With over two billion of active users, social media networks are an excellent means of promoting your brand and accelerating business growth.

Unless, of course, you're doing it wrong.

Some 61% of SMBs report success with gaining new customers via social media, according to research (PDF). That means, however, another 39% do not; that is, they fail to turn likes and shares into the metrics that justify their business goals—i.e., they fail to convert.

Sitting and waiting for a moment when all such engagements will start translating into purchases is not a viable strategy, of course. Because strategy involves analysis, planning, and, above all, understanding the ways users can be directed to the sales funnel.

To understand how fans can be turned into consumers, great brands invest time and money analyzing their fans' needs and behavioral tendencies. That's because converting social media fans requires more than constant sharing; it requires understanding the ways they interact and build relationships.

It's social media, after all.

People are rational (sort of)

Reason is a primary characteristic of human beings. It plays a vital role in most decisions we make in our daily lives. Similarly, your social media fans may still be seeking a reason to finally try your product or service, or click on your call to action.

People are more likely to respond to certain requests when they are given an actual reason, however nonsensical it may be, a study by Ellen Langer of Harvard University discovered.

The simple experiment shows that out of the following set of sentences, the two containing the word "because" more effectively make people complete the specified action:

"Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I'm in a rush?" "Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine? "Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I have to make copies?"

In a marketing context, this is related to the notion of value proposition, which aims to demonstrate a benefit that users gain by doing or buying something. The slogans of various brands obviously refer to such an approach, with Loreal's Because You're Worth It being an absolute winner in this respect.

A similar psychology may be applied to social media to encourage various types of engagement—from clicking on posts, to joining a community, to subscribing for a newsletter or buying a product.

Accordingly, try adding a single "because" or something that resembles a reason behind your request and see what happens.

Consider the example of Dropbox, which encourages users to tweet why they love the service, in return for receiving additional storage space. Once you connect your Twitter account to it, it shares a tweet like this:

Reciprocity translates into loyalty

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From Engagement to Leads: The Psychology Behind Converting Social Media Fans

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Bojana Dobran

Bojana Dobran works with a professional team of SEO consultants and content marketers at Four Dots, a Boston-based inbound marketing agency.

Linkedin: Bojana Dobran

Twitter: @acrylic_noons