CONTAGIOUS WHY THINGS CATCH ON BY JONAH BERGERANIMATED REVIEW
So theres a place in Philly called Barclay
Prime and their cheesesteak costs a $100. Now the average cheesesteak costs about $5
but Barclay Prime has been really successful. And of course there are many factors as to
why, but one of the factors is social currency. And the idea with social currency is that
people share whatever makes them look good.
So if anything makes you look good, or smart,
or cool, youre much more likely to share it.
So lets say youre in Philly and you get a regular $5 cheesesteak Thats probably
not something that youre gonna want to tell everyone about. But imagine if you go
out for dinner and get the $100 cheesesteak Thats probably something that youre
going to tell all your friends about. And if youre like most people and cant enjoy
good things without posting a picture of it on Facebook or Instagram, youre probably
going to share a picture of the cheesesteak as well just to show us that youre still
really cool and you eat really expensive things. So the first principle is social currency,
and the idea here is If sharing your idea or product makes someone look good, theyre
much more likely to share it.
And there are also five other principles that
Jonah Berger has identified for why things catch on and why they go viral. And he has
a PhD from Stanford, he teaches at Wharton, and hes basically an expert on viral marketing.
And after all his research, hes identified these six factors that he calls STEPPS. So
moving on to factor number two Triggers How are you reminded of the idea
or the product? So youve probably seen the song Friday
by Rebecca Black which has millions of views on YouTube. And again there are many reasons
for why it got so many views, but one reason is that it has a really good trigger.
So if
you actually take a look at the stats on YouTube for how people watch that video, youll
see a spike in views every Friday. Now imagine if the song was about the first
day of school or something like that Same amazing lyrics, same amazing vocals, same
everything. A lot of people might still watch it on the first day of school, but people
probably arent going to watch it two weeks after the first day of school, or a month,
or three months after. So Friday is actually a really good trigger because it happens every
week And Kit Kat did the same thing in 2007.
Their
sales were declining every year and they needed an effective marketing campaign. And what
they did was they decided to link Kit Kat to coffee. So in all of their advertisements,
Kit Kat was always presented with coffee. Now to someone who doesnt understand the
power of triggers, the coffee might not mean anything.
Its just part of the advertisement;
they had to put something in there so they just put coffee in there. In fact, why dont
we advertise it with hot chocolate? It might taste even better with hot chocolate But
thats not the point! The point is that we want to link Kit Kat to something that
gets consumed all the time like coffee, so every time a person thinks of coffee, he also
thinks of Kit Kat. And yes, it might taste even better with hot chocolate, but again
thats not the point, people dont drink as much hot chocolate as coffee.
And Kit Kats sales had been declining 5 percent every year, but in the next twelve
months after the campaign, its sales actually were up by a third.
So the second principle is triggers, and the idea here is People need to be reminded
of your idea or product, and you can help them by providing a strong trigger. The third principle is Emotion.
When people
feel strong emotions, they want to share. So think of Susan Boyles performance on
Britains Got Talent. Strong emotions like awe or happiness get people to share. Even
strong emotions that arent positive like anger and anxiety get people to share.
And
this is really what the media relies on now. The angrier and more anxious they make us,
the more we share. So strong emotions are good, but the emotion
you want to stay away from is sadness. People dont really like to share something if
it makes them sad.
The fourth principle is public, or whats
usually known as social proof. And the idea here is that our decisions are affected by
what everyone else around us is doing. So if you actually take a look at car buying
behavior, one of the factors that affects whether someone will buy a new car or not
is whether his neighbors and community are buying new cars. And if theyre all buying
a new car, hes much more likely to buy a new car as well.
And Apple had this dilemma with their laptops.
The apple logo actually used to face the owner
of the laptop when it was closed. And that was a convenience for the user because it
was easier to orient the computer once you got it out of your bag. But the problem is
that once the laptop was opened, the logo was upside down to everyone else in the coffee
shop or wherever you were. So a decision had to be made whether the owners
convenience was more important than everyone else looking at the laptop.
And they actually
decided that the public image was more important. So the fourth principle is public, and the
idea here is Can people see when others are using our product? The fifth principle is practical value. If
you can actually offer someone something that really helps them, theyre gonna want to
share it with the people they know. So one of the shortest, easiest videos Ive
ever made was a two minute video about my new favorite way to read.
And there were so
many people who liked that video. And its been shared so many times. And the reason
for that is because if you use that method, you could actually read this book in only
three hours. Now a lot of people take weeks to read one book, so if someone shares with
you a way where you can read a book in three hours instead of three weeks, theres practical
value in it.
And if you know someone who wants to read more and has been struggling with
it, of course youd share it with him. So the fifth principle is practical value.
Anytime you can actually help people and make their life better, theyre gonna want to
share it and help their friends and family as well. And finally the sixth principle Stories
So in 2004 in the Olympics, this guy snuck into the diving area and belly flopped into
the pool. And he also had a name of a casino written across his chest.
Now thats a great
story and it got covered and people talked about it but the story has nothing to do with
the casino. You can tell that story without saying anything about the casino, so it wasnt
really the most effective advertisement. On the other hand, some companies do this
much better. So Blendtec is a blender company that makes a video series called Will It Blend?
And they make videos where theyll put weird things like a brand new iPhone into their
blender and blend it into powder.
Now thats a cool story. If you saw that, you might want
to share it with your friends, but notice how the product is an integral part of that
story. You cant tell that story without the blender.
And especially technically-oriented people have a really hard time understanding that
most people dont talk about weird specs and details, they share stories. When you
hang out with your friends, youre probably not going to tell them about how theres
a new blender with improved revolutions per minute on its blades, but you might share
the story of how you saw the new iPhone got blended into powder.
So the sixth principle is stories.
Most people dont care about specs and details, they
share stories. What you have to figure out is how your product or idea can be a relevant
part of a cool story. And your product or idea doesnt have to
have all of these six principles. Some of these might not even be very applicable to
certain products and ideas.
So obviously the more the better, but there are plenty of products
or ideas that have a couple of these factors that are very strong and they do really well.
So to recap the STEPPS again Social currency: does sharing the product
or idea make you look good? Triggers: how are you reminded of the idea
or the product? Is there a good trigger? Emotion: when people feel strong emotions,
they want to share. Public: can people see when others are using
our product? Practical value: is your idea or product actually
useful or helpful? And finally Stories: people communicate
through stories. What you have to figure out is how your product or idea can be a relevant
part of a cool story..
Prime and their cheesesteak costs a $100. Now the average cheesesteak costs about $5
but Barclay Prime has been really successful. And of course there are many factors as to
why, but one of the factors is social currency. And the idea with social currency is that
people share whatever makes them look good.
So if anything makes you look good, or smart,
or cool, youre much more likely to share it.
So lets say youre in Philly and you get a regular $5 cheesesteak Thats probably
not something that youre gonna want to tell everyone about. But imagine if you go
out for dinner and get the $100 cheesesteak Thats probably something that youre
going to tell all your friends about. And if youre like most people and cant enjoy
good things without posting a picture of it on Facebook or Instagram, youre probably
going to share a picture of the cheesesteak as well just to show us that youre still
really cool and you eat really expensive things. So the first principle is social currency,
and the idea here is If sharing your idea or product makes someone look good, theyre
much more likely to share it.
And there are also five other principles that
Jonah Berger has identified for why things catch on and why they go viral. And he has
a PhD from Stanford, he teaches at Wharton, and hes basically an expert on viral marketing.
And after all his research, hes identified these six factors that he calls STEPPS. So
moving on to factor number two Triggers How are you reminded of the idea
or the product? So youve probably seen the song Friday
by Rebecca Black which has millions of views on YouTube. And again there are many reasons
for why it got so many views, but one reason is that it has a really good trigger.
So if
you actually take a look at the stats on YouTube for how people watch that video, youll
see a spike in views every Friday. Now imagine if the song was about the first
day of school or something like that Same amazing lyrics, same amazing vocals, same
everything. A lot of people might still watch it on the first day of school, but people
probably arent going to watch it two weeks after the first day of school, or a month,
or three months after. So Friday is actually a really good trigger because it happens every
week And Kit Kat did the same thing in 2007.
Their
sales were declining every year and they needed an effective marketing campaign. And what
they did was they decided to link Kit Kat to coffee. So in all of their advertisements,
Kit Kat was always presented with coffee. Now to someone who doesnt understand the
power of triggers, the coffee might not mean anything.
Its just part of the advertisement;
they had to put something in there so they just put coffee in there. In fact, why dont
we advertise it with hot chocolate? It might taste even better with hot chocolate But
thats not the point! The point is that we want to link Kit Kat to something that
gets consumed all the time like coffee, so every time a person thinks of coffee, he also
thinks of Kit Kat. And yes, it might taste even better with hot chocolate, but again
thats not the point, people dont drink as much hot chocolate as coffee.
And Kit Kats sales had been declining 5 percent every year, but in the next twelve
months after the campaign, its sales actually were up by a third.
So the second principle is triggers, and the idea here is People need to be reminded
of your idea or product, and you can help them by providing a strong trigger. The third principle is Emotion.
When people
feel strong emotions, they want to share. So think of Susan Boyles performance on
Britains Got Talent. Strong emotions like awe or happiness get people to share. Even
strong emotions that arent positive like anger and anxiety get people to share.
And
this is really what the media relies on now. The angrier and more anxious they make us,
the more we share. So strong emotions are good, but the emotion
you want to stay away from is sadness. People dont really like to share something if
it makes them sad.
The fourth principle is public, or whats
usually known as social proof. And the idea here is that our decisions are affected by
what everyone else around us is doing. So if you actually take a look at car buying
behavior, one of the factors that affects whether someone will buy a new car or not
is whether his neighbors and community are buying new cars. And if theyre all buying
a new car, hes much more likely to buy a new car as well.
And Apple had this dilemma with their laptops.
The apple logo actually used to face the owner
of the laptop when it was closed. And that was a convenience for the user because it
was easier to orient the computer once you got it out of your bag. But the problem is
that once the laptop was opened, the logo was upside down to everyone else in the coffee
shop or wherever you were. So a decision had to be made whether the owners
convenience was more important than everyone else looking at the laptop.
And they actually
decided that the public image was more important. So the fourth principle is public, and the
idea here is Can people see when others are using our product? The fifth principle is practical value. If
you can actually offer someone something that really helps them, theyre gonna want to
share it with the people they know. So one of the shortest, easiest videos Ive
ever made was a two minute video about my new favorite way to read.
And there were so
many people who liked that video. And its been shared so many times. And the reason
for that is because if you use that method, you could actually read this book in only
three hours. Now a lot of people take weeks to read one book, so if someone shares with
you a way where you can read a book in three hours instead of three weeks, theres practical
value in it.
And if you know someone who wants to read more and has been struggling with
it, of course youd share it with him. So the fifth principle is practical value.
Anytime you can actually help people and make their life better, theyre gonna want to
share it and help their friends and family as well. And finally the sixth principle Stories
So in 2004 in the Olympics, this guy snuck into the diving area and belly flopped into
the pool. And he also had a name of a casino written across his chest.
Now thats a great
story and it got covered and people talked about it but the story has nothing to do with
the casino. You can tell that story without saying anything about the casino, so it wasnt
really the most effective advertisement. On the other hand, some companies do this
much better. So Blendtec is a blender company that makes a video series called Will It Blend?
And they make videos where theyll put weird things like a brand new iPhone into their
blender and blend it into powder.
Now thats a cool story. If you saw that, you might want
to share it with your friends, but notice how the product is an integral part of that
story. You cant tell that story without the blender.
And especially technically-oriented people have a really hard time understanding that
most people dont talk about weird specs and details, they share stories. When you
hang out with your friends, youre probably not going to tell them about how theres
a new blender with improved revolutions per minute on its blades, but you might share
the story of how you saw the new iPhone got blended into powder.
So the sixth principle is stories.
Most people dont care about specs and details, they
share stories. What you have to figure out is how your product or idea can be a relevant
part of a cool story. And your product or idea doesnt have to
have all of these six principles. Some of these might not even be very applicable to
certain products and ideas.
So obviously the more the better, but there are plenty of products
or ideas that have a couple of these factors that are very strong and they do really well.
So to recap the STEPPS again Social currency: does sharing the product
or idea make you look good? Triggers: how are you reminded of the idea
or the product? Is there a good trigger? Emotion: when people feel strong emotions,
they want to share. Public: can people see when others are using
our product? Practical value: is your idea or product actually
useful or helpful? And finally Stories: people communicate
through stories. What you have to figure out is how your product or idea can be a relevant
part of a cool story..
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