Imagine that you saw your favorite UFC fighter get kicked between the legs during a fight. Could you stop yourself from cringing? Probably not because you can picture yourself in that same situation and imagine how much it hurts.
Why do our bodies respond this way?
There are bundles of cells in the human brain called mirror neurons that activate when you observe or perform an action. The problem is, these mirror neurons can’t distinguish between observation and performance…
…So, when you see a UFC fighter get kicked, your mirror neurons fire-up, and your brain thinks you just got kicked.
How do you use these mirror neurons to influence people with social media?
How Frank Kern Uses Mirror Neurons to Influence People
Do you remember how Frank Kern launched his Mass Control 2.0 product? He used a video, and he began it by unboxing his product.
It was pure genius. From the start of his sales pitch, he got people to think they were opening the product themselves by activating mirror neurons.
How does this work? When you open something you want, your brain rewards you with excitement. And when you watch someone else open something you want, you get that same excitement because of your mirror neurons.
Why does this help you influence people online? Well, when you make people feel great, they’re more likely to listen to you. It’s that simple.
How Can You Use Mirror Neurons to Influence People?
You just need to remember one thing. When people see someone perform an action on video, they will think they just performed the action themselves.
And if people think they just performed an action, they’ll be more likely to actually perform the action. Why? Because they’re already thinking about doing it.
So, if you want people to tweet your new video, you could end your video by tweeting it yourself. Or, if you want people to buy your product, you could end your video by going through your sales process.
Can You Influence People With Mirror Neurons Without Video?
The short answer is, Yes. All you have to do is pick the right words to get people into the right mindset.
For example, take a look at how I started this blog post:
“Just imagine that you saw your favorite UFC fighter get kicked between the legs during”
Instead of showing you a video of a UFC fighter, I made you picture it yourself. This is called invoking the mind’s eye. And that’s the best way to activate mirror neurons with text.
What’s Next?
Picture yourself leaving a comment on this blog and sending a tweet, too. Or, you could just subscribe via RSS or EMAIL to get more free updates.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Just found your site via Twitter.
Nice first post.
And getting kicked in the nuts is definately the most powerful example you could have possibly used (for guys anyway).
I’m going to go make some videos of people writing me checks now…
I think we’re going to see a lot of marketing innovation come out of brain science in the next few years. At minimum we’ll get some insight into how & why the things we do intuitively, actually work. Mirror neurons is a great example. Like your post. More of it.
@Mark Mac Checks? You’re better off going for Paypal donations. It’s a smaller time commitment (ha ha)
@Gregory I totally agree with you. Just like the 20th century was big for psychology, I think the 21st will be huge for neuroscience.
Verrryy interesting! I just did 2 tests on Twitter and they got more results than many of my “marketing” tweets. Thanks Derek!
If all the articles will be like this, it will be entertaining and useful! Congrats on the new blog and I’m looking forward to the posts.
Great first post! As a reality TV producer, I count on mirror neurons to make people feel like they are covered in cockroaches, running through a burning building, or falling in love. Who knew it would work for my blog? Picture this: you’re very interested in the way we just filmed a Twitterview to help people understand what it was like to win Scream Queens and may want to write about it : )
Seriously, cool blog.
Biagio
I’ve never seen Frank Kern’s video. Time to check it out.
The idea of mirror neurons is fantastic. I never really thought to consciously use this type of communication in my videos. Now that I know about this concept I can test it out and see what works.
In the end it’s all about testing to see what our audience responds to and tweaking it to make it a little better the next time.
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