Halo effect, what is it?

21 January 2021

Have you ever prejudged a person by the first impression they make on you? Surely on more than one occasion with the first physical features you have created an image of that person.

That’s what the halo effect is all about.

The halo effect is the tendency of defining a person based on a trait that we know or see about them. In other words, it consists of attributing positive characteristics to a person or thing, about which we lack information, based on an attribute such as beauty.

This can happen in any situation when you see someone for the first time, a new teammate, a store clerk and yes, this also happens on social networks.

For example, an influencer to whom we attribute characteristics such as seriousness or beauty announces a new brand, instinctively we will give that brand the characteristics of the influencer.

Halo effect, how to use it in social networks

In digital marketing, the first impression is key. It can help you to generate an interaction, a comment or gain a new follower, as well as it can ruin the experience and be forgotten.

Marketers and social media professionals use the halo effect to create a good impression of their profile or that of the brands they work for.

The objective is to offer the user a positive image that brings good results.

How can you use this feature and create a halo effect on the profiles you work on?

Use beauty in your posts

If a user sees a product associated with an attractive person, their impulse to purchase will increase. They associate the beauty of the model with the success of the product. For instance, they imagine wearing a garment because the person starring in the post looks good on it.

Here is an example of the Halo Effect. In this post, we see Miguel Ángel Silvestre, a well-known actor in Spain, using a Babyliss product to shave: an attractive and famous person, using an everyday product such as a razor.

✅ That a popular actor uses this product makes many men buy this razor on impulse.

It’s the halo effect – a good impression of a product used by an attractive person who cares for his beard.

Ver esta publicación en Instagram

Una publicación compartida de Miguel Angel Silvestre (@miguelangelsilvestre)

Show your work on social media

The halo effect can work on any type of product or service with a good presence profile, without the need to show models.

That is, if you sell digital marketing courses and you are going to be the teacher, showing a careful Instagram profile will help build trust among potential students.

On the contrary, if a user interested in that training, enters your profile and finds a messy Instagram account, they will abandon the profile in an instant.

Ver esta publicación en Instagram

Una publicación compartida de Vilma Nunez (@vilmanunez)

In this other example,  we see Vilma Núñez’s profile, a Digital Marketing Consultant. Here you can see a neat and clear design. In addition, the accompanying text is easy to read, separated by paragraphs and with emojis that manage to ease the reading.

✅ With the halo effect, when you see her post, you get a first good impression from Vilma and it encourages you to ask for her advice.

At Noma.Marketing.Consulting, they bet on a clean and attractive design for their Instagram profile. In this way, they build trust in the user. They know that if they hire their services they will be in good hands.

(Aquí pondría el enlace a la raíz)

Contact Influencers

One of the common ways to advertise your product is through influencers.

If they post promoting your brand, it will ensure a good number of followers, interactions and hopefully sales. Fans of the influencer you work with will trust him and you will benefit from the halo effect: a good first impression through this influencer.

In the case of Curly.Azahara, an influencer with more than 600,000 followers, promotes the products of MyBodyGenius, a fit food brand.

If an influencer shows this brand to their community interested in healthy eating, MyBodyGenius will achieve a halo effect: users trust their influencer and, therefore, the quality of the promoted brand’s products.

Ver esta publicación en Instagram

Una publicación compartida de Hacia una vida +consciente🌍 (@curly.azahara)

Emma Hill is a British influencer who takes care of her style by wearing clothes from the best brands.

Brands enjoy an indirect halo effect because it is the influencer who labels Massimo Dutti or Wandler: her followers see how Emma looks, the style she usually wears and this benefits the brands by getting a good first impression.

Ver esta publicación en Instagram

Una publicación compartida de Emma Hill (@emmahill)

Take care of the design of the rest of the elements of your brand

If you have a perfect Instagram but when it comes to taking users to your website, the experience on it is terrible, your efforts will be fruitless. 

Many brands forget that they must offer the best experience everywhere: website, Facebook profile, payment gateway, etc. Otherwise, they can get a negative halo effect, if the first impression is negative, it will generate mistrust in the brand.

This bad image can be due to the loading speed of the page, difficulty in finding things or complications to navigate the web.

✅ Experiences that provoke negative opinions on the Internet, bad brand image and distrust of users will have a negative halo effect.

If you have any questions related to the Halo Effect, let us know and we will try to solve them. 

Isabel Romero Isabel Romero , 21 January 2021

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