By Jonah Berger
Word of mouth is very powerful. People are more likely to quit smoking if friends do it or get fatter if friends are obese. 8
Word of mouth is more persuasive and it is more targeted towards the right audience. 8
6 steps that cause things to become contagious: 24
1. Social Currency – to get people talking we need to craft messages that help them achieve these desired impressions. We need to make people feel like insiders. Does talking about your product make people look good? Can you find inner remarkability? Leverage game mechanics? Make people feel like insiders?
2. Triggers – Peanut butter reminds us of the word jelly. 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?
3. Emotion – Focus on feelings. Does talking about your product or idea generate emotion? How can you rekindle the fire?
4. Public – Does your product advertise itself? Can people see when you are using it? How can you make the private public? Can you create behavior residue?
5. Practical Value – Does talking about your product or idea help people help others? How can you highlight incredible value?
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?
Sharing personal opinions activates the same brain circuits that respond to rewards like food and money. Talking about what you did this weekend feels as good as having a chocolate cake. So much so that people are willing to pay money for it. 34
Remarkability is why people share videos of young prodigies. 40
Airline miles – most people never cash in the miles they accumulate. In fact, less than 10 percent of miles are redeemed every year. 10 trillion frequent flier miles are sitting in accounts, unused. Enough to travel to the moon and back 19.4 million times. Why? Because it is a fun game. 45
Human beings are competitive. When given the option to make more money or just do better relatively to others, they always choose relative performance. Getting to board a plane earlier than others is a nice perk that you get to show off. 47
Interesting products initially get more word of mouth immediately than boring products but they could not sustain this word of mouth virality. One hit wonders. 69
Branding with triggers – Mars bars advertising right around the space launch of NASA to Mars. People hear it a lot and it sticks in their minds as a trigger. 72
Locations have triggers too. Churches remind people of religion and doctrine, schools/classrooms of educational experiences. 74
Books written by new authors received at 45% boost in sales due to a negative rating. Triggers explain why. Even a bad review or negative word of mouth can increase sales if it informs or reminds people that the product or idea exists. Even negative attention can be useful if it makes products and ideas top in mind. 81
Dining articles are more viral than sports articles which are more viral than political articles. 100
Awe inspiring articles are 30% more likely to make the most emailed list. 102
Positive articles are more likely to make the email virality list than negative ones. 107
Physiological arousal – state of activation and rediness for action. Such as the last time you gave a speech in front of a large audience. 108
High arousal – Awe, excitement, amusement, humor, anger, anxiety
Low arousal – contentment, sadness 109
If situational factors make us more physiologically aroused than we may end up sharing more than we intended. So be careful the next time you step off the treadmill, survive a car accident, or experience a turbulent plane ride. You may end up oversharing. 122
Apple worked on the design of just the box of the iphone to perfect a feeling of luxury 126
Observability and public visibility – two powerful forces that caused Steve Jobs to make the headphones of the Iphone WHITE. 127
Social proof can be negative too, for people that have refused a kidney, people assume it must not be good so it gets passed down the donor list. 130
Behavior is public, thoughts are private. Know the distinction between the two. 133
This is the same reason people don’t raise their hands to ask a question even if they have one. They are worried that they are the only one that doesn’t understand. 134
Is there something that sticks around and generates social proof even when the product is not being used or the idea is not top of mind? Yes it is called behavioral residue. 144
People share practically valuable information to help others. Whether by saving a friend time or ensuring a colleague saves a couple of bucks next time he goes to the supermarket. Modern day barn raising or pay it forward. 158
Reference points matter. When you take old people to the movies they think ticket prices are a rip off. They have difference reference points. 164
Prospect theory – promotional offers that seem surprising or surpass expectations are more likely to be shared. Quantity limits work the same way. 168-169
A discount seems larger as money or a percentage off depending on the original price. Price reductions for cheaper items (under $100) seem more significant when they are framed in % terms. THE RULE OF 100. If the products price is less than $100, the Rule of 100 says that percentage discounts will seem larger. For prices OVER $100, NUMERICAL discounts seem larger. 171
The key is not only to make something viral but also valuable to the organization. Valuable virality. 196