Content Writing Guide: Manipulate With Psychological Triggers

As many of you know by now, I'm a marketing professional.

As such, we learn a lot about Psychological triggers and how to yank them in order to get what we want. We use those tricks in sales letters, pitches, sites and more.

Throughout this post, I'm going to share my introductory lesson in how to write content that manipulates the audience (manipulate doesn't have to be a negative word as you'll see) in order to make them do something.

Normally, we'll want them to buy stuff from us, leave us an email or something like that.

In Steemit, you usually want them to drop you a vote or a follow... but it's the same idea.

Read this post, and if you liked it then stay tuned because my Advanced guide is coming out soon, and while this is about the "white hat" techniques and the "light side" of the pyschological triggers, the advanced guide will have a bit of a darker tone, as it will approach some powerful stuff that can be used regardless of people's intentions.

Sounds great? Hey, let's start it light by going through this guide first.

Understanding the First Triad: Lesson Number One!

Let us start by approaching the first triad of these triggers.

These are powerful positive triggers you'll want to use on a day to day basis. Know that these things don't have to be "planned" to be used, and there are many people who know how these triggers work although they never studied them.

The innate charisma and speech skill of someone is a factor that influences the results you'll get, and most of the times, when you see someone who is great at socializing, you'll see that they use these strategies without even being aware of them.

The first 3 triggers you'll want to memorize are:

Commitment;
Reciprocation;
Social Proof.

Now, let me tell you more about this first triad by approaching each of the triggers individually.

Commitment: Consistency Programming... What Is It?

The first trigger is commitment.

The law under this trigger is that if someone commited once to something - he or she is more likely to do it again!

In the marketing world, you try to get that first click, that first email or that first sale. You try to get the customer to visit the store at least once... among other stuff.

In STEEMIT, the same applies.

If you get someone to vote you, he or she will be prone to vote you up again. Trying to get a first vote, even if it appears it's a "one time only" deal is vital... it will tap the trigger and make consistency programming work on your behalf.

Reciprocation: Giving It and Getting It Back

This is the one trigger that Steemit just FORCES you to understand.

In Steemit, people instantly learn about the power of this trigger, but outside of it it is a bit more stealth.

For instances, brands offer freebies and they over-deliver... because they know reciprocation will get triggered and it comes back to them.

In Steemit, you'll comment and like on someone for a set of days, and that someone will almost always get back to you to reciprocate the love.

It's a win-win.

The Steem blockchain absolutely loves this trigger, and makes it obvious... but more awareness makes it have less power as well.

Social Proof: Crowd Based Psychology

Social Proof is also a powerful trigger.

Why do brands and companies throughout the world resort to testemonials? Why do the hire influential people as their spokesmen? Why do they opt for product placement in popular shows.

Social proof is the trigger that says "if everyone says it is good then it must be" or "if that someone says it's good, it is".

You can say good things about others, but you can't say good things about yourself. That'll make you seem cocky.

However, there are no rules to saying things about someone, and having that someone saying good things about you.

This is what brands do a lot.

On the other hand, the company you keep also has a huge influence on how you're perceived.

In Steemit, if your entourage and close friends are whales and you're a small fry... people won't perceive you as a small fry - this is just an example.

Social proof is important. People mention influential people in posts all the time for this reason.

On the other hand, that old rule of "I say something good about you and you do it for me" is what makes certain communities so successful... it's what certain people call - "CircleJerks"

The End of the First Chapter: Milk the Rewards By Launching a Separate Post? Hell No! Keep on reading!

You now know about the first triad of psychological triggers.

Are you liking it so far?

Then here's a second one of equally powerful ones... and remember, this post is introductory, I still haven't started scratching the surface.

Here are the next three:

Authority;
Liking;
Scarcity.

Now, the same thing will happen, I'll approach each one and go over why they're important on the offline world and in Steemit (Or any other Steem Blockchain App really).

Authority: Build It, Have It or Bullshit It!

The crude title is simply because Authority is something that takes a lot of hard work building, and some people aren't in it for that.

Marketers know that Authority is powerful, and some of them aren't willing to put the effort in to build it organically. So they bullshit their way to it.

They'll find ways to constantly show you how much of an expert they are... because here's the SECRET:

Most Humans Believe It Without Fact Checking

Fact checking is a lot of work, so if you just state your importance and try to trigger authority simply by "faking it till you make it" and triggering the "social proof" trigger as well... you can get away with it plenty of times.

The organic way to reach authority? Deliver value and be truthful.

The fake way to get it? Use every trick in the book to manipulate your way up to it.

Liking: Be Liked, Safeguard Yourself!

Everyone makes mistakes, every human has flaws.

In Marketing, we know our campaigns can get huge repercussions. They can backfire in an incredibly dangerous way.

One of the things we know is that people are more forgiving to those they like than to those they don't like.
As such, brands opt to stay on everyone's good side.

This is something I find hard to practice because my character is strong and if someone crosses me, chances are I'm not going to be liked by that person afterwards. However, if you're one of those guys who cares about the results and results only... be likeable.

Here are some of the tips we learn on how to be likeable:

Talk about Problems and Dreams (it humanizes you);
Show your Weaknesses;
Be Humble, Show Humility;

... show everyone you're human.

Nobody likes a know it all.
In fact, now that I think about it, I showed you my weaknesses previously by stating I don't practice this point... so maybe I do and that's just a way to tap onto this trigger?

Who knows... isn't this a beauty?

Scarcity: Read this Guide Quickly... I'm going to delete it!

No I am not... but this is the kind of trick we use to appeal to scarcity.

On those sales pages you get to see how many vacancies the webinar has, and the number is decreasing. On reservation sites for hotels and whatnot, there's only one more room available, and so on.

Well, in Steemit you can use scarcity as well. I will only accept 15 nominations for my Trading Cards Game. People open up a contest for the first 3 people who something something....

There's a lot to be learned by analyzing why some things WORK! What's the mechanism behind them.

More often than not, you'll find the way it works is because it taps on to a Psychological trigger.

In Conclusion:

This was just an intro on how these things work.

Now, don't go thinking that I am a Sith Lord trying to manipulate everyone just because I know of these things... every good marketer knows about them, and cunning people apply these tips every day without even being aware.

In all honesty, the fact that I'm teaching you guys about these triggers is because I want you to learn about them, to understand their mechanics and to use them in order to empower not only your Steemit blogs but also anything you can think will benefit from better networking or the use of these techniques.

I will write an advanced guide on triggers and expose the dark side in another separate post.

But let me know down in the comments section if that's something you'd like to read about, if you liked this or if you find this interesting... as a Marketing professional, I like this, but my audience may not - and you guys are what runs the blog, so let me know.

Cheers!

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