“that feeling” you get when you see an email from a certain person versus the sinking feeling from another… that’s what you need to stimulate when you are seen in the chaos that is social media
You know the feeling. You open up your email software on your computer or smartphone and scan quickly down your inbox notifications. Some of the messages are inevitably spam and can be discarded and the rest add to the chaos and busy nature of your day. But stop and think for a moment about how these notifications make you feel. Some may strike fear and dread into you, either because of the sender’s name or the subject title. Some may give you a warm feeling like, “ah it’s from….” and others may be simply meh.
The same happens when you look down your social media timelines. Yes your attention may be grabbed for a moment by an image or upper case (shouting) text, but more often than not it’s the person who has posted the update that is giving you ‘that feeling’. The feeling of “ah, it’s from…. “ and the result being that you are significantly more likely to engage and respond.
So what exactly is ‘that feeling’? It is a psychological reaction based on past experience and expectation that the next encounter be it in person or digitally, will reflect a similar experience and predictable outcome.
As creatures of habit our behaviours are highly predictable and how we are is how we are. It’s very difficult to change, truly change, from being a certain way, interacting with the world in a particular manner and of course your level of human engagement and the level of value you add.
With business it is very similar. We spend small fortunes on creating brands with propositions, styles, tone of voice, colours and themes. As human beings, it’s just the same in terms of our style, clothes, mannerisms and behaviours.
So the trick to setting ‘that feeling’ in the eyes of your audience, whether it’s from a personal or business perspective is to establish and maintain a predictable, sustainable and authentic set of habits. Responsiveness, tone of voice and the value you add must be consistent, positive and authentic. Do this once, then many times and create your habit.
Every time your audience sees you, your email, your social media status update or anywhere in this chaotic and noisy world, with your predictable, positive behaviour and great value add, you will be ensuring they get ‘that feeling.’
Richard Berry 
