What if we could use research in a way that helps us understand how things go viral – yes, marketing to create virality!

Standing out in today’s market is harder than ever as advertising clutter projects 5,000 – 120,000 ads and brands that confront consumers every day.

Without a clear strategic plan, it’s easy to spend many marketing dollars on methods that may well miss the mark and not have the desired impact every time.

Traditional marketing suggests that quality, price, and advertising are the critical factors to determine a product or idea’s ability to achieve success or popularity. But how relevant is this pathway today?

The Little Video/Book Review in brief…

>>> Know how to use marketing to create virality.

By Jonah Berger (Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania) his book “Contagious – Why Things Catch On” distills years of research into understanding why certain ads, products, YouTube videos, political movements, songs, and/or restaurants catch on — while others are ignored.

Jonah writes to inform us of why things catch on.  All of us see much about how things going “viral”. It`s about social media -yes, but he goes deeper than just the social media aspect of contagiousness.

Professor Berger provides an easy-to-follow acronym for outlining what items can help something catch on.

This acronym is “STEPPS” and the little video/book is divided into 6 chapters describing each of the elements.

The acronym for “Contagious -Why Things Catch On” —-   ‘STEPPS’  is as follows:

1. Social Currency – Being “in the know” and wanting to share it with others.
2. Triggers – How one thing will instantly trigger a thought of something else.
3. Emotion – When something inspires us and evokes emotion, we are often inspired to share. Some feelings are more prone to sharing like humor, awe, excitement, and on the negative side, anger and anxiety.
4. Public – Summed up as social proof. Two restaurants with the same cuisine and one has a line out the door and the other one is practically empty. Where would you like to dine?
5. Practical Value – Information that is useful and of value for money is far more likely to be shared.
6. Stories – When a good story is told, it will often suck us in, evoke emotion, and prompt us to want to share.

Jonah Berger explains that “regardless of how plain or boring a product or idea may seem, there are ways to make it contagious…”, ie to better ensure how to use marketing to create virality… if you know the right way to do it.

The most effective and prosperous ideas about marketing to create virality … contagiousness, have been empowered and supported by one or more of the 6 STEPPS in some way.

Marketing to create virality is about leveraging good stories that are useful, engaging, and that drive value will help you and your product or service increase social influence and word-of-mouth transmission and propel it to be the next big thing.

>>>  Click Here to see the Little Video/Book

And Berger argues that social influence and word-of-mouth transmission are far more essential to drive “virality,” and ultimately account for 20-50% of all purchasing decisions.

In fact, “word-of-mouth,” he explains, is effective because it is more persuasive … people trust what others tell them much more than they trust ads they see on T.V.

In fact, “word-of-mouth,” he explains, is effective and more targeted … people share stories with those who are actually interested in the topic.

Question for you:

Are you one of the many owners, whether you be in small, medium, or large businesses, whether you are a CEO, in marketers, an entrepreneur… all of us spend excessive time and resources to explore new ways to fuel buzz around our latest products, services, advertisements, campaigns, or causes – and — we all want success?

Want to know more (and don’t want to read just another book), tune in to Bergers Little Video/Book… such an easy way to understand more about marketing and how to virality!!

Thank you, Dr. Jonah Berger, for this great research and for making it so available to people.

Rob Ryan, Small Business Chronicles … best of everything and keep safe!