Book Review By K.S.Loganathan
Simon & Schuster, New York, 2013
‘Contagious’ is a book by a Wharton School Professor, Berger, based on his research on social influence and its implications of information spread on products and ideas in business as well as in non-profit organizations. It is based on an academic course of the same name.
People share more than 16000 words per day. Every hour, there are more than 100 million conversations about brands. People spend close to two hours a day online but only base 7% of their purchase decisions on online chatter. ‘Word of mouth’ is the primary factor behind 20 to 50% of all purchasing decisions offline. Word of mouth is driven by the message, not the messenger (influencers) and it depends on where the desired action is taking place as also where people research before buying.
Six principles or STEPPS (acronym) drive things to catch on:
Social currency – There are three ways to make your product or idea a talking point. A ‘buzz’ can be created by a novel or surprising event or bespoke development. People can be drawn into game-like involvement, or they could be made members of an exclusive club using special marketing techniques. Multiple engagement vehicles, such as Facebook pages, social communities, twitter forums, YouTube videos, and mobile apps can become an engaging and compelling experience driven by clever interaction between visitors and actual content viz. crowdsourcing creative content and UGC (user-generated content).
Triggers – ‘Top of mind’ is the foundation of ‘word of mouth’ and triggers can help connect it with contagiousness, viz ‘tip of tongue’. For example, ‘Kit Kat and Coffee’ campaign pitching the product as ‘break’s best friend’ and repeatedly pairing the two together created a trigger to remind people of the brand.
Emotion – “High arousal emotions” like awe, excitement, and amusement as well as “negative emotions” like anger, anxiety etc. inspire people to tell others. Used in the right way, these can be an incredibly effective way to enhance a brand’s image, but that very characteristic that lends social media such huge impact can just as easily work the other way.
Public visibility – Herd mentality is a powerful force, and products can be promoted by letting people see when others are using it, and to introduce “ behavioural residues” when the product is not being used or the idea is not top of mind.
Practical value – It is news you can use. People share practically useful information to help others.
Stories – Information travels under the guise of idle chatter. By embedding the lesson in a story, such as a Trojan horse in the Odyssey, it gains impact.
Twenty-six case studies are presented, highlighting the application of the above six principles. ‘Contagious’ reports qualitative research to find the reason for observed behaviour that makes information go viral. Jonah Berger’s pathbreaking work helps in designing messages, advertisements and information that people will share.
