Contagious By Jonah Berger book review

Why should I read Contagious

Do you think Contagious ideas, products and people catch on by going viral?

Viral in the sense of it was just so good, a bunch of nobodies shared it, and than eventually everybody jumped on board.

Or do you thing good/clever marketing is responsible to the virality so most things?

What is STEPPS

STEPPS stands for

Social currency

Triggers

Emotions

Practical values

Stories

Having these things in alignment can be the difference between a viral success or a complete failure.

Smart planning can make you Contagious

Intentional design will always create successful products. It is very rare to see viral hits, that were made by accident or with no end goal in mind.

We can all name thousands of services, artists, products movies, and tv shows that caught on like wild fire.

But how exactly are companies able to achieve this?

Is Word of mouth still a thing

Word of mouth in addition to a great marketing campaign, is what will make a product contagious.

Consider this,  if a ad or something is getting a lot of views but no comments, or shares is it a successful product.

Granted there are some things people won’t share because of its subject matter, but you would be surprise how little likes and comments matters, when it comes to being a success.

My blog gets more views, than the number of likes I’ve gotten on various social media platforms.

I make a living off of people seeing my ads online and buying my services, and yet little to no likes, why is this?

Because of word of mouth, often times people screenshot and send my ad or info others, which means neither party liked the ad, but I still garnered business from it.

Consider why you share things

Most of us share things that make us look good, and or remarkable.n For example when I share my book reviews on facebook, it can be considered contagious, in the fact, that it is appealing to all the book worms out there, Who happen to follow me.

This is a form of social currency and can be referred to as game mechanics.

Being in the information business, people will steal and leverage my content to appear smarter, or more intellectual when talking to their friends.

In fact you may have had a joke, comment or status stolen from yourself as well. Consider the virality of that content, something about it was contagious and worth stealing.

Shareable and stealable content is essence can be referred to as social currency,

The exchange of a value idea, product, or service, is social currency.

What makes us share content and other forms of social currency

Triggers, or things with associate with said content or ideas best describe the reasoning behind sharing.

This can best be looked at as how companies make more than one thing, for Example the jordan brand sells more than just shoes.

You can buy hats, socks, etc. and the brand is also associated with a affluent person in most cases.

Emotions prompt us to share as well

Anger, fear, excitement, you name it, one of these emotions are the driving factor behind sharing content online.

Its the reason you may be driven to buy a product or avoid it.

Messages and narratives drive sales

Think of Noah’s ark, The Trojan Horse, or any other biblical or mythological tale.

The Hero’s Journey, in terms of narratives can drive sales.

The easiest two examples are the The Verizon turned Sprint guy. Most people associate him with only choosing the best cell service.

And Jared from Subway, has gotten millions to believe a sub a day keeps obesity at bay.

Other books by Jonah Berger

Invisible influence by Jonah Berger | My amazon link

Contagious by Jonah Berger | My amazon link