5 Love Languages - Social Media Edition

Almost 30 years ago, Gary Chapman released a book called The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate, which went on to become a New York Times Best Seller, and was adapted for every different couple, person, reader, audience, and experience for which love languages could be expressed. He suggests that people give and receive love using one of the following five ‘love languages’: 

• Receiving gifts

• Quality time

• Words of affirmation

• Acts of service

• Physical Touch 

Now, we are no Gary Chapman (and seriously, if you HAVEN’T read any of his books, we cannot recommend it enough!), but we’ve used the idea and created our own version of the Five Love Languages for Social Media. 

• Educational (based on the honeycomb theory of reputation) 

• Personal (based on the honeycomb theory of identity) 

• Inspirational (based on the honeycomb theory of sharing)

• Conversational (based on the honeycomb theory of conversations)

• Locational (based on the honeycomb theory of presence) 

Based on these, you can better understand the types of content (or the ‘love languages’ if you will) that your audience will relate to and engage with the most. In fact, if you still aren’t too sure which love languages you should be using more of, we’ve put together a quiz for you to take so you can better understand the love languages you should be using more of to better connect with your audience!

Educational

Hello service based industries!  

So you know that Instagram and Facebook is a touchpoint (ie. it’s not often a direct sales funnel for us, but it help with the sales process by increasing brand awareness), so it’s vital that we find ways to build trust and shape reputation, and educational content is the best way to do that! Educational content is content that is specific to your industry and niche, and displays your credibility and knowledge about a topic. One of the most effective types of content is content that adds value to your followers’ newsfeed, and educational content does just that - who doesn’t want to learn a thing or two while they’re scrolling the ’gram!

Educational content is best served in short, sharp, easy to understand bursts. Think great graphics (hello Canva! We’ve also noticed that carousels are doing amazingly at the moment too!) and effective deliveries (emojis, fun language, and plenty of breaks in your chunks of text) 

Personal

This is great for our product based businesses (hey girl hey!)

One of the things that we find ourselves constantly telling people is to show your face! Without even looking at your brand, what you sell, and what your socials look like right now, I can guarantee you that if you post something features YOU, your engagement will be higher than almost any other post. Why? Because people want to connect with the person behind the business. And while they love looking at all the pretty things you make (who doesn’t!), they also want to know who’s making them, and even more importantly, why you’re making them! Is there a story behind each product? Why did you choose pink instead of green? Your audience will respond to personal posts featuring you and a little more about your why, which will ultimately drive them to buy your stuff. Promise!Personal content is best served in between other pieces of content (say, once a week ish?), and will perform the best if you’re giving your audience an insight into your why (BeBangles does this SO well, if you’re looking for inspo)

Inspirational 

Because we all need a little more than just coffee to get us going in the morning. 

There’s a reason why classic memes such as our ‘it’s been a big week, I say in the middle of Tuesday’ and inspo quotes like ‘put your hair up in a bun, drink some coffee, and handle it’ do so dang well, and that’s because people are aching for something to motivate them through their work week. Inspirational content is also shareable, and Zuck likes shareable content. What does this mean? If Facebook and Instagram notice that people are sharing your content (whether that be sharing it to your newsfeed, to your story, or sharing it to others in your DMs), the clever little platforms will take that as people like what your posting, and will push it up in their newsfeeds #hottip

Inspirational content is best served on a weekday (earlier in the week generally, because who likes Mondays), and in the mornings (people are looking for just about any motivation they can find on the train into work). 

Conversational 

Ever wanted to build a super engaged audience? This is it. 

It’s pretty common, not just on social media, that people want their voice heard, so if you start to ask for people’s thoughts and opinions, facilitate (and encourage!) the conversations that come of it! Conversational content not only focuses on how you communicate with your followers, it’s also all about how your followers communicate with other followers! If you know that your audience are all interested in a particular thing, and/or you’ve got a super niched following, have you considered a Facebook group? Conversation can only go so far on an Instagram post, but in a Facebook group, you’ve got the opportunity to see your followers start and drive conversations, which is ultimately what you (and Zuck) want! 

We (and Mark Zuckerberg) cannot recommend Facebook groups enough. It’s a small group of people who super invested in you, your brand, and what you have to say, and if done correctly, will be a super engaged group of individuals. A couple of really great examples of groups done well (and aren’t super sales-y) are Shameless Facebook group and She One The Money Facebook group. If starting a Facebook group is a little intimidating at the moment (we get it!), start with adding call-to-actions on your Instagram captions (“tag someone who needs this … in their life” “What do you think of the current hashtag situation?” “tell us a bit about you” will all do well).

Locational 

Where in the world are you? 

Whilst you definitely could maintain an entire presence solely online, people want to know where  you are (this ties in nicely with personal as well ). When it comes down to it, social media is about being relatable to others, and if you are spending your weekend running along the Brisbane river, hanging by the beach in Noosa, or having brunch in Burleigh Heads, people want to know! As well as this, people want to know that you’re in a particular location, whether that be so they can tee up meetings, buy your stuff from local markets or stockists, or simply get together to talk about how dang hot it is right now! There’s a relatability when you know a brand or person you’re following is from the same place as you, or is travelling somewhere that you’ve been, making the relationship easier to cultivate and the conversation easier to start. 

Start by simply geotagging every post! You’d be surprised how many people find you because you’ve tagged the cafe you’re working at, or the city you live in. If you want to hit two love languages with one stone, ask for recommendations for cafe/food/drinks/things to do in a city that you’re visiting (or you live in!). 

Love languages aren’t all romantic, they can absolutely be used to build your brand or business online, and these are some great places to start. We’ve used the Honeycomb Theory of Social Media to build these recommendations, so if you’re looking for some more reading, we cannot recommend them enough! If you feel less like reading and more like taking a quiz, though, we’ve put together a bit of a buzz feed-esque quiz to help you identify which love languages your audience might respond to best, which includes some great practical tips to implement your audiences’ love languages in your current social media strategy! 

Think we missed one? Let us know!