CONTAGIOUS: WHY THINGS CATCH ON

Why do products, ideas and behaviours catch on, spread or go viral?

 
There are a lot of examples of things that have caught on, e.g. yellow livestrong, wristband, six sigma management strategy, etc.  These are all examples of social epidemics, instances where products, ideas and behaviours diffuse through a population.  They start with a small set of individuals or organizations and spread often from person to person, almost like a virus.

Most likely reasons for products to get popular are that they are plain better, attractive pricing and advertising also plays a significant role.  But these do not explain the whole story, i.e. some videos in Youtube can go viral than others and no prices are attached to view them, it’s free.  What does make them catch on?

 

Social Influence and Word of Mouth

People like to share news, information with those around them.  People share information with friends on great vacations, rumours, gossips, chat on line on things, facebook, tweet, etc.  The word of mouth is frequent and important and its impact on what we think, read, buy and do is enormous.  Word of mouth is key factor behind 20 to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions.  Consequently, social influence has a huge impact on whether products, ideas and behavior catch on.  Word of mouth conversion is 10 times more effective than traditional advertising for two (2) reasons – (i) more persuasive (ii) word of mouth is more targeted to interested audience.

 

Generating word of Mouth

The general notion is to get people to talk about their idea, product or share their idea and drive it online through social media to enable it get viral, this is because we think most people spend more time online than offline.  Actually, from research, people spend up to two (2) hours online daily, but also people spend more than eight (8) times the amount spent online offline.

 

However, online, conversation could reach larger audience, but given that offline conversation may be more in-depth, its unclear if social media is the way to go.

Offline conversations are prevalent and more impactful over time.

 

Facebook and tweeters are Technologies, not strategies.  Word of mouth marketing is effective when people talk.  Public Health officials can tweet daily bulletins about safe sex, but if no one passes them along, the campaign will fail.  Just putting up a facebook page or tweeting doesn’t mean anyone will notice or spread the word.

 

Harnessing the power of word of mouth, online or offline, requires understanding why people talk and why some things get talked about and shared than other – the psychology of sharing – the science of social transmission.

 

One common generalization is that generating the word of mouth is about finding the right people to talk about something and it will be endorsed because they are influential or maverick – not so true though.

Six Principles of Contagiousness

By “contagious” we mean likely to spread – to diffuse from person to person via word of mouth and social influence, to be talked about, shared, or imitated by consumers, co-workers and constituents.

 

(a)      Social Currency

 

What does it make people look to talk about a product or an idea?  Most people would rather look smart than dumb, rich than poor and cool than geeky.  Just like the clothes we wear, cars we drive, and what we talk about influences how others see us.  Its social currency, knowing about cool things.  So, to get people talking, we need to craft messages that help them achieve these desired impressions.  We need to find our inner remarkability and make people feel like insiders, to leverage game mechanism to give people ways to achieve and provide visible symbols of status that they can show to others.

 

-        people share things that make them look good to others

-        nothing is more viral or infectious than one of your friend going to a place and giving it its full recommendations.  

-        the desire to share our thoughts, opinions and experiences is one reason social media network has become so popular.

-        we make educated guesses about other people based on cars they drive, clothes they wear and music they listen to.

-        what people talk about affects what people think about them.

-        word of mouth is a prime tool for making a good impression – as potent as a new car or a Prada handbag.  Think of it as a “social currency”.  Just as people use money to buy products or services, they use social currency to achieve desired positive impression among families, friends and colleagues.

 

So to get people to talking, companies need to rewrite social currency.  Give people a way to make themselves look good while promoting their products and ideas, along the way.

 

Three (3) ways to do these:

 

(i)       Find Inner Remarkability

 

Remarkable things are defined as unusual, extra-ordinary, worthy of notice or attention.  It’s novel, surprising, extreme worthy of remark or just plain interesting.

 

-        remarkable things provide social currency because people who talk about them seem, well more remarkable – the desire for social approval is a fundamental human motivation.

-        one way to generate surprise is by breaking a pattern people have come to expect, i.e. low cost airlines.  Toilet paper is hardly talked about, but few years back, someone made it most talked about by putting a black toilet paper in the bathroom at a party.

-        we can also make things remarkable through leverage game mechanisms, i.e. elements of a game, application or program, including rules and feedback hoops that makes them fun and compelling – frequent flier program that enables people to accumulate frequent air miles when they travel which can be redeemed for free air ticket, hotels accommodation, etc.  It also upgrades tickets from economy to business – first class.  It’s fun game, it creates social status symbol and also enable people talk about the airline too.  Flying has changed recently with airlines rewarding miles and awarding status level and because this provides social currency, people talk about it.  Airlines turn loyalty to status symbol.

-        people don’t care about how they are doing, they care about their performance in relation to others.  Getting to board a plane a few minutes earlier than others is a nice perk of achieving premier status.

-        Game mechanics help generate social currency because doing well makes you look good.  People like boasting about things they have accomplished.  After all, what good is status, if no one else knows you have it.

-        credit cards has various grade status, from Gold to Platinum – to Sapphire and Diamond card – its all social currency – people talk about it. 

-        giving award works in similar principle.  Recipients of awards love boasting about them – it gives them opportunity to talk about how great they are and tell others about who gave them the award.

-        word of mouth can also come from voting process. Deciding the winner by popular vote encourages contestants to drum up support.  But in telling people to vote for them, contestants also spread awareness about the product, brand or initiative sponsoring the contest.  Instead of marketing itself directly, the company uses the contest to get people who want to win to do the marketing themselves.  

 

(ii)       Making People feel like Insiders

 

Scarcity is about how much of something is offered.  Scarce things are less available because of high demand and limited production.

 

Exclusivity is about availability, but in a different way.  Exclusive things are accessible only to people who meet particular criteria.  Exclusivity is not just about money or celebrity is about knowledge – knowing certain information or connected to people who do know.

 

Scarcity and exclusivity help product catch on by making them seem more disenable, if something is not difficult to obtain, people assume it must be worth the effort.

 

Scarcity and exclusivity boast word of mouth by making people feel like insiders if people get something, not everyone else has, it makes them feel special, unique and high status.  Insider knowledge is social currency because it makes them look good.

 

(b)      Triggers

How do we remind people to talk about our products or ideas.  Triggers are stimuli that prompt people to talk and talk about our products.  We need to design products and ideas that are frequently triggered by environment and create new triggers by linking our products and ideas to prevalent cues in the environment – “top of mind leads to tip of tongue”.

 

-        give people a good product, and they will be happy to spread the word

-        interesting products get talked about than boring products.

-        we talk about topics because they are going on around our environment.  If we see a bulldozer around the corner, construction is in our mind.  Triggers boast word of mouth.  Activities we do every day triggered talked about certain products, i.e. mundane products like Ziploc bags and moisturizers received lets off buzz because we use them daily.

 

So, when going for a catchy message, consider the context.  Think about whether the message will be triggered by everyday environment of the target audience, e.g. a display of health benefit of fruits and vegetables on a cafeteria tray on schools, can make students eat more fruits because it acts more like a trigger than a “catchy slogan” pasted on every corner of the school.

 

Also, products and ideas have habitats or set of triggers that cause people to think about them, e.g. Hot dog, barbecues, summer time, baseball games, etc, are just few of triggers that make up Habitat for Hot dogs.

 

Triggers are the foundation of word of mouth and contagiousness.  People may not pay much attention to it, but it lays the groundwork that drives success.  The more something is triggered, the more it will be in top of mind and more successful it will become, i.e. that is why cheerios get more talked about because thousands eat it for breakfast daily than visiting Disney world is just a once a year experience if you love or have kids.

 

Triggers and cues lead people to talk, choose and use.  Social currency gets people to talk, but triggers keep them talking.  Top of mind is top of the lips.

(c)       Emotions

 

When we care, we share.  Naturally contagious content usually evokes some sort of emotions.  Rather than emphasizing on the functionality of a product or idea, we focus on feelings.  Some emotion increase sharing while others decrease it, so we need to pick the right emotions to evoke.  We need to kindle the fire.  Sometimes, even negative emotions may be useful –

 

-        focus on high arousal emotions that drive people to action.

-        on positive side, excite or inspire people on negative side, make people mad, not sad.

-        two main reasons why people share stuff is because its interesting and useful.

 

The Power of Awe in Emotions

 

Awe is the sense of wonder and amusement when someone is inspired by great knowledge, beauty, sublimity or might.  It is the experience of confronting something greater than yourself.  Awe expands one’s sense of reference and drives self-transcendence. It encompasses admiration and inspiration and can be evoked by everything from great works of art or music or religious transformations, from breath taking natural landscapes to human feats of daring ad discovery.

 

Awe is a complex emotion and frequently involves a sense of surprise, unexpectedness or mystery.  Some of the web’s most viral videos also evoke awe:

 

Susan Boyles first experience on Britain’s “Got Talent” is one of the most viral videos ever.

A 47 years old plump, matronly woman appearing to sing on stage on a competition for people almost half her age and more trendy.  The audience did not give her a chance.   However, when she started to sing, her exquisite voice shone through like a beacon, so powerful, so beautiful that it makes the hair on back of your neck stand.  The judges were awed, crowd speechless and spell bound.  In just nine (9) short days, the clip accumulated more than 100 million views worldwide.

 

-        Emotion sharing is a social glue, maintaining and strengthening relationships.

-        Most teens know smoking is not good for them but they still smoke to feel cool.  So additional information on our bad smoking might not make them stop smoking, but an appeal to their emotions can make them stop smoking.

 

Emotions drive people to action.  They make us laugh, shout and cry, and they make us talk, share and buy.  So rather than quoting statistics or providing information, we need to focus on feelings.

 

Whether it’s a digital product like Google, or physical product like sneakers, you should make something that will move people.  People don’t want to feel like they are being told something - they want to be entertained, they want to be moved, people can only get moved when your product, its benefits touch their hearts – Emotions.

 

(d)      Public

 

It’s hard to copy something or a behavior you can’t see.  Making things more observable makes them easy to imitate, which makes them likely to become popular.  We must design our products and initiatives that they advertise themselves and create behavioural residue that sticks around them after people have bought or espoused the idea.

 

-        Seeing other people do something makes people more likely to do it themselves, e.g. Apple flip its logo upside down on its laptop to show the world once its open, it reflects to whoever is around.

 

-        So, the key factor in driving products to catch on is public visibility.  If something is built to show, it’s built to grow. 

-        People also imitate those around them, people are likely to vote if the spouse vote, stop smoking if their friends quit, etc – its called “social proof”.

-        People will tend to go to a restaurant with more people than one without anybody.  People will believe the longer the queue at the restaurant, the better the food – “social proof”.

 

The more visible, the more public a product/service or idea is, the more it triggers people to take action.

-        Apple white headphones stood out

-        shapes, sounds and other distinctive identities can also product advertise itself, i.e. Pringles come in a unique tube.  Computers using Microsoft operating system make distinctive sound when they boot, etc.  Redline on most prada sneakers, etc.

-        A product, idea or behavior advertises itself when people consume it because of its distinctive factors   - (brand).

-        Behavioural residue is the physical traces or remnants that most action or behavior leave in their wake.  Behaviour residue exist for all types of product ideas.  Tiffany, Victoria Secret and a host of other retailers give customers disposable shopping bags to carry their purchases home but because of the social currency associate with some of these retailers, may consumers re-use the bags then toss them away.  So along the way, the behavioural residue helps provide social proof for the brand.

-        If people can’t see what others are doing, they can’t imitate them.  So to get our products, ideas to become popular, we need to make them publicly observable.  For apple, it was as easy as flipping its logo and you see it reflects anytime Apple laptop is opened.

 

We need to be like hotmail and Apple and design products that advertise themselves.  We need to make the private public, if something is built to show, it’s built to grow.

 

(e)      Practical Value

 People like to help others, so if you can show them how our products or idea will save time, improve health, or save money, they will spread the word.  Our message must stand out because the world is undulated with too much information that we don’t need.  We need to highlight the incredible value of what we offer, monetary or otherwise.

 

-        Keep factors when highlighting inaudible value: 

(i)       what the people expect

(ii)      availability of the product

(iii)     timing and frequency of putting the deal on table, etc.

 

(f)       Stories

People don’t just share information, they tell stories.  Stories are vessels that carry things such as morals and lessons.

 

-        Stories are an important source of cultural learning that help us make sense of the world.

-        Stories provide a quick and easy way for people to acquire lots of knowledge in a vivid and engaging fashion.

-        People are less likely to argue against stories than advertising claims. Stories get shared because its remarkable (social currency), evokes surprise and amazement (emotion) and provides useful information about healthy foods, e.g. (practical value).

-        stories give people an easy way of talk about products and ideas.

-        it is not just virality, but valuable virality.  In acknowledging to make any product, idea catches on, we must build a social currency – laden, triggered, emotional, public, practically valuable, but don’t forget to hide your message inside.  Make sure your desired information is so embedded into the plot that people can’t tell the story without it.

Culled from ‘Contagious: why things catch on’, by Jonah Berger.