Social Engineering Blogs

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10 minute summary of 1 life-changing, mind-altering book on persuasion, psychology & human brain

Made to Stick is one of my favourite books when it comes to sticky and memorable messages. This is also the book that I recommend and give as a gift the most. I love it THAT much.

The book teaches you how to craft sticky, memorable messages and how to do that even if you think your idea is lame. . You might think that some ideas are inherently sticky, I did too – but Chip and Dan share a six part framework that allows you to make even lame ideas sticky.

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S – simple. Simple here means presenting an idea in an easy to understand way and to do that quickly. The best way to simplify a hard to understand idea is to use a metaphor. Or equivalence as I call it. For example “Uber for lawnmowers” conveys the idea quickly without having to go into unnecessary detail.

U – unexpected. Our brains react to disruption FAST and it also allows us to cut through the clutter FAST. And let’s be honest if you are talking in the same way that everyone is used to, it’s highly likely that you’ll be ignored. (check out Nordy Stories in the book for more on doing the unexpected in a really good way)

C- concrete. This is all about painting a mental picture. Using sensory words & phrases in your copy is how you best do this. People need to be able to clearly see in their mind what you’re describing.

C – credible. Credibility comes from 2 angles. External; such as an accreditation or endorsement or Internal; where it’s your credibility comes because you found an innovative way to solve a problem. There are some really great examples in the book of these.

E – emotions. Emotions are what drive people …always has, always will. So why is there so often more focus on the logic or the rational aspect of the product? The book has some great ideas on how to tap into emotions to get people to pay attention to your message including the need to belong to a specific group.

S – stories. we all know that stories sell but Heath brothers show us HOW to sell through stories, what kind of stories are the stickiest and why not all stories are created equal.

Even if you aren’t in business the way you present your ideas, how you craft an argument, how you communicate with your children even will CHANGE FOREVER!
Check it out here (NOT an affiliate link)

The post 10 minute summary of 1 life-changing, mind-altering book on persuasion, psychology & human brain appeared first on The Persuasion Revolution.

My Biggest OMGs, WTFs and FMLs from 2 Years in Business

The first 2 years of my business were a strange, psychedelic mix of OMG, WTF and FML.
Lucky for all of us, I came out from it relatively intact and with only minor damage to my brain and ego (or so I think)
Here are some of those gems from my personal collection (and if you don’t get a couple OMGs and AHAs after listening, feel free to kick me in the shins)

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Primed traffic vs Unprimed Traffic

Everything shifts when you make this change. Most conventional advice of FB ads totally misses this part. They all have you sending totally cold, no idea who you are traffic to your OPT IN PAGE!

Money loves speed

Every time I create a programme FAST, it makes me a lot of money. If something if lighting a fire under you –  don‘t let it go out!

You are responsible for your brand.

No one else gives a shit. No matter how much you love the people in your team, no matter how much they love you, one day something will  get messed up and the only one to pick up the pieces  will be YOU.

Start thinking beyond email lists.

Email is only ONE of the many ways you can reach people. This launch I had 30k on my email list but TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND on my pixel list.

Likeability vs Authority:

Some brands position themselves as an authority. They are cool, aloof, they don’t  engage. Then you have me.  I built my brand on being approachable, I respond to everyone, I send voice notes, I reply to emails.  It’s like Ellen vs Oprah (I’m Ellen btw)

Heavy people or light people.

And NO I don’t mean weight.  It is how they make you FEEL. Work with people for a small bit first, and notice how you feel when you have to communicate with them. That is going to set the scene for the rest of your relationship.

Courses alone don’t cut it anymore.

If you plan to offer a course, plan another element to go with it. My programs, for example, include my community, my presence, my feedback.   And that is what cannot be ripped off.

Live events are the best and the worst.

Suddenly dealing with people one on one – having lunch and dinner and meeting people you have NEVER MET BEFORE.  It is all a bit much and totally enriching at the same time

Human beings are assholes.

When you put a human in a position where they can judge you, the assholes will put themselves on a pedestal which they have no place being on. They will be judgy & they will be mean…because YOU just gave them a license to be so. Unless you can handle  any kind of feedback  at all, do not ask them for it.

The post My Biggest OMGs, WTFs and FMLs from 2 Years in Business appeared first on The Persuasion Revolution.

Understanding the psychology of social media sharing

Just as what people say and do in real life tells us who they are, how they act on social media reveals their personality too. 

The same underlying motivations that drive the behavior of individuals in real life are at play in the virtual world of social media.

The reasons why people share what they share on social media are numerous but when looked at via the lens of various psychological perspectives, a lot of motivations clear out from the vague haze of random posts, videos, and pictures.

These psychological perspectives are not necessarily mutually exclusive. A single social media behavior could be the result of a combination of motivations highlighted by these perspectives.

Let’s go over these perspectives one by one…

Beliefs and values

You hardly need an in-depth knowledge of human behavior to understand that people like and share stuff on social media that match their beliefs and values.

A guy who favors capitalism, for example, will often post about it. Someone who believes democracy is the ideal form of government will often post about it.

We all have a tendency to reaffirm our beliefs once we’ve formed them. The next psychological perspective explains why…

Ego boost

Our beliefs make up our various identities which in turn make up our ego. Our ego is nothing but a set of beliefs that we have about ourselves. Our ego is how we see ourselves, our image.

The reason why people reaffirm their beliefs is that it helps them maintain or boost their ego. 

 If I support socialism then reaffirming the awesomeness of socialism boosts my ego because when I say “Socialism is awesome”, I’m indirectly saying, “I’m awesome because I support socialism which is awesome.” (see Why we want others to like what we like)

The same concept can be extended to one’s preferred political party, favorite sports team, celebrities, car and phone models, etc.

Attention craving

Sometimes what people share on social media is just an attempt to get attention.

We all have an innate need to be wanted, liked and being attended to. But, in some people, this need is exaggerated, possibly because they received little attention from their primary caregivers during childhood.

Attention-seekers post more regularly on social media to replete their ‘attention tanks’. If they feel they’re aren’t getting the attention they want they can go to great extremes to force you to pay attention by posting high shock value stuff such as gory pictures, nudity, etc.

Mate value signaling

Social media provides a great platform for men and women to flaunt their value as a suitable mate. This evolutionary psychological perspective is a powerful factor explaining why people share what they share on social media.

Since men who’re resourceful and ambitious are perceived to be ‘high value’ mates, men often share things that directly or indirectly signal these traits.

This is why you see many men sharing pictures of cars, bikes, and gadgets, even setting these as their profile pictures. Resource signaling in men also includes showing off their intelligence (via humor, for example) and occupational achievements.

Mate value in women is predominantly signaled by physical beauty.

This is why the only activity of some women on Facebook is uploading or changing their pictures.
This is also why women frequently use picturing sharing apps like Instagram that allows them to show off their beauty.

Besides beauty, women signal their mate value by displaying ‘nurturing’ behaviors.

Displaying nurturing behavior allows women to signal, “I’m a good mother and I can take good care of babies with the help of my female friends.”

 Ancestral women who were nurturing and formed strong relationships with other women to gather food and raise the young together were more successful reproductively than those who did not have these traits.

This is why you see women posting pictures of them holding a cute baby, animal, teddy bear, etc. and stuff that signals how much they cherish friendships and relationships.


When it’s a woman’s best friend’s birthday, you’re likely to see her post a picture of her and her best friend together, along with something like this written in the caption… 


I see today is the birthday of my sweetheart, my love, my cutie pie Maria. Oh! dear Maria! Where do I start? As soon as I got the notification about your birthday, my mind drifted to those days we spent together, all the fun that we had when we……………..and so on.

On the contrary, men’s birthday wishes rarely go any longer than, “Happy birthday bro”.