Why would it be a good idea to read this post? Because it will give you a understanding of the basic psychology of how to connect your posts with people. And if more people connect, well that's more upvotes, follows and resteems! Simple.

In the last "A Minnowmentor explains" post I did, I talked about using titles to grab attention, using the same basic psychology as clickbait uses, and that's to get people answering a question with an affirmative before they've even read your post.

In this episode, I'm going to talk about "WHY-FRAMING" your posts when you want to introduce a concept. This is the same basic idea that I teach to salespeople, public speakers and negotiators which I train professionally, and it's genius.

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So why is it important to WHY-FRAME a post?

• Well, firstly, if you frame a post, you always have a great place to start. You know where you are beginning from...and you basically guide the conversation right from the start.

• It means you drive motivation right from the start.

• Framing your post also means that you have a format to work from...if you follow this format, you will always know where you are in the interaction. This is the same whether you are writing, speaking or doing a video. Whatever medium you are using, being able to connect with other people in a way that leads them to where you want them to be is invaluable.

• Being able to frame your ideas also increases retention and uptake in the person who is reading/hearing/watching the message.

• And finally, framing a post is a much better way of getting a complex message across in a simplistic way.

And we are going to do it by asking the question "WHY"

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THE SCHOOLKID METAPHOR

If you, like most people, went to a state school, you will probably have had times when the teacher said something like "right everyone, today we're going to do Algebra....now 2x + 3y = 14" and so on.

For many of the kids there, they couldn't follow it. Because there was no attempt to explain WHY they were learning this.

What use is algebra going to be for them? For a good proportion of the class, the teacher had simply lost them, straight away. Because he or she did not realise they had to answer the WHY question.

Had the teacher said "Ok everyone, today we are going to learn Algebra....Who knows WHY algebra is important?" she would have got a different result.

It might be the kids didn't know, but then the teacher can give them a hint and say "Ok, so who likes computer games?" and every hand in the room goes up. "Ok then", says the teacher, "algebra is needed for computer games. Now who's interested to find out about it....?"

See, by simply slowing down, and asking the WHY question, we head into a world of driving motivation.

Schoolkids may not be interested in algebra until it's connected with something they ARE interested in...and the same is true for adults too!

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A real world example: WHY FRAMING to someone about Steemit!

This trick is really valuable when trying to explain a complicated concept to people in a simple fashion. For example, I am a member of #promo-steem, and I'm regularly telling people about Steemit, and encouraging them to come to this platform instead of Facebook or Reddit or one of the other social/blogging platforms.

If you launch straight into the technical aspects of Steemit, you will likely lose people in the first 10 minutes. It's really important to lead them in, and do it slowly, and explain WHY they should get into it.

And you begin with very big picture answers, NOT detailed ones.

For example:

• Because aren't you fed up with never getting a thing from all the time and effort you put in to blogging, when the CEO of the company makes all the money off your work?

• Because you like to be ahead of the curve when it comes to new technology?

• Because you want to make a passive income from home?

• Because you want a social media network that isn't full of trolls and dicks who just trash your work

There may be many reasons...and you can keep on making them. Or better still, let them make them for themselves.

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Framing YOUR posts

If you are introducing a concept, especially if it's a complex one, you might want to consider framing your post. Look back at the top of this post, and you will see it's exactly how I had done it. Right from the start, answering the WHY question.

You can do this whether you're talking about travel, crypto, fiction, health, psychology, cups of tea, anything really. And being able to connect it with something that is important to the audience is vital.

I'm often very careful with my posts, and make sure that I re-read them once I've finished writing. And I always start again from the beginning, because it might be that as you are typing your post, you are finding new reasons WHY someone should engage with it.

It's one of the things I tell my mentors all the time...really connect with people, answer the WHY question, and you are much more likely to keep their interest all the way through, even if it's quite a long post like this one. But if you don't answer the WHY question you are way more likely to lose them before they get halfway through.

OK They get why...What now?

Now you can get into the content, the data, the information. But never go there until you have asked WHY. I will talk more in my next a @minnowmentor explains post about using the WHAT frame.

With steemy-love to you all.

The @anarcotech

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@anarcotech is the project coordinator for the @minnowmentor project, and an active member of #promo-steem and promo-uk, as well as local @promo-huddersfield Ambassador. He likes to write in the third person and thinks it makes him look big.