Your social media campaigns should be about connecting with followers – not peddling your wares. Image by Tom Fishburne.
Social media isn’t only about getting likes, repins and retweets – it’s about building meaningful, long-term relationships with your audience.
A few years ago, Ben McAllister and Kate Canales gave a talk at SXSW in which they suggested that all human relationships can be classified into three broad categories:
- Authority relationships: Relationships where one individual has clear power over the other. One gives instructions; the other fulfills them. Think employer-employee.
- Exchange relationships: Relationships where there is an equal give and take. These relationships are sustained only as long as both parties continue to offer incentives to remain together. Ever reward a user for a “like” on Facebook? That’s a classic exchange relationship.
- Communal relationships: Relationships where there is a deep bond of mutual trust between both parties. The relationship does not depend on bribes or incentives to survive; it is propelled along by deep-rooted goodwill and shared common ground. This is the type of relationship we share with our closest friends.
How to Use Psychology to Build Social Media Campaigns That Resonate
