7. How CXOs can make things go viral

If you are short on time and like videos, watch this Video, else read the article below.

As a CXO, you are supposed to promote something or the other. Be it products/services you deliver, ideas you want to implement, or behaviors you want your teams to follow.

The traditional way to promote things is advertisement (Ads).

People still spend a lot of money on Ads but Ads are too salesy. They don't appeal to people because people don't like to be sold to.

Then what is the alternative to these 'pushy' ads?

Word of Mouth (WoM). Yes, WoM or a referral is much more powerful than pushy Ads.

But the problem is how to make 'WoM' work for you?

While we all like things going viral, we really don't know what goes viral and what doesn't.

All this was true until this book 'Contagious : Why things catch on' was not released.

In this book, author Jonah Berger, a Wharton School professor and internationally bestselling author, with a lot of research has jotted down steps (called as STEPPS) which if followed, can make anything go viral.

STEPPS Concept : Products/Ideas/Behaviors that contain Social Currency and are Triggered, Emotional, Public, Practically Valuable, and wrapped into Stories, normally become Viral.

Note : STEPPS is an acronym coined by Jonah Berger for Social Currency, Triggers, Emotional, Public, Practical Value, Stories.

The good point is, you don't have to follow all the STEPPS to make your specific thing go viral, any one or two of them, done well, would do.

Let's understand these STEPPS one by one :

Here is my understanding and my own way of looking at STEPPS Framework in a business context.

Treat this as my notes on the STEPPS Framework by Jonah Berger.

1. Social Currency :

Does it (your product/service/idea/behavior which you want to make viral) make them look good or an insider?

• Find inner remarkability (it should be surprisingly novel) - Can the product do something no one would have thought possible? Can you generate surprise by breaking a pattern? Can you create 'Mysteries and Controversy' around the product? Can you change the product to something unthinkable? e.g. a Black toilet paper
• Leverage game mechanics - e.g. Frequent flier program, buy-ten-get-one-free, Blue tick in twitter etc.
• Make people feel like insiders - e.g. Flash sales (sales only for 2 hrs/2 days etc.) but access is by invitation only, Reduced shipping fees and access to a private shopping area, Deals that no one else could see, Membership-only model, Special Discount if you are from ABC Institute etc.

2. Triggers :

Consider the context. What cues make people think about your product or idea? How can you grow the habitat and make it come to mind more often?

• Frequency of reminder e.g. Coffee with Kitkat (Every time you think of coffee, you remember Kitkat)
• Competitors can even be used as a trigger (by making a rival’s message act as a trigger for your own)

Caution : Linking a product or idea with a stimulus that is already associated with many things isn’t as effective as forging a fresher, more original linkage.

3. Emotions :

Focus on feelings. Does talking about your product or idea generate emotion? How can you kindle the fire?

Emotions drive people to action. They make us laugh, shout, and cry, and they make us talk,?share,?and?buy.

• Strong emotions (Increase sharing) - Awe/Excitement, More Anger, Getting disgusted, More Humor etc.
• Exercise also makes people share.

Caution : Sad Emotions, Contentment = Deactivated/Reduced sharing.

4. Public :

Does your product or idea advertise itself? Can people see when others are using it? If not, how can you make the private 'public'? Can you create behavioral residue that sticks around even after people use it?

• Can people see when your customer is using your product? e.g. Apple Laptop Logo
• Create behavioral residue - even after the product is used, the residue is seen. e.g. Sports trophies

Caution : There are few instances when making something 'public' could be a bad idea : e.g. JUST SAY NO Campaign about drugs : When we campaign that drugs are bad and don't do it, we also say that other people are doing them which actually makes people do it. Preventing a behavior requires the opposite.

5. Practical Value :

Does talking about your product or idea help people help others? How can you highlight incredible value, packaging your knowledge and expertise into useful information others will want to disseminate?

• People like to help others hence they will share your valuable blogs or discount offers with others
• Save their time or money by giving something OR at least let them have some good experience (e.g. A nice infographics which explains something easily)
• People like to pass along practical, useful information.
• Discount ideas : $350 thing for $250, Buy NOW! (Reference point in this case set at $350)

6. Stories :

What is your Trojan Horse? Is your product or idea embedded in a broader narrative that people want to share? Is the story not only viral, but also valuable?

Stories are important because people don’t think in terms of information. They think in terms of narratives. You need to provide a quick and easy way for people to acquire a lot of knowledge in a vivid and engaging fashion. (e.g. story told by one customer about how he got a refund will be itched in memory for a long time, rather than the refund policy)

• When you are telling people a story, give them idle chatter (gossips etc) but real information should also be there
• Stories help audience to engage and wait till end
• Story can be related to each/all above five points (steps)
• Story can also include all the product features
• Don't promote a story if your brand is NOT RELEVANT to it (Valuable Virality)

Some awesome behavioral principles I learnt from this book :

• People are willing to forgo money to share their opinions.
• People prefer to do better than others, even if it meant getting less for themselves. (e.g. If you offer two options to someone 1) Get $20k while others get $25k, 2) Get $10k while others get 9k, they will prefer option 2!)
• Using scarcity and exclusivity early on and then relaxing the restrictions later is a particularly good way to build demand.
• Monetory incentives are actually harmful : As soon as you pay people for doing something, you crowd out their intrinsic motivation. People are happy to talk about companies and products they like, and millions of people do it for free every day, without prompting. But as soon as you offer to pay people to refer other customers, any interest they had in doing it for free will disappear. Customers’ decisions to share or not will no longer be based on how much they like a product or service. Instead, the quality and quantity of buzz will be proportional to the money they receive.
• People often imitate those around them. e.g. They dress in the same styles as their friends, We go to a crowded shop/hotel and not to an empty hotel.
• People don’t evaluate things in absolute terms. They evaluate them relative to a comparison standard, or “reference point".
• People normally exaggerate whatever stories they listen to when they share them.

These are my learnings from the awesome book 'Contagious : Why things catch on' by Jonah Berger.

I hope this is helpful.

In the next edition, we will deep dive in the last step of the STEPPS, Stories. We will go further to Storytelling and discuss more about it.

Storytelling is particularly a much talked about topic and we all are already immersed in stories of brands all around us. In fact storytelling can be applied to all the first five steps of the STEPPS Framework.

Let's understand how we can use that 'storytelling' better for our own brands/business in the next edition.

Regards,

Chanakya Joshi

Founder & CEO,

GetAConnect Global by Content Funnels Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

References :

Jonah Berger - Talks at Google :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN4eDk1pq6U

Jonah Berger - Official website :

https://jonahberger.com/books/contagious/