If you’re the type of person who checks your social media accounts just seconds after opening your eyes in the morning, you are not alone. The thing you might not realize is that your social media habits present marketers with a valuable opportunity. And that’s where Leslie Feinzaig comes in.

Feinzaig is the vice president of digital experiences at Julep Beauty, where she leads a team of product managers and marketers, software engineers and user interface designers in creating enjoyable customer experiences on Julep’s website, mobile app and email. During her SXSW Interactive session, “Forget Loyalty, Build Habits,” Feinzaig will explore online habits from a marketing perspective and give brand builders advice on creating user habits.

Q. How did you come up with the idea for this panel?

A. I’ve always been very intrigued by what motivates people. As a product manager, and earlier as a strategy consultant, I was always out observing and talking to users trying to figure out why they do what they do, and trying to build products and experiences that solved people’s problems. The first time I spoke at SXSW in 2012, it was about this topic: how do you figure out what users want when they themselves can’t articulate it. I think that is the central question in consumer-facing technology: why do we do what we do, and how can we make those experiences better.

A few months after that SXSW talk I joined Big Fish Games and that’s where it hit me: most of what people do is out of habit. Casual games – the kind you play on your phone – are designed to be sticky, in other words, habit forming. It led me to think about principles of game design more broadly, about how we can build habit loops into products and experiences outside of games, and about how it is critical to do so responsibly.

Q. Why do you think we’ve made habits out of our social media and online usage?

A. There is a very tight, low-effort cue and reward loop built into social media, and that is the foundation of a powerful habit. Our smartphones have made it even easier! Every time you check Facebook, you’re immediately rewarded with a bunch of easily digestible digital media. It is quite a large, immediate reward for the very easy action of clicking on an app. Compare that to some healthy habits that are far more difficult to form – like working out. It takes a lot of effort to get yourself motivated to do it, and the reward is not felt immediately – it is only observable over a long period of time.

Q. People often complain about seeing so many advertisements on their social media platforms. Do you think this has a negative effect on our social media habits? 

A. I honestly don’t have data to formulate a strong opinion either way. I personally don’t think it does, as long as ads are clearly marked as ads, they are not intrusive, and you value the content high enough that you’re willing to see a couple of ads to get to it. I personally even find some ads really relevant, so I am OK with them. At the same time, I appreciate having the opportunity to select my privacy settings so my personal information remains private.

Q. Without giving away too much, what are some of the ways brands can create a user habit?

A. This really depends on the level of effort and the frequency of usage of the brand. The higher effort, lower frequency brands are going to be far more difficult to build habits around. The higher frequency, lower difficulty experiences are riper for habit building. In either case, the key to forming a habit is to form a discernible link between an action and a reward, and getting the user to repeat that action enough times that it becomes a habit. Easy, right? 🙂

Actually, it’s not easy to build a habit at all. But it is far easier to piggyback on an existing habit (like adding mouthwash to your teeth brushing routine), or replace a habit entirely (like switching from Coke to Diet Coke).

Q. Is there anything you can add about what your presentation will cover?

A. My talk is in the form of a core conversation, so I am planning a lot of audience participation. In fact, I might try to see if I can get everyone to build a new habit together! We’ll see if it works…

Q. What do you think the biggest takeaway will be for an audience member of this panel? What specific things are you hoping people learn?

A. I hope that this inspires people to think about human behavior differently, and that it makes their marketing and product design dollars far more effective as a result.

Be sure to follow Leslie on Twitter (@LeslieFeinzaig) and tweet at her during the presentation using the hashtag #brandhabit.

Session Details

Saturday, March 14
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Hyatt Regency Austin
Texas Ballroom 1
208 Barton Springs Rd

For more information on this panel about building brand habits, visit http://schedule.sxsw.com/2015/events/event_IAP36222.