Since Facebook introduced its “feeling/activity” option in user posts, very often you can see posts ending with “feeling blessed, feeling loved, feeling excited”, etc…

Emotions are an important part of mankind and something that differentiates us from non-living objects. For that reason, I felt the need to react to a recent post on a certain supermarket’s Facebook wall who updated their status to “feeling excited”.

Given that I have never seen an “excited” supermarket building, I shared my puzzlement in a Facebook group for professionals and enthusiasts interested in digital marketing. Here’s a reaction I received from one young girl:

To put it lightly, the young lady didn’t agree with me, and considering her arguments I didn’t pursue the conversation any further, but saw an ideal chance to write a blog on this subject.

So, what’s wrong with this story?

What’s wrong first of all is the way young people who want to work in digital marketing see this particular branch of business. You do not become an expert in digital or any other part of marketing when you learn how to create Facebook or AdWords ads, but rather when you start understanding human behavior and the motives behind it – and that’s the part that young marketers, obviously, are not learning.

We already see the consequences, and they are called – Ad Blockers.

Given the young lady sarcastically commented that I must have “scientific evidence”, it’s only natural that I deliver it. :-)

WHAT IS MENTAL INTERACTION?

It’s not without reason to say that we communicate with our buyers through our marketing messages. We want our buyers to identify with the brand, to think about situations in which they’re using our product.

The brain is an extremely complex system that burns great amounts of our daily energy and rejects all confusing or complicated impulses from our surroundings to save that energy.

So try to imagine an excited supermarket building. It doesn’t feel natural, right?

Even though it looks like a banality, mental interaction has an unbelievable influence on brand perception. Here is the scientific evidence. :-)

This is the most common position of a cup in beverage commercials (or a company selling cups):

Why?

Because most people on the planet are right-handed, and research on the “Visual Depiction Effect” shows that there is a greater possibility for purchase if the cup handle is turned to the right as in the picture above.

But here comes the best part – the same research showed that the “right-side handle” effect disappears if a person is already holding something in their right hand because they lose mental interaction with the picture.

Therefore, mental interaction is a very important part of brand perception, even though we are not in direct contact with the product.

Of course, everyone has the right to build their own brand image, but if you want to give your company more human characteristics and emotions, use real people – your own employees – in your marketing messages. It’s a much better option than having an “excited building”…