Noticed you’re on an iOS device.
Get our mobile app for effortless planning on the go.
Log in with planable.io
Noticed you’re on an Android device. Get our mobile app for effortless planning on the go.
Log in with planable.io
Planable is the best client-facing social media tool we've ever used and we've used a lot.
Social media community management refers to the ongoing process of building genuine relationships with your audience. Community managers don't necessarily post content, but rather, they are responsible for creating a space where brands and audiences exchange real...
Jul 28, 2025
We fixate on views, likes, shares, and comment counts. We obsess over the flashy metrics that glitter on our dashboards. But behind every heart and thumbs-up lies something far less superficial: a human feeling.
People don’t engage with your content just because the copy was clever or the graphics were on-brand. They engage because it made them feel something. A spark of recognition. A tug to share. An urge to respond.
3,600 top-performing social media posts across platforms back this up. Two very human instincts, connection and self expression, explain the lion’s share of engagement on social.
Feelings precede clicks. The challenge (and opportunity) for marketers? To double tap those deeper impulses. Learn how in our report 👇
Your analytics dashboard is a rear‑view mirror. By the time you spot a spike, someone has already felt something. A flicker of connection or the urge to express something out loud. For repeatable reach, start where every swipe begins, in the gut, not the feed.
It’s worth pausing on this domino effect: feeling ⇒ action ⇒ reach.
The emotional spark (connect or express) is quiet. Invisible, even. But the actions it sets off? Super visible. That’s the stuff we track in dashboards and decks: comments, shares, saves, tags. And they all trace back to an intrinsic motivation.
The Connect <> Express framework is a reminder that engagement doesn’t start in the algorithm. It starts with a feeling. And by the time the likes start rolling in, the real magic has already happened, someone felt something. That’s the moment worth chasing.
Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and Facebook are all just glorified echo chambers. They listen for echoes of excitement, camaraderie, or identity, and bounce the loudest emotional shouts farther down the tunnel.
Craft a post with a genuine emotional trigger, and you’re effectively enlisting your audience to help market for you.
A viewer compelled by a Connect cue becomes a mini-distribution channel:
“I have to tag my friend, she’ll love this”.
Someone hit by an Express cue will amplify the content to assert their identity:
“I’m reposting this because it says exactly what I’ve been thinking.”
Every one of these feeds the algorithm fresh data about your content’s relevance. And platforms aren’t as mysterious as they seem, they’re just trying to keep up with what people are emotionally responding to. And people follow feelings.
As marketers, we can’t force engagement through hacks or tricks half as well as we can inspire it through emotional resonance.
We pour energy into the what (the video, the graphic, the copy perfection) but sometimes neglect the human why that would make someone care and respond.
The Connect <> Express framework is a reminder to design each post with the audience’s feelings in mind. Connect and Express are the X and Y axes on a graph. One measures how strongly a post builds community, the other how loudly it lets people signal personal identity.
Checklist before publish:
If you can’t answer, you’re polishing ornaments, not priming action.
Why do we tag our friends in memes or share that “this is so us” post in our group chat?
It’s the Connect impulse in action. A basic human craving for shared experience and belonging. Content that taps into this urge makes people feel part of a community or an inside joke.
Planable’s analysis found that high-performing posts often include Community cues that fuel this sense of togetherness:
The magic in each is that they encourage human interaction.
And it’s these actions that tell the platform’s algorithm that something real is happening here. A quick tag or “haha yes” comment might seem small, but it’s a sign of belonging, and belonging is addictive.
If Connect is about “us”, Express is about “me”.
The Express impulse is an equally powerful urge to proclaim our identity, opinions, and emotions.
Great social content acts like a mirror or a megaphone, letting people say, “This is so me.”
In our analysis, Express-driven posts invited followers to react, remix, or flex a little. Tactics that worked:
Express content makes people feel seen as individuals. They provide a tiny stage for self-expression, whether that’s an emoji or a full-on rant in the comments.
Higher-effort responses (a fiery comment, a remix, a share to one’s own story with added thoughts) are gold for algorithms. A like is a nod. A share, comment, or remix? That’s a shout. And the louder the shout, the bigger the algorithm boost.
If there was one universal takeaway from our report, it’s this: Reaction is the MVP across all four platforms. Whether it’s funny, inspiring, or just plain unhinged, content that sparks an immediate emotional response is still the fastest route to engagement. Call it the first currency of the internet.
Here’s how that looks across the platforms:
Get even more insights from the report 👇
In 2025’s scroll-happy landscape, algorithm changes are just background noise. The brands that really win? They’re the ones that spark either a “that’s so me” moment or something so spot-on it begs to be shared. Bonus points if you can pull off both. Tug the heart, and yes, the algorithm will reward you.
So for your next brainstorm, slap this on the whiteboard: “What will they feel and what will that feeling make them do?” If you can answer that, the dashboard basically updates itself.
Relentless advocate and practitioner of putting users before Google algorithms since 2016. Geeks out over everything tech SEO. Dabbles in photography and is a natural-born reader.
Create
Schedule
Plan
Engage
Collaborate
Analyze
Approve
