“Maybe instead of giving people a penny for their thoughts, we should get paid a penny for listening.”
- Contagious, page 34
"Top of mind means tip of tongue"- Contagious, page 79
Let’s start by defining the term contagious. Berger means: likely to spread; to diffuse from person to person and through social transmission; to be talked about, shared, or imitated by consumers, coworkers and constituents.
Together, six principles to crafting contagious content spell the acronym, STEPPS. Its components are as follows:
"Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20 percent to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions."- Contagious, page 7
The concept behind luxury boutique steakhouse, Barclay Prime, was to deliver the best experience imaginable. However with a typical 25% restaurant failure rate inside of twelve months, designer Howard Wein knew he needed to generate buzz. He needed to cut through the clutter, where in Philadelphia a standard cheesesteak is available for four to five dollars at hundreds of sandwich shops, burger joints and pizzerias.
To spare you lots of salivating, let’s just say the chef’s creation is topped with a butter-poached Maine lobster tail and served with a chilled split of premium champagne. People describe the delight as “eating gold.” Splashed across the media, Barclay Prime has not just survived against all odds but has built a following.
Even if people don’t order the “sandwich” they rave about the hundred-dollar cheesesteak because of these principles: Social Currency; Triggers (i.e., high frequency of cheesesteaks in Philadelphia); Emotions (very surprising); Practically Valuable (useful information about a high-quality steakhouse); all wrapped in a Story.
"Information travels under the guise of what seems like idle chatter."- Contagious, page 189
Ken Craig is 86 years old. Unlike most viral videos made by adolescents and watched by teens, his YouTube is about shucking corn.
One day, his daughter-in-law was over making dinner. Almost done cooking the main course, he showed her a trick to neatly prevent pesky corn silk strands from sticking to the husk. She was so impressed that the next day, they shot a clip of Ken in his kitchen, talking through his easy process to pop out the ear of corn – clean as a whistle. Along the way, she sent the video to a couple of friends.
Those friends sent it to a couple of friends, who also sent it to a couple of friends. Soon Ken’s “spot” collected more than 5 million views. Why the number?
People share practically valuable information to help others. If Social Currency is about information senders and how sharing makes them look, Practical Value is mostly about the information receiver. It’s about saving people time or money, or helping them have good experiences. It’s kind of like news you can use.
Let’s leave off with a few stunning statistics. People share more than 16,000 words per day and every hour there are more than 100 million conversations about brands. However, only 7% of word of mouth happens online. As well, we need to tap into the “right” emotions. “High arousal” ones such as awe, excitement and humor (even anger and anxiety) incite action while “low arousal” emotions like contentment or sadness are less apt to stir spirits or be passed along.
Jonah Berger is the James G. Campbell Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published dozens of articles in top-tier academic journals, and popular accounts of his work have appeared in places like The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Science, Harvard Business Review, Wired, BusinessWeek, and Fast Company. His research has also been featured in The New York Times Magazine’s annual “Year in Ideas” issue. Berger has been recognized with awards for both scholarship and teaching, including being named Wharton’s “Iron Prof.” At Wharton, he teaches an elective called Contagious: How Products, Behaviors, and Ideas Catch On. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
