Lunas, Krisha Lieza M. Rosales, Zeke Gabrielle H. Online Marketing Tactics: An Analysis on Herd Mentality and Other Persuasion Maneuvers in the 21st Century In the height of the post-modern global pandemic, social media has become a platform for almost everything. In fact, it became the avenue where businesses continued to promote and offer their services through limited contact to suppress viral transmissions. Their methods of promotion are surprisingly uncanny, subtly touching into the manifold aspects of a netizen’s psyche. These cunning tactics are mostly found in the texts or captions on social media; hence an expert copywriter would mostly know about these tactics. In Miguel Campaner’s Copywriting Foundations, he revealed the underlying frameworks of an effective copy and the best practices to observe as a successful and persuasive copywriter, which he claimed is based on the essence of attracting “attention” and achieving “persuasion”. In Campaner’s instruction, he laid three parts of “The Art & Science of Attraction” as found in the image below. Firstly, Campaner elaborates the importance of reactions. A man’s brain is a lizard brain with three inevitable responses: Flight, Fight, & Fornicate. A copy must initiate any reaction to ensure that the reader would continue to read on until they reach the part where you make the sale. The worst copy is failure to trigger any reaction from your readers. The second part is where you trigger curiosity through tapping into the 7 Primal Emotions, which are, in fact, the 7 Cardinal Sins: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. Campaner failed to elaborate how to incorporate them, but according to 3 Phase Marketing (November, 2019), they asserted that “As copywriters, we have the ability to evoke these emotions through the use of words. And through these emotions, we can drive the action we want in our audience.” Lust is pushing the audience to want the product badly; Gluttony is persuading them to have something in excess; Greed convincing them to get an item, even if someone else can’t have it; Sloth about how an item or service can make their lives simpler; Wrath can be utilized to reinforce someone’s pain and frustration to immediately solve an infuriating problem; Envy is making people want what they don’t have that others do and; Pride is flattering someone through complementing their intelligence, looks, and etc. In line with this, Campaner recommended that upon tapping those emotions, the copy must target the six core needs listed by Tony Robbins, specifically: Certainty, Variety, Significance, Love and Connection, Growth, and Contribution. Campaner does not target Growth and Contribution since they are enlisted under the spiritual needs, while the other four are personality needs. According to the Tony Robbins Team, each of these needs shape our actions, behavior, and desires. To strive for Certainty is to gain assurance that your future would be pleasurable and pain-free; Aspiring for Variety is to seek adventures and exploring the unknown; To wish for Significance means achieving fame or feeling needed and special; and to crave Love and Connection means feeling a strong sense of union with another. Lastly, the third part is where we intrigue the readers into the product through a series of arguments and proof. It is in this part where we see testimonials of other people using the product to reinforce the sense of need and security to buy the product. The process seems too long and difficult, but as a reader, all of the layers of deceit and manipulation takes place in seconds. Then, there’s the art of persuasion, which adopts Robert Cialdini’s 7 Principles of Persuasion found in his book, “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”. In Barrera’s (2019) take on Cialdini’s Principles, the goals of these principles is to convince your customers and promote loyalty to your brand. For Reciprocity, people want to feel like they weren’t doing something for free. Campaner says that this is powerful if you gave them a high-value item in exchange of something so small, like giving them an informative e-book in return of liking your FB page. Commitment and Consistency means being committed to your job or being consistent in their progress (e.g. a politician with a consistent track record of leadership). Social Proof is relying on opinions or testimonials of other people (e.g. positive product reviews on Shoppee, testimonials regarding an event, etc.). When you’re an Authority of your field or industry, like an expert or the best professional, people would inevitably listen to you because you have already gained trust from others. Liking is showing that you’re pleasant to the eyes and you’re relatable or you’re just like your audience. Film producers show bloopers or behind-the-scenes to show the joys in making the film, making the audience want to watch it more eagerly. Scarcity is among the most powerful principle because it forces an individual to make a choice in a matter of time, rendering them anxious of their situation. These are shown through having limited slots in an event, a countdown when a product is for sale, etc. Scarcity also increases a product’s value because not everyone is going to get it. As seen on the attached screenshot, Campaner only included six principles, excluding the principle of Unity from the list since it would need an advanced skill of writing to use it in the tactics of persuasion. Unity is found when there is a sense of belonging in an exclusive community that would make you feel special. The Apple company use these tactics, especially since they put special features on Apple user’s gadgets that are exclusive from Android devices. It is through Social Proof and Unity where Herd Mentality, more known as F.M.O. (Fear of Missing Out) was utilized in their campaigns. In the subtle manipulations of the psyche, we cannot even recognize that we are being provoked to perform an action to their bidding. It was also stunning, how such principles unveil our innate desire to be recognized, to belong, and to be ahead of things when we are found in social spaces. Reference: 3 Phase Marketing. (2019) Here’s why you should be using the 7 deadly sins when writing copy. Retrieved from: https://3phasemarketing.com.au/heres-why-you-should-be-using-the-7-deadly-sins-when-writingcopy/ Barrera, A. (2019) The 7 Principles of Persuasion to Live by in Marketing. Retrieved from: https://www.successionmarketing.com/post/7-principles-of-persuasion Campaner (2020). The Copywriting Foundations. To purchase the lessons, please refer to the link: https://www.miguelcampaner.com/copywriting-foundations/ Tony Robbins Team. (n.d.) Discover The 6 Human Needs. https://www.tonyrobbins.com/mind-meaning/do-you-need-to-feel-significant/ Retrieved from:
