarette or alcohol addiction.
Today, oxytocin is seen as the substance that triggers feelings of empathy, generosity and trust. These emotions are the emotions that advertisers and marketers focus on and play on when highlighting brands or businesses on social media
The Impact of Social Media on Human Emotions
So how does social media affect human psychology? Ten minutes spent on social media can increase oxytocin levels by 13%, a level equal to the hormonal surge some people experience on their wedding day.
Additionally, research shows that users' stress levels decrease when they come across entertaining content on social media.
Apart from making us happy by secreting hormones when we enter social media, it is very difficult to prevent the desire to enter social media more. That's why social media is extremely important for brands and businesses. In summary, marketers are trying to manipulate consumer behavior through social media.
When defining an addiction we describe compulsive behavior that has negative consequences, when it comes to marketing it is all about creating loyal customers.
Understanding what your customers want from your business and creating a relationship towards this is very important for the development of your business. Content that people interact with and comment on helps you understand the interests of your potential customers.
In many cases of addiction, people feel compelled to do certain activities on a regular basis. Marketers focus on how their products or services will add value to users' lives. Content marketing is creating and sharing engaging content.
Content marketing increases consumers' trust in your brand, products or services and enables consumers to turn into customers. The purpose of having a presence on social media is to reach as many people (or potential customers) as possible.
The time you spend building community and establishing good relationships returns value to your business. As Cloudnames, we believe in the importance of providing your visitors and customers with an unforgettable experience. This is not easy to achieve, but once you start to network effectively , you will start to have a place in people's minds with your brand.
Selfishness and Self-Promotion
We have a tendency to compare our lives, and this disrupts our psychology and causes insecurity. Social media is full of people putting their lives on the line, sharing holiday photos and updating their relationship status. This situation damages people's morale and self-confidence.
What is interesting for marketers is that we try to make ourselves stand out by buying detailed things and building our identity with these things we buy. This is how we define ourselves and others.
For businesses and brands, logos , products and services are important parts of self-presentation. Brands can find interesting ways to engage with their followers. These are extremely important for going beyond shares and likes and building long-term relationships.
This is all about image. 68% of people say they share content to show other people who they are and what they're interested in. According to 78% of people, the main reason for sharing content is to stay connected with people and maintain relationships.
Painting Our Emotions
Social media has shown that people are very inclined to take and share photos of themselves on a regular basis, the interesting thing about the selfie trend is that people continue to do it despite there being no logic behind it. This is probably why selfies are so successful.
Essentially, a selfie is a photo taken when people show their emotions. So is this the truth? How many crying selfies have you come across? (Of course not)
Many celebrities use selfies to take photos of themselves containing nudity that commodifies them. Thus, they become the center of attention.
Mental Disturbance
APA (American Psychiatric Association) has officially defined selfie-taking as a mental disorder. This situation is heading towards a very dangerous situation, considering that social media has become selfie-oriented. Especially channels such as Instagram are based on people taking and sharing their own photos.It may be an extreme case, but the APA thinks that a person's obsessive and compulsive desire to take and share photos of themselves does so to compensate for their lack of self-esteem and to fill their need for closeness.
If this is true, it means that many people are trying to make up for what is missing in their lives by taking selfies.
Addiction and Social Media Psychology in Students
Many schools have chosen to ban smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices on the grounds that they cause distraction. Some schools prefer to use mobile devices for educational purposes or to reward students.
According to research, the rate of university students taking breaks from studying and entering Facebook while studying for exams is quite high. Research has revealed that those who interrupt their studies with activities such as surfing the internet or accessing Facebook while studying have lower academic success. (Rosen et al., 2013)For example, providing customer support via social media is now a must. Providing customer support via social media means you can more easily communicate with your potential and existing customers and provide information about your products and services.You need to pay attention to what users comment, share and question, and be ready to answer every question. You need to be prepared to manage your social media accounts and handle high rates of engagement.
There are many social media channels where you can do effective marketing, the most popular are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram.
Which channel will work best for your business depends on the industry your company operates in, and also which social media channel your customers prefer. The best way is to do a little test on what your potential customers prefer. We also recommend that you do not focus on one social media channel and move on to other channels without being successful in it.
What we do at Cloudnames
Cloudnames can help you with everything you need to do your best in online channels, we can manage your entire digital strategy, website, social media profiles, digital marketing and all the complex technical details to effectively grow your online earnings.
We take over the management of your website and ensure its security and updates at regular intervals. We can help you with Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media Marketing and all other Digital marketing campaigns you need.
There are also many cases where students shared unethical content, which is why academic institutions and parents have restricted the use of social media channels .
Sociologists and psychologists also study the effects of social media on real-world relationships. Marriages, family relationships and friendships have been damaged by excessive or inappropriate use of social media.
Social media can be very beneficial for your business, but you also need to consider the situations mentioned above when building your marketing strategy. People with friends live longer and get sick less often, but the need to be socially online and offline means social media needs to be developed to benefit relationships rather than destroy them.
Understanding these relationships is extremely important for brands, companies and marketers , especially if your goal is to increase brand awareness and build trust.
How Social Media Can Benefit Your Company
At Cloudnames, we value social media platforms as if they were a place to spend time in real life. We share photos, talk about popular topics, talk about events. We even have a “fun corner” where we share content in videos, photos and other formats.
We observed that the relationship between consumers and companies has shifted to the internet, as have consumer habits. Social media is not only a channel that allows you to connect, but also offers various features for companies; such as sales, marketing, product development, public relations.
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