Persuasive Advertising

Design by Meredith Barker 

    

    Advertisements are all around us. From the moment we wake up, we are on our phones, encountering ads on social media platforms, emails, text messages, and notifications. Being exposed to advertisements does not stop when we put our phones down. We see ads on billboards, on the side of buses, hear them through the radio and television, and see them at our favorite restaurants and stores. We cannot escape the thousands of advertisements we are inundated with daily. However, we need to recognize the strategies advertisements use to persuade our thinking. Lawrence (2022) defines visual rhetoric as "the art of using visuals-- whether they are photographs, digital videos, holographic, projections, or other graphical media-- to persuade" (p. 105). Using visual rhetoric, advertisements are created to persuade their audience to buy a product or take a specific action. Let's learn more about these persuasion techniques so advertisements do not unknowingly influence us as we encounter them throughout the day.

    As researchers Kumar et al. (2023) state, "modeling what makes an advertisement persuasive, i.e., eliciting the desired response from the consumer, is critical to the study of propaganda, social psychology, and marketing" (para. 1). When looking at advertisements the visual design has been intentionally catered to attract viewers and keep them engaged the entire duration of the ad. Lawrence, 2022, states, "producers use visual design to attempt to persuade consumers that they need or want their product" (pg.105).  Lawrence says commercials focus more on persuasion than educating or informing their audience (p. 106). After extensive research on advertisements and their persuasion strategies, Kumar et al. (2023) made the following conclusions: 

• "Feminine and fashionable emotion strategies are most often associated with beauty products and cosmetics" (para. 3.5). 
• "Fast-food and restaurant industries often use eagerness [emotions] as their messaging strategy" (para. 3.5). 
• "Vehicle ads use emotion: amazed and concreteness" (para. 3.5). 

The data shows one of the more common strategies advertisements use is appealing to the emotions of their audience in order to persuade them. 

 

    Not only do the visual strategies of the advertisements matter but how they are presented is equally important to the producer; therefore, it should be information consumers know. According to Dopson (2021) as cited by Lawrence (2022), "video ads created as many as 20-30 percent more conversations compared to image-only advertisements" (p.113). This statistic leads to advertisement producers making more video ads to capture the attention of their audience, at times without the audience even recognizing the engagement technique. Knowing this information as a consumer will help you be on guard when video ads are presented.  In video ads, the producer most likely knows that short 30-60-second videos get the most online engagement as opposed to longer videos (Dopson, 2021, as cited by Lawrence, 2022, p. 114). 

    Now that we know, the most popular and successful advertisements are short videos that appeal to the audience's emotions. Below, you will see other ways advertisers pull us in and persuade us. As you encounter thousands of ads, keep these techniques in mind.

Recognizing Persuasion by Meredith Barker

References

Kumar, Y., Jha, R., Gupta, A., Aggarwal, M., Garg, A., Malyan, T., Bhardwaj, A., Ratn Shah, R., Krishnamurthy, B., & Chen, C. (2023). Persuasion Strategies in Advertisements. Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 37(1), 57-66. https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v37i1.25076

Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.

Using Social Media Like An Expert

    

    What is social media? According to a group of researchers, "social media are web-based tools that enable users to communicate using a digital strategy" (Mukminin et al., 2023, para. 1).  Social media is a growing platform inundated with people, young and old. We use it frequently- sharing news articles, posting our favorite dinner, learning new information, and telling others about our latest vacation spot. Many platforms are categorized under the umbrella term of "social media". Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly known as Twitter) are just a few social media platforms we will focus on in this article. Should we use all social media platforms in the same way? Should we cater our approach to the platform? Want to know how to post on social media like an expert? Check out the tips below! 

    Over half the population in the United States has a Facebook profile, making it the most-used social media platform (Lawrence, 2022, p. 53). 

Facebook Tip:

• Messages and advertisements that are best received use authentic voices and stories (Lawrence, 2022, p. 64). To make the biggest impact on your audience, try telling a story from your point of view or elevating the voice of someone around you.

    Almost three-fourths of Instagram users are under 35 (Lawrence, 2022, p. 67), making Instagram an excellent platform for engaging with Millennials and Gen Z. 

Instagram Tips: 

• Focus on your feed rather than stories. Feed posts are permanent, allowing more views of your hard work. 
• Less is more when it comes to hashtags. Studies show that using less than five hashtags is typically best for engagement with your post (Lawrence, 2022, p. 67).

    Although X (formerly known as Twitter) is known to have misinformation (Lawrence, 2022, p. 68), it is an excellent place for concise thoughts and quick discourse with others. 

Tips: 

• Use X to convey thoughts on current events and happenings (Lawrence, 2022, p. 70). 
• To gain a following post often, consistently, and about the same general topic (Lawrence, 2022, p. 71).

    Now that you know how to post like an expert, let's look at when to post to get the most engagement! The best day and time to post depends on your social media platform. Use the tips from above in tandem with the best time to post to boost your exposure to a new audience.

    Posting on social media has many benefits for your audience. They learn something new, be inspired, or be transformed by a story. Although social media posts most often are made with an audience in mind, posting does not only benefit the audience. Research states, "using social media can help writers hone their words in response to criticism and comments from others and establish their authenticity as writers (Black, 2005; Cremades et al., 2021; Namaziandost & Nasri, 2019; Yan, 2019, as cited in Mukminin et al., 2023, para. 2.2). You are refining your writing skills by posting and having discourse on social media. Use a tip you learned to try to post on a social media platform today!

Do you still want more tips for posting on social media? Watch this!

References

Digital Agency. (2023, March 28). 5 Tips for posting on social media [Video]. YouTube. https://youtube.com/shorts/SBeyxcQHYqo?si=IpgFalMkrZhDZeWH

Faust, K. (2023, March 8). Best days and times to post on social media in 2023 [Infographic]. Empowered Social Media | Social Media Management, Coaching, and Holistic Marketing Solutions. https://www.empoweredsocialmediaco.com/blog/best-days-and-times-to-post-on-social-media-in-2023-infographic

Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.

Mukminin, A., Habibi, A., Muhaimin, M., & Hidayat, M. (2023). Social media use for English writing (SMU-EW): Preservice English teachers. Ampersand, 10, 100112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amper.2023.100112