Here’s some of the best stuff I found since last week… add your own great find in a comment!
Want to be the Titan of Twitter? The Giant of Google+? Demian Farnworth (@demianfarnworth), writing at Copyblogger (@Copyblogger), offers a simple way to focus your copy that is guaranteed to get your posts more engagement in Master This Copywriting Formula to Dominate Any Social Media Platform.
I’m constantly recommending that websites incorporate established persuasion principles like social proof and authority. But which works best? Obviously, the answer to that is highly situation-dependent, but one marketer did a head to head comparison of those two principles. Find out which prevailed in Sliderobes’ Site-Wide Header Bar Test Results from the always entertaining Which Test Won (@WhichTestWon). Be sure to look at the two versions of the page and guess which won before you peek at the results!
Most of us would like to get more done in the time we spend working. That’s definitely better than working ever-longer hours. Eric Barker (@bakadesuyo) turns to writer Dan Pink (@DanielPink) for advice in Work Smarter Not Harder: 17 Great Tips and solve your issues.
Technology is making handwriting obsolete. While putting an end to illegible notes or mis-read prescriptions may be a good thing, there’s a price to pay when students stop writing not long after they learn how. Psychologists and neuroscientists are finding that writing by hand can have a major effect on learning. Maria Konnikova‘s (@mkonnikova) What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades at NYTimes.com lays out some of the evidence in favor of pencil and paper.
According to writer Cristian Rennella (@crisrennella) at CrazyEgg (@crazyegg), five seconds is a magic number – if you haven’t hooked your visitor in that time, your odds of conversion are much lower. In 3 Steps to a Website that Converts (in 5 Seconds or Less), he offers a simple technique for getting your visitor’s attention quickly and in a way that will lead to conversion.
You already know that your clothes affect how other people view you. Surprisingly, what you are wearing can also have an impact on your self-perception and even your cognitive ability. In What Your Clothes Are Telling You at Psychology Today, psychologist Ben C. Fletcher (@profbenfletcher) walks us through the research. (Don’t have a Superman shirt in your closet? You might want to add one after you read this article!)
Psychological triggers are important. Testing is important. Neuromarketing favorite Nathalie Nahai (@TheWebPsych) brings those two elements together in her slide deck, Web Psychology principles for you to A/B tests. Remember – even conversion experts can’t always predict what will work best in a given situation. Start with psychology, but then test!
My Stuff
My fellow Austinite, Ryan Holiday, has written an inspiring book that is quite a departure from his previous bestseller, Trust Me, I’m Lying. Ryan’s new title is The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph. I review it in my Forbes article, The Obstacle Is The Way. (For more about the book and to read more reviews, check out Obstacle at Amazon.)
This week’s podcast is a departure from my interview format. In Ep #9: Gliding Down The Persuasion Slide, I explain the elements of my persuasion model. Let me know what you think – I plan to keep doing interviews, but if my readers/listeners are interested, I may insert a few topical solo sessions like this one.
And in case you missed them, check out my picks from last week in How to Win Arguments, Be Attractive, & More. You’ll learn how to build a media platform, see some amazing data about how travelers make decisions, and more.
Weird and/or Wonderful
Does porn shrink your brain? Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin measured subjects’ brains in a variety of ways and came up with some surprising data. Justine Alford reports the details in Researchers Find Association Between Porn Viewing And Less Grey Matter In The Brain.
Neuromarketing Classic
Although technology seems to be a great enabler of communication, it also is taking a toll on face-to-face interaction and, perhaps, old-fashioned socializing. In It Really DOES Pay to Schmooze, I describe research showing the importance of face-to-face communication in socializing.
Bucking the trend, comments are still open here! If you found an interesting article this week, add it in a comment! Your fellow Neuromarketing readers will thank you!
