The “Human Algorithm” and Knowing What Makes Your Market Tick

Every person has unique ways to prioritize the content we pay attention to. We each possess a sort of human algorithm.

We’ve all fallen victim to content strategies like click bait before-- we know it’s click bait, but we almost can’t help but click, swipe, or scroll. The human mind is powerful, and can sometimes lead us to do things that we don’t really want to do. Manipulating the human brain has long been territory of marketers that give our industry a bad name. Many of the “good guys” are a few steps behind when it comes to understanding the human mind and compelling behavior.

To understand this algorithm better, we need to understand who our audience is, how they think, what they like, and how they behave. Our target audience has hopes, dreams, and fears. They’re more than potential targets for our products. We need to meet them where they are, taking into consideration their unique pain points and interests.

Using tools like Sparktoro, we can gain important insight into who our audience is, their preferences, and what kind of content they consume. This helps us learn more about who they are, what they identify with, and what their most significant interests are.

Understanding this human algorithm played a crucial role in one of our campaigns for eFileCabinet. eFileCabinet provides white-glove, document management services to professionals such as accountants, HR professionals, loan officers, and lawyers. When we initially considered who accountants were, we assumed too much. We created whitepapers and other content we assumed would appeal to them. But these campaigns weren’t quite hitting home. Once we took a step back to truly understand who they were, we learned more about how they thought, how they behaved, and their specific pain points. With that information we created the Rage Cage.

For the campaign called “Rage Cage,” we went to an accounting conference and set up a room full of office supplies that our audience could smash at leisure and let all their frustrations out. It was unlike any other campaign we’d ever done before; yet it helped us hit all of our marketing objectives. Additionally, the Rage Cage went on to earn significant media attention, win multiple awards, as well as bring in the largest increase in marketing qualified leads we’d ever seen in a single month up to that point.

None of this success could have been achieved if we hadn’t decided to consider the human algorithm. Taking the time to truly understand our audience as human beings, and then create content that makes their life better, will always lead to our greatest successes.