No man is an island

Editorial assistant Florence Massey starts her Social Media Week with some psychology... 

On Tuesday I attended a presentation, The Psychology of Social Marketing & Why Money Can’t Buy You Love, as part of London Social Media Week.

Taking a look at the factors affecting online social behaviours, the talk kicked off with an introduction from strategist Tom Penny and was followed by a presentation from psychologist Gareth English.

Both from psychographic marketing agency Social Kemistri, the pair were able to provide some insight into how and, more importantly, why people interact with each other and brands.

English covered a huge amount in a short time, touching on the notion of how value is perceived, emotional responses and what drives behaviour at a fundamental level. He explained the science behind the basic human need to be recognised and share who we are with others. Particularly interesting was how he applied this learning to online communities and the groups of people who interact using them.

The panel discussion at the end drew out the most interesting ideas of the morning, with Nick Bennett from Steel and Sofia Quintero from Cookie providing intelligent and informed answers to some difficult questions. These included whether it is possible for brands to buy love and how they can create loyal online communities.

To answer the challenge of retaining engagement levels once a high level of brand interaction has been achieved, Bennett talked about Ecko’s Branded for Life campaign. How does it work? Get a tattoo of the brand logo, send a photo to the website and get 20 per cent off their clothing for life.

An extreme example, yes, but it does illustrate how brands can appeal to a specific group of people and then create a niche, dedicated sub-culture within it.

Unsurprisingly for a social media event, many of the best quotes and takeouts from the day have been captured using the hashtag #SocialKemistri.