Every once in a while you will hear people say or read that something has gone viral on the internet, or it has a lot more supporters than normal stories receive. What if there was a formula to why things catch on or go viral? The book Contagious by Jonah Berger, Simon & Schuster, NY, 2013 says there is a formula. The formula includes the ingredients or STEPPS – Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value and Stories. If the piece has enough ingredients it is possible to leverage the message you want to get out to go viral.

The six principles needed to help go viral can be refer to as STEPPS:

Social Currency                  We share things that make us look good

Triggers                               Top of the mind means tip of the tongue

Emotion                               When we care, we share

Public                                    Built to show, built to grow

Practical Value                     News you can use

Stories                                  Information travels under the guise of idle chatter

Questions to Ask about Each of the Principles –

Social Currency                 Does talking about your product or idea make people look good? Can you find the inner remarkablity? Leverage game mechanics? Make people feel like insiders?

Social currency is from the aspect people share things that make them look good to others. The idea is to give people a way to make themselves look good while promoting their products and ideas along the way. The 3 ways to do this are: find the inner remarkability; (2) leverage game mechanics; and (3) make people feel like insiders.

1.Remarkable things are defined as unusual, extraordinary, worthy of notice or attention. The most important aspect of remarkable things is they are worthy of mention. These are the items people will talk about more often. Sometimes what is remarkable is breaking a pattern people have come to expect. (improve it) Anything under the sun can be remarkable.

2. Leverage game mechanics – do you play any games or do puzzles? why? Good game mechanics keep people engaged, motivated, and always wanting more. We also enjoy achieving things and games help us achieve something. If we are better than average the games will help us look good. After all what is the advantage of status if no one else knows you have it? People talk. and share their experiences as well as vote.

3. Make people feel like insiders – using scarcity and exclusivity to make customers feel like insiders. If the products feel scarce or exclusive, then it is more desirable and people assume that it must be worth the effort to use the product or service.

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?

If you think of Disney World and Cheerios, which product gets more word of mouth? The answer is Cheerios because of Triggers. Every day people talk about products, brands and organizations all the time. If you do not believe it, consciously carry a pen and paper and mark it down. Americans mention specific brands 3 billion times a day.

If you divide the word of mouth to immediate and ongoing, you will begin to see how some products are talk about more. Interesting products are entertaining but generally have a short shelf life in word of the mouth activity, There are other products and services to be talked about next week or day. What gets people talking – triggers are little environmental reminders for related concepts and ideas. More importantly triggers can lead to action. For example if you see a jar of peanut butter, you might think jelly sandwiches. A more off beat example is when NASA was going to Mars, the Mars chocolate bar had increased sales because of increased NASA coverage of Mars.

Advertisers are constantly looking for triggers and if they happen normally, linking the trigger can increase sales. An example is Kit Kat chocolate bar, it was linked to a coffee break. Sales increased. Frequency of the trigger must be balanced with the strength of  the link. The more cues, the weaker the association.

Triggers and cues lead people to talk, choose and use. Social currency gets people talking, but Triggers keep them talking. Top of mind means tip of tongue.

More in Part 2.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, by answering the questions and following the outline, it is possible for products and services to reach larger audiences than it is normally expected. Going viral and reaching more people means the organization needs to have the ability to service the expecting demand on the services. This would be the key to something going viral. The book Contagious contains many examples of companies products going viral and there is no reason why the companies you invest in are not there. The cost does not have to be large, imagination plus following the principles will get people talking and buying.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions