Emotions in the Digital World - Essay Sample

Online virality is driven mostly by emotions provoked at the recipient. Sharing content has become an integral part of the digital community and is a powerful tool in the hands of marketers. It is hard to believe that a few years ago the internet, as well as the social media, was just a little more than a growing trend. Though there were a few sites that supported online interactions, most people feared them mainly due to privacy issue. The population has taken its time in adopting the various uses of the internet. Back then, in the year 2014 and 2015, Facebook was on its growth stage and in its early stages of spreading across the world. Other websites like Instagram and Twitter came later, and many people did not know how to use them for their purpose. Even Google+ took its time after launching and was then followed by Pinterest among other online platforms. Most of these online platforms use emotions to get to their users. That brings about the question of the connection between emotions and the digital world.

As we delve deeper into a world of social reality, the need for inclusion of emotions is becoming increasingly important. Research carried on different fields show that there is an increase of the presence of the affectionate dimension of people in digital platforms. This studies get done mostly on media and communication studies and specifically the relations between emotions and showing affections when using digital technologies. It is essential to review the link between emotions and use of these platforms as well as how the internet triggers feelings causing users to express them. The digital platforms have made expressing feelings easier than it was some years ago. For example, the question how are you? gets asked frequently but no matter the situation a person is in, the answer is fine and you? People find it difficult to express emotions freely especially in face to face communication, but thanks to the digital world, things have changed drastically.

Emotions play an important role in social networks. From the young ones to those of age, emotions hold an integral part in the lives of human beings. Despite the fact that they are hard to describe and fathom, or even understand in some instances, it is normal to experience varying emotions regarding different situations. The complexity of our feelings influences our everyday activities a lot. That includes the influence it has on consumer habits and behavior. Some studies and analysis carried out on people show that human beings rely on emotions instead of information when making decisions about a brand. As a result, marketers use emotional appeal, especially in advertising. It is arguable that feelings derived from evidence that relate to the consumer wants and needs are the ones that influence what they will end up buying. As a result, we have carried over and transferred most of our consumer habits to the social media thus making it hard to ignore the way we showcase emotions on them. Understanding emotions help in devising means of ensuring that a post in the social media gets the necessary response from people. Using a positive tone leads to positive reactions while applying a negative tone derives negative comments from viewers.

Use of emotions when coming up with marketing strategies has revolutionized the process and made it more goal oriented. Embedding feelings to marketing also get referred to emotional marketing. Emotion marketing is the ability use various techniques that evoke emotion to create a compelling communication with the audience. It gains based on the belief that the drive people have when going for a particular product is mostly emotional. The fact that a product stirs certain emotions in our brains support this claim. An interesting point in marketing is that the imagery surrounding the word phrases marketers use and its meaning holds more importance than the words themselves. Everything communicates something and marketers should, therefore, take advantage of that to tap into the emotions of the consumers. The first strategy involves marketers putting themselves in the shoes of the customer. By doing that, marketers can picture the lifestyles of the customers and tailor advertisements and product fit for the customer. Secondly, looking into what their deeper need entails then producing those goods and services that the customer never expected. That will warrant the right emotions. Additionally, coming up with self-identifying questions so that customers can relate to them.

Face to face communication is one of the best strategy marketers can employ. Word of mouth is a powerful social media marketing tool because it involves engaging, equipping and empowering the customer. Engaging them means that you are available to answer any queries and offer customer services required. Answer messages, tweets, and like any comment customer posts. On the equipping part, as a marketer, you give the customers reasons to talk and open up. That depends on the how well the marketer knows the consumers and their likes and needs. Empowering customers mean giving customers various ways to engage and share their experiences. That helps spread the awareness as they covered the information within their social circles such as Facebook groups and pages. It helps in winning new clients and growing the customer base. Word of mouth never fails to work in social media marketing. Most successful companies like coca cola, apple, Samsung use social media platforms to spread the word about their new products and reach the whole world as everyone with internet can access their social media websites. In connection with word of mouth strategies, the presence of social media influencers is essential too. They have various roles and significant impact on marketing. Social influencers held the business reach new audiences by use of multiple platforms. An average person has profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ among others. Social influencers use those blogs, websites and social media profiles for brand advertisement and endorsements.

Emotions like anger and joy affect communication on social media and influence online virality a lot. The most common emotions displayed in social media include excitement, awe, joy, fear, and sadness. All the feelings listed primarily depend on past experiences with the person, group or company pushing for online virality. For example, many people love coke because of its excellent products, funny advertisements that make them laugh and online presence when needed. If someone asks a quiz on a post in the social media but gets no response, that leads to the rise of distaste and loss of one customer.

In the long run, if a business is not keen on the emotions showcased on any responses they receive, their online virality reduces as well as the customer base. It is thus apparent that the most effective feelings include love, amazement, and curiosity, among a few others. Using them assists in bonding with the consumer and increasing the number of followers expecting the particular product. With such emotions from consumers, any contagious content is bound to go viral.