The Hidden Psychology of Social Networks: How Brands Create Authentic Engagement by Understanding What Motivates Us
Introduction
PART I
MEMEOLOGY
1 WHAT’S IN A MEME?
2 THE MEME AND THE MEME MACHINE
The Importance of the Format of a Meme
3 EVOLVING MEME MACHINES
Five Principles to Maximize Engagement
PART II
SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS DISCONTENTS
4 WEARING OUR MEMES
The Ideal Self, Managed Self, and True Self
5 ONLINE REPRESENTATION OF THE OFFLINE SELF
The Ego and the Conscious Center of Action
6 THE GUIDING INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL IDEALS
Superego Networks and the Expression of the Ideal Self
7 THE UNREALIZED POWER OF TRUE SELF NETWORKS
The Id and the Unconscious Self
PART III
SOCIAL MEDIA’S RIGHT AND LEFT BRAINS
8 LEFT AND RIGHT BRAIN NETWORKS
The Known and the Unknown
9 THE MEME FLOW
Right Brain, Left Brain, and Right Brain Again
10 FIVE LESSONS FOR BUILDING AND HONING
A SOCIAL STRATEGY
11 BUILDING BEST-IN-CLASS SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS
EFFICIENTLY AND EFFECTIVELY
12 THE NEGLECTED RIGHT HEMISPHERE
Balancing Storytelling with Experience Building
Notes
Bibliography
Index
From the former Head of Brand Strategy at Reddit comes a proven and thought-provoking approach to the digital economy and how brands can create authentic engagement that is rooted in the fundamental motivations behind human psychology
Leading marketing practitioner and thought leader Joe Federer draws on evolutionary biology, anthropology, neuroanatomy, and psychology, as well as more than a decade of hands-on experience, to explain why people act so differently in various online spaces and what they are seeking from participating in each one. With a framework based on Freud’s Id, Ego, and Superego model of the human psyche, he demonstrates how the internet is a digital reflection of the collective human psyche and how different social networks correspond to different mindsets: platforms like Reddit to the unfiltered Id, Facebook and Twitter to the managed Ego, and Instagram to the ideal Superego.
In the same way you behave differently when you’re home alone, out with friends, communicating with family, or interacting with coworkers, people act and express themselves differently in these various online spaces. Context matters. Understanding this will enable you to develop and execute effective engagement strategies to reach your target audiences on each social network. Learn:
- how to create content that drives sharing and word-of-mouth
- how brands can fit natively into different types of social channels
- how to balance branded social presences across different networks
- why authenticity will only grow in importance to consumers
Fascinating and deeply compelling, The Hidden Psychology of Social Networks will equip you to make vastly more efficient use of your media buys, establish more thoughtful strategies, develop better creative, and, in the end, deliver more effective marketing that provides value.