Two men laughing with the text emotions create connections.

Your Content Marketing Should Evoke Emotion

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Emotions are part of our everyday lives. You can’t make it through a single day without experiencing some emotion. Therefore, it only seems natural that your content marketing strategy should target emotions to make a connection with your audience.

Robert Plutchik’s theory of emotions (Wheel of Emotions) describes the basic human emotions as Fear, Anger, Sadness, Joy, Disgust, Trust, Anticipation, and Surprise. Are you considering these emotions in your content delivery? If not, it may be preventing your content marketing efforts from being successful.

Emotions & content marketing

One of the most compelling emotions to use in your content is joy. All of the emotions will create some connection with your audience if properly executed, but joy is by far the best one to implement into your strategy.

Everyone likes to laugh, and laughter puts you in a more positive mood. Laughter releases endorphins, boosts the immune system, relaxes the body, and relieves stress. These are all good things that happen when you laugh. Getting your customers to associate good feelings with your brand is vital – don’t be afraid to use humor in your content marketing strategy!

If you don’t evoke emotion with your content, then you’ve probably already been forgotten.

A Little Social Media Humor…

An elderly grandma is on her death bed. She leans over to her granddaughter, knowing that death must be close, and says, “I want to leave you my farm. That includes the villa, the tractor and other equipment, the farmhouse and $22,398,750.78 in cash.”

The granddaughter, about to become rich, says, “Oh Grandma you are so generous. I didn’t even know you had a farm. Where is it?” With her last breath, she whispered, “Facebook.” (Source: Hootsuite)

If you’ve ever played Farmville on Facebook, then you can relate to the above, and you may have gotten a chuckle out of it. Maybe you’re feeling a little better already, right? Joy is such a powerful and positive emotion. Why wouldn’t you want to associate good feelings with your brand?

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Think about commercials you see on TV…which of them stick out the most in your mind? It’s typically the funny ones that bring you instant joy. They touch you emotionally, and that creates a connection for you to the commercial, and it will be more likely to stick in your mind.

“Small companies win more than their share of attention because they’re willing to be a little more interesting and less sterile.” (Source: Moz)

Best Practices for Using Humor in your Company Content

Like all things, there’s a wrong way and a right way to use humor in your content marketing. So, let’s walk through some best practices for using humor in your communications.

  • Keep it Clean – You’re representing your company brand online – don’t tarnish its reputation.
  • Don’t Use Insults – It’s not cool to insult others to get a laugh. Disparaging humor gives your company a bad name and may leave a bad taste in your prospect’s mouth.
  • Don’t Overdo It – Too much of a good thing can be annoying. If you’re always humorous and not sharing relevant content as well, then it may lead some prospects to think that you’re not serious about your business and customers.

At the end of the day, it’s good to mix emotions into your content marketing. You want your prospects to make a connection and remember you. Don’t be afraid to show some personality in your content. Otherwise, you may be perceived as boring and forgettable.

 

Image Sources:

http://study.com/academy/lesson/robert-plutchiks-wheel-of-emotions-lesson-quiz.html

https://www.graphicstock.com/stock-image/two-laughing-men-using-smartphone

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