Contagious: Why things catch on — Jonah Berger

Notes

· Products are like stories. If it is not a good story, people won’t talk about it.

· People share more than 16,000 words per day.

· Word of mouth is behind 20 to 50% of all purchasing decisions.

· Word of mouth is objective and more targeted.

· Research: 7% of word of mouth happens online.

· People overestimate online word of mouth because is easier to see.

· People focus a lot more on the messenger, rather than the message.

· Six principles in Contagiousness:

o Social Currency: How does people look to talk about a product: Cool, Smart, etc.

o Triggers: How does people remember your product. Needs to be triggered by something in the environment.

o Emotion: When we care, we share. Don’t focus on function, but focus on feelings.

o Public: “What monkey sees, monkey does”. Design products that advertise themselves.

o Practical Value: People like to help others, so if we show them how our product will be helpful, they spread the word.

o Stories: People don’t share information they share stories. Needs to be integral that people can’t tell the story without the product.

· 3 ways to make people look good while promoting you:

o Inner Remarkability. What makes something interesting, surprising or novel. Can the product do something no one would have thought possible? Junglos: A book that builds libraries.

o Leverage Game Mechanics: Game mechanics motivates us to an interpersonal level by encouraging social comparison. We all love achieving things.

o Make people feel insiders: Making inside knowledge is social currency. Exclusivity and scarcity boost word of mouth by making people feel like insiders.

· Think about whether the message will be triggered by the every day environment of the target audience.

· A strong trigger can be much more effective than a catchy slogan.

· It is vital to consider the context in the triggers

· Products need habitats. Same as ducks needs water and plants. Baseball = Hotdogs.

· Triggers must happen when you can access the product. It needs to take action instantly.