Cognitive Communication

COGNITIVE
COMMUNICATION:
Influence your
audience by
communicating
in their
language.
By Kathryn McMann
USING MEMORY RENTENTION AND COMMUNICATION
INTELLIGENCES TO INFLUENCE SOCIAL SHARING THROUGH
MEDIA

© Kathryn McMann Holistic Marketing Consultancy 2013
www.KathrynMcMann.com

Whitepaper created from the original talk ‘Predicting Their Next Move:
Influence Your Audience by Speaking their Language’ Presented by
Kathryn McMann #140Conf New York: June 2011

Q

How can we have a greater impact on how people share
and communicate across platforms on and offline- By
communicating in their language?

The Internet and mobile access has multiplied different ways of communicating anywhere,
with almost anyone, and be able to source or look up almost anything. But this does mean
they are all in one place. An audience with a shared interest will be disseminated across
many portals of communication.
Let’s start with what we know.
We know that as human beings we have the same motives and incentives online as we do
offline. We are driven by the same emotional drivers such as desire, belief, empathy,
humour.
We know…
There are over 200 million*active users on Twitter.
Facebookdominates the digital space, with over1 billion users*.
Over 4 billion videos* are watched on Youtubeevery day.
LinkedIn has now more than 200 million users*.
And we know that the online event organizer social media site, MeetUp,
facilitates 340,000* meet ups per month.
*Statistics correct as of 10th Jan 2013.
Powerful stuff
This reinforces that interactions are happening all the time and that content creation is an
extremely valuable marketing tool, especially since the accelerated evolution of technology
has opened up the opportunities for everyone to communicate globally.
These stats help us measure the impact of interaction but they don’t help us identify where
the users have come from or where the users will go to next from one customer touch point
to another
Information is so readily available that the volume of content available is immense, and in
turn, it is drowning itselfto sell out, becoming white noise to the interactive audience.
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Information Overload
The world is suffering from information
overload and,in turn, decision fatigue. In
response, customers are creating their own
personalfiltersto quieten the influx of noise
and to help streamline their decision making.
They choose to only engage with what they
are actually interested in and nothing more,
staying within these areas of interest.This is
where social activity helps to widen that gap.

Algorithm Funnelling
Google also contributes to this funnelling affect of minimizing people’s ‘areas of interest’ by
defining peoples search results based on previous searches so no search page results are
ever the same, even if the search term used is.
Facebook also funnels people’s personal areas of interest byonly showing the status feeds
of the ‘friends’, ‘pages’and‘groups’ that people haverecently interacted with. You can read
more about Google rank and Facebook ranking systems on my blog.

Decision
Fatigue
Personal
Filters

Areas of
Interest
Natural Curiosity
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However, we are all naturally curious, and our
knowledge capacity is always growing. What we see
as relevant expands our circle of attention opening
up our wider scope of interest. This works well
online because of the viral nature of theInternet,
where one thing laterallyconnects to another,
although these lateral connections will be unique to
each individual user.
So how can we have greater control on what is included in ‘their’area of attention?
This is very similar to the ‘9 hits and their sold’theory. A pre-Internet advertising mantra
developed in the 80’s. This is now the equivalent to achieving 60+ hits/brand recognition
and a strong emotional connection, to get the brand within the radar of the audiences’circle
of attention.
So how canbrands get within thiscircle of interest?

InterestRelated
Content
Interest

Area of
Interest

Related
Content

New
Interests

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To really engage with an audience you need to communicate in their language
It’s quite simple to speak to them in their Communication stylewhich is alsoknown as their
learning style.
For example, when we communicate
 We learn – receive the information
 We memorise – store the information
and when we need to communicate the information
 We retrievethe information from our memory to pass on or reiterate.

How you digest, perceive, and memorise information impacts how you
share, repeat and reciprocate the information.
When we receive information that speaks to our primary communication style we are able
to reply or interact with greater speed and greater understanding. This is because we revert
to using our natural state of communicationwhich takes the least amount of energy and has
the lowest path of resistance, which is often required in a fast-paced feed of information.
For example, it is very likely that either your right or your left arm is stronger than the other.
So when you approach tasks/sports/activities you will always unconsciously revert to using
the stronger arm first to start with an advantage rather than a disadvantage. This is
asubconscious decision based on the instinct of survival and previous memory.
This is particularly why visual communication and videos are shared so easily and become
viral, even if only for an afternoon. They simplify messages for all intelligences making it
easier to understand, memorise and share on.

Cognitive Intelligences
Everyone usesa combination of different intelligences - logical, visual, intrapersonal,
kinaesthetic, auditory, spatial, and interpersonal- these are the main seven that are widely
recognised, however there are up to twenty-one that have been diagnosed so far.

Utilising and Sharing information
When we feel confident of our understanding of a message in its medium, we are far more
likely to share the message on.
This is why video is such a success. It speaks to a larger than average range of senses
and intelligences. Even to kinaesthetic, as people with a natural kinaesthetic ability will
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subconsciously visualise themselves or use ‘muscle memory’ to copy or repeat an action
they see on a video and be able to re-enact this action without the complication of mentally
dissecting it. If they were to mentally dissect the process, this would actually hinder their
ability to copy it naturally because then they have turned the information into a logical
process. For example, an amazing dancer does not necessarily make a good dance
teacher, unless, they have additional cognitive communication intelligences to be able to
adjust their own retention and retrieval processes and then clearly communicate this to
others who in turn, are able to interpret and understand the intended meaning of the
information. In this case having a combination of intrapersonal (self-reflection of own
ability), interpersonal (working and understanding with others), spatial (clarity within the
space), and kinaesthetic (having the skill in the first place) would contribute to optimum
intelligence sharing and understanding for both the teacher and the pupil.

Storage and Memory
By receivinginformation that appeals to our natural communication style, it helps us to
retain this information better. If our brain subconsciously knows where this information is
stored, it is then much easier to pull it into the conscious. For example, if you’re trying to
find ‘that thing’ amongst your belongings where do you start? Do you visually retrace your
steps by remembering the last thing you thoughtwhen ‘that thing’ was in your hands
(emotive visualisation), or do you go to the last place you remember being in your house
(spatial and visual) and try to recall what you were doing (kinaesthetic) or do you go to the
place you always keep it in (logical) and start from there? You may even use all of these
intelligences at different points during your search. Next time, notice what order you go
through and then try to notice when you get frustrated or stumble with your search.
If we know where to find this information,it is then easier to retrieve the information with
greater clarity. In turn, the information is then closer to the original message we first
absorbed and received. This also means that there are far fewerparts of the message lost
through personal translation, when recalling from memory.

Supporting Memory Retention
Another way to support memory retention is to create a memorable narrative or symbols
that trigger connections between the media. This can be a brand message, character or
even a game that challenges individuals and encourages collaboration. One such method,
trans-media narration, the process of communicating a single story or experience across
multiple social media platforms, is especially important in reaching and building loyal
communities across the spectrum of communication styles. Trans-media means to travel
across mediums. Mediums are both on and offline forms of communication and even an
individual’s personal experience.

6

Each medium holds and continues part of the message or storyline, and together they form
the narrative as a whole, encouraging participants to share their experiences with each
other onto another platform.
To aid continued engagement, there could be a reward system, one in which the
users/participants receive another part of the puzzle or brand message. This is viral by
itsvery nature by encouraging people to work together. People excel in different areas but
their curiosity forces them to collaborate to solve larger parts ofthe narratives, drive interest
and in turn seed from one medium to the next.
So, how can YOUR message stand out from the noise?
To make your message stand out and reach people’s areas of interest andsustain this
interest, communicate by addressing all cognitive intelligences. Create your message
across multiple channels, such as audio, blogs, vlogs, newsletters, video and particularly
offline engagement,so that the message can be easily understood by
consumers/users/advocates/followerswith any variation of intelligent perception style.
So what does this all mean? It means...
You can reach an even bigger global audience across a variety of media who will
seed your content with greater clarity and enthusiasm.
Greater options for people with disabilities to be involved, again reaching a wider
audience.
Greater communication across culturalboundaries, varying educational
backgrounds and learnt intelligences.
And creates greater consistency for the brand image uniting the customer’s journey
across the media.

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Summary: How can we influence where users will click to
next?
Utilise a variation of Mediums
Use a wide range of media and ensure it repeats the same message that fits within
the context of the medium to address and target all audiences scattered across the
different mediums personal preference based on their demographics. You need to
know your technology, here if you don’t consult expert help. For free advice on
some of the main platforms, please refer to The Social Media Low-Down.

Optimise and enable the technology to make it fool-proof to share
Ensure sharing buttons and technologies are in all the proper places, connected
and linked properly. Feed their curiosity or propensity to shout about it. It’s an
obvious one but one that is often thought to be so simple that the mechanics are
often overlooked.

Streamline all media to ensure the message repeats throughout mediums
This is about managing the team efficiently and setting up feasible humancentred processes with realistic time-management to keep the brand
consistent across all the media.
Create a narrative that connects the brand story across different media
Create a narrative or concept that unites all the different media and communication
channelstogether to present an effortless customer journey, presenting simplified
connected concepts anda seamless brand image. This simplification and
combination of medium connections will encourage your audience to interact with
each other, to connect between the different channels, for example, usinga
traditional narrativein a non-traditional way, across integrated media such as Transmedia narration.

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About the Author
Kathryn McMann presented this talk at the #140Conf in New York on 16th June, 2011.
Kathryn is always interested in discussing these theories with people from all sectors. If you
like to discuss the issues and topic, find her on her Blog, Facebook page or LinkedIn, all of
which are provide on her website: www.KathrynMcMann.com
If you would like Kathryn to speak at your events on this topic; Social Media; or about the
new Consumer-Brand Relationship, would like to discuss how using Cognitive
Communications can help you business please contact her on:
0(+44) 330 111 0630
Kathryn@KathrynMcMann.com
@KathrynMcMann

Kathryn McMann’s original talk from the
#140Confin New York City, June 2011
Duration: 10 minutes

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