There is nothing we love more than taking a scroll down social media lane.

It scratches an itch that we all have, and even though most of us wish we would scroll less, we seem to keep doing it more. And yes, it’s completely mindless with little to no thought behind it.

So when you know that everyone is mindlessly scrolling, it becomes your job as a social media manager to get them to stop. What are some tricks to stop the scroll?

Less than perfect photography and videography

I get it. You want everything to be picture perfect on your social media. The problem with that is that our brains automatically see those perfect pictures and videos as ads. And because of that, we will scroll on by to something that looks less like an ad.

What works better is if you go a few steps below perfect and post images and videos. If it looks like something that a family member or friend posted, it’s even better.

Am I saying to post like Grandma Evelyn with images where the flash overtakes the subject? No. What I am saying is that all of that perfection is working against you. So accept a few imperfections. Connection on social media now happens within those imperfections and that’s more likely to get people to stop that scroll.

Featuring fans

There is nothing that will stop a scroll faster than a familiar face. Someone I know was recently honored by a college. I was mindlessly on Facebook and all of a sudden a photo of his face was smiling at me. You bet your butt I stopped that mindless scrolling to find out why I was looking at his face on some college’s Facebook page. I even clicked the link to find out more. That’s how invested I was.

Yes, highlighting fans will get them to share the post to their own feeds. But most importantly, it will make people who know them stop scrolling when they see your post in their feed. They will want to know more and engage with your post in some way. And that engagement will make it more likely that they will see a post from you again, even if they don’t like your page immediately.

Use emotion

A post without emotion is going to flop at this point. If you can’t put some kind of emotion into every post, then you are easy to replace with AI. Because AI can totally do that.

So why is emotion so important? It gives fans that human connection and it makes them feel something. They’re much more likely to remember something that makes them feel an emotion than something that does not. There’s that old saying that they won’t remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel. That applies here as well.

Except that you shouldn’t be afraid of negative emotions. I once had a client’s community member who got angry because I asked a question on the page that started a discussion about a hard topic. Fans were sharing their worries, and it was honestly a lot of, “I feel that too,” which was super productive at making community members feel like they were not alone. But the community member couldn’t see that, and ultimately, because they were a big donor, the post was taken down. Years later I still think that was a mistake. Knowing that others are going through similar worries makes fans feel seen and like they belong. Keeping everything positive alienates fans that are going through a hard time. They feel alone and like no one else understands them. That’s way more negative than anything else you can do.

Be weird

So many brands get concerned about being something for everyone. What that turns them into is milquetoast. No one wants that, and very few people want to stop their scroll for that, let alone buy from a milquetoast brand.

But a weird brand? They’re down. Just look at Beyond Meat on Threads. They are seriously weird and everyone on Threads flocks to it. So if you’re worried about alienating people by being weird, it’s actually more likely that you will invite more people to get to know your brand, rather than alienate them.

How do you figure out your weird? Get to know what’s important to your audience and your brand. And then go hard on it. Be a total nerd about it.

To me, it’s an absolute joy to watch someone be absolutely passionate about what they love. This is just like that. Show your passion and don’t worry about it getting weird. Because it absolutely should be.

Other ways to stop the scroll

There are lots of other ways to succeed at getting fans to stop the scroll. But figuring out what will work for your brand goes back to knowing who your brand is and who your audience is. From there, you can figure out how to capture their attention in much more unique ways. Otherwise, you’ll be just like everyone else on social media. And the easiest way to get your fans to keep scrolling is by being like everyone else.

How do you get your fans to stop the scroll?