My brain filters thousands of messages on my behalf everyday.
“According to a 2011 study, on a typical day, we take in the equivalent of about 174 newspapers’ worth of information, five times as much as we did in 1986. As the world’s 21,274 television stations produce some 85,000 hours of original programming every day (by 2003 figures), we watch an average of five hours of television per day. For every hour of YouTube video you watch, there are 5,999 hours of new video just posted!” — NY Times, Daniel J. Levity
My brain filters automatically. I’m unaware of this hidden process. If your “message” is to be well received by ME you MUST get past the “gate keeper”. I was NOT designed to read 174 newspapers per day.
Top 6 tips and techniques to get me to hear you. . .
- Integrate your message. “Fire and forget” is strictly for war now. If you want your message to get past my filter, integrate your message into a story.
- Make my brain NOT slide past you on my glass. Unfortunately I’m not always on social media 🙂 I’m on my glass at different times. Usual before and after sunrise. Software algorithms decide what I see first, second and third. Steve Jobs gave me the ability to use my finger to quickly browse those 174 newspapers. You must get above the cosmic background radiation.
- Visually stimulate ME. I’m not so much a tweeter because it doesn’t visually stimulate me like Facebook.
- INTERACT WITH ME. Those software algorithms notice my keystrokes (every keystroke!). They notice MY relationship with YOU. My brain “forgets” some of you. For those of you that love to be heard, forgetting is like deleting without pushing any buttons. Your message has significantly higher odds if I’m interacting with you often.
- Deliver your message to ME the way I want it! KNOW THY AUDIENCE. If I prefer a tweet, tweet me. If I prefer a text, text me. If you want me to be your biggest fan, facebook ME publicly. It’s just the way I like it. Others are very different.
- Your message has far greater odds of getting past my brain filter if its bi-directional. Obviously I consume more content than most and much of that is uni-directional. HOWEVER unless you are Huffington or Mashable it is unlikely I will notice your message. Messages designed to be bi-directional and executed as such do far better.
Be creative! Be bold. Be brave. Be social.