In today’s fast-paced digital world, entrepreneurs and businesses are constantly seeking ways to stand out and make their products or services go viral. Enter “Contagious: How to Build Word of Mouth in the Digital Age” by Jonah Berger, a groundbreaking book that uncovers the science behind why certain ideas catch on while others fade into obscurity. This comprehensive review will delve into the key concepts presented in “Contagious,” exploring how entrepreneurs can leverage these insights to create more effective marketing strategies and achieve greater success in the digital marketplace.
About the author
Before we dive into the meat of the book, it’s important to understand the credentials of the author. Jonah Berger is a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on social influence, word of mouth, and why products, ideas, and behaviours catch on. Berger has published dozens of articles in top-tier academic journals, and his work has been featured in popular publications such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review. This blend of academic rigour and real-world applicability makes “Contagious” a valuable resource for entrepreneurs seeking evidence-based marketing strategies.
Overview of “Contagious”
“Contagious” was first published in 2013 and quickly became a New York Times bestseller. The book’s central premise is that virality isn’t random or unpredictable but rather the result of specific, identifiable factors. Berger presents six key principles, which he calls STEPPS, that drive things to become contagious:
- Social Currency
- Triggers
- Emotion
- Public
- Practical Value
- Stories
Throughout the book, Berger uses a mix of scientific research, real-world case studies, and engaging anecdotes to illustrate these principles in action. He argues that by understanding and applying these STEPPS, businesses can create content and products that are more likely to be shared and talked about.
Now, let’s explore each of these principles in detail and discuss how entrepreneurs can apply them to their marketing strategies.
- Social Currency: Making People Feel Like Insiders
The first principle Berger introduces is social currency. This concept revolves around the idea that people share things that make them look good to others. In essence, we’re all trying to create a positive impression, and we’re more likely to talk about products or ideas that give us social currency.
Key Points:
- People share things that make them look smart, cool, or in-the-know.
- Exclusivity and scarcity can increase social currency.
- Giving people insider knowledge can make them more likely to share.
Application for Entrepreneurs:
- Create a sense of exclusivity around your product or service. This could be through limited editions, waiting lists, or “insider” access to new features.
- Provide customers with shareable content that makes them look good. This could be interesting facts, surprising statistics, or exclusive information related to your industry.
- Implement a referral programme that rewards customers for sharing your product with others.
Case Study: Berger cites the example of Please Don’t Tell, a speakeasy-style bar in New York City. The bar’s hidden entrance (through a phone booth in a hot dog joint) and unlisted phone number create a sense of exclusivity that makes patrons feel special for knowing about it. This exclusivity generates social currency, encouraging people to share their experiences with others.
- Triggers: Top of Mind, Tip of Tongue
The second principle, triggers, focuses on the importance of context and environment in shaping what people talk about. Berger argues that effective triggers can keep your product or idea at the top of people’s minds, making them more likely to bring it up in conversation.
Key Points:
- Triggers are environmental reminders that prompt people to think about related things.
- The more frequently a product or idea is triggered, the more it will be talked about.
- Effective triggers are prevalent in the target audience’s environment.
Application for Entrepreneurs:
- Identify prevalent triggers in your target audience’s environment and link your product to them.
- Create marketing campaigns that establish strong associations between your product and common daily activities or objects.
- Consider seasonal or recurring events that could serve as triggers for your product.
Case Study: Berger discusses the success of Kit Kat’s “Have a break, have a Kit Kat” campaign. By associating their product with the common act of taking a break, Kit Kat created a trigger that reminded people of their chocolate bar multiple times throughout the day.
- Emotion: When We Care, We Share
The third principle delves into the power of emotion in driving sharing behavior. Berger explains that content that evokes strong emotions, whether positive or negative, is more likely to be shared.
Key Points:
- High-arousal emotions (awe, anger, and anxiety) drive sharing more than low-arousal emotions (sadness and contentment).
- People are more likely to share content that makes them feel strongly.
- The specific emotion matters less than its intensity.
Application for Entrepreneurs:
- Create content that evokes high-arousal emotions. This could be through inspiring stories, surprising facts, or content that sparks curiosity or amazement.
- Use emotional storytelling in your marketing to create a stronger connection with your audience.
- Consider the emotional impact of your product or service and highlight this in your messaging.
Case Study: Berger analyses the viral success of Google’s “Parisian Love” ad, which tells an emotional story through a series of Google searches. The ad evokes feelings of romance and connection, making it highly shareable.
- Public: Built to Show, Built to Grow
The fourth principle, public, emphasises the importance of visibility in driving adoption and sharing. Berger argues that the more public something is, the more likely people are to imitate it.
Key Points:
- People tend to follow others’ behaviour, especially when they can observe it.
- Making private behaviours more public can increase their adoption.
- Visual cues can serve as a form of “behavioural residue” that keeps a product or idea visible.
Application for Entrepreneurs:
- Make your product or service more publicly visible. This could be through distinctive packaging, wearable merchandise, or encouraging user-generated content.
- Create opportunities for customers to publicly display their use of or endorsement of your product.
- Leverage social proof by showcasing customer testimonials, usage statistics, or celebrity endorsements.
Case Study: Berger discusses the success of Movember, a charity event where men grow moustaches during November to raise awareness for men’s health issues. The visible nature of growing a moustache serves as a conversation starter and spreads awareness organically.
- Practical Value: News You Can Use
The fifth principle focuses on the importance of providing practical, useful information. Berger argues that people are more likely to share content that helps others or provides tangible benefits.
Key Points:
- People like to help others by sharing useful information.
- Content that saves time, money, or improves health is particularly shareable.
- The way information is framed can significantly impact its perceived value and shareability.
Application for Entrepreneurs:
- Create content that provides clear, actionable value to your audience. This could be how-to guides, money-saving tips, or expert advice related to your industry.
- Frame your product or service in terms of the concrete benefits it provides to customers.
- Use specific numbers and percentages to make the value of your offering more tangible.
Case Study: Berger analyses the viral spread of a New York Times article about the best way to cook vegetables to retain their nutritional value. The article’s practical, actionable advice made it highly shareable among health-conscious readers.
- Stories: Information Travels Under the Guise of Idle Chatter
The final principle in Berger’s STEPPS framework is stories. He argues that people don’t just share information; they tell stories. By wrapping your product or idea in a compelling narrative, you can make it more likely to be shared and remembered.
Key Points:
- Stories are like Trojan horses for ideas and information.
- Effective stories are not only engaging but also subtly convey the key message or value proposition.
- The best stories for marketing purposes are those that naturally prompt retelling.
Application for Entrepreneurs:
- Develop a compelling origin story for your business or product.
- Use storytelling in your marketing materials to make your message more engaging and memorable.
- Encourage and amplify customer stories about their experiences with your product or service.
Case Study: Berger discusses the viral success of Blendtec’s “Will It Blend?” video series. By creating entertaining stories around the strength of their blenders (blending iPhones, marbles, etc.), Blendtec made their product’s key feature (power) highly shareable.
Applying the STEPPS Framework: A Holistic Approach
While each of the STEPPS principles is powerful on its own, the real magic happens when entrepreneurs can combine multiple principles in their marketing efforts. Here’s how you might approach this:
- Identify Your Core Message: What’s the key idea or value proposition you want to communicate about your product or service?
- Craft a Story: Develop a narrative that naturally incorporates your core message. This addresses the storytelling principle.
- Add Practical Value: Ensure your story includes information that’s useful to your target audience, satisfying the Practical Value principle.
- Evoke Emotion: Infuse your story with elements that trigger high-arousal emotions, meeting the emotion principle.
- Make it public: Consider how you can make your story and its sharing visible to others, addressing the public principle.
- Create triggers: identify common elements in your audience’s environment that you can link to your story or product, satisfying the triggers principle.
- Build Social Currency: Include elements in your story or product that make people feel special or in-the-know when they share it, meeting the Social Currency principle.
By addressing all six STEPPS in your marketing strategy, you create a powerful, multi-faceted approach that maximises the potential for your message to spread.
Real-World Application: Case Studies
To further illustrate how the STEPPS framework can be applied in real-world scenarios, let’s examine a few case studies of businesses that have successfully implemented these principles:
- Dropbox:
- Social Currency: Offered extra storage for referrals, making users feel smart for sharing.
- Practical Value: Solved a common problem of file sharing and storage.
- Public: Shared folders made usage visible to others.
2. Airbnb:
- Stories: Encourage hosts and guests to share their unique experiences.
- Emotion: Tapped into the excitement of travel and meeting new people.
- Practical Value: Offer affordable, unique accommodation options.
3. Dollar Shave Club:
- Social Currency: Quirky branding made customers feel cool for being part of the club.
- Emotion: They used humour in their viral video to evoke positive emotions.
- Practical Value: Offered a convenient, cost-effective solution to a common need.
4. Tesla:
- Public: Distinctive car design makes ownership highly visible.
- Social Currency: Early adopters felt like trendsetters.
- Stories: Elon Musk’s persona and vision created a compelling narrative around the brand.
These examples demonstrate how successful companies have integrated multiple STEPPS principles into their marketing strategies, contributing to their viral growth and success.
Criticisms and Limitations of “Contagious”
While “Contagious” offers valuable insights for entrepreneurs, it’s important to consider some potential limitations and criticisms of the book:
- Oversimplification: Some critics argue that Berger’s framework oversimplifies the complex process of how ideas spread. Viral success often involves a degree of unpredictability that can’t be fully captured in six principles.
- Focus on Word-of-Mouth: The book primarily focuses on word-of-mouth marketing, which, while important, is just one aspect of a comprehensive marketing strategy.
- Changing Digital Landscape: Since the book’s publication in 2013, the digital marketing landscape has evolved significantly. Some of the examples and platforms mentioned may feel outdated to today’s readers.
- Cultural Differences: The book’s examples and principles are largely based on Western, particularly American, consumer behavior. Entrepreneurs operating in different cultural contexts may need to adapt these principles.
- B2B Limitations: While many of the principles can apply to B2B marketing, the book’s focus and examples are primarily B2C, which may limit its applicability for some businesses.
Despite these limitations, the core principles presented in “Contagious” remain relevant and valuable for entrepreneurs looking to improve their marketing strategies.
Complementary Resources
To build on the insights from “Contagious,” entrepreneurs might consider exploring these complementary resources:
- “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath: This book explores why some ideas survive and others die, complementing Berger’s work on virality.
- “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert Cialdini: Offers deeper insights into the psychology of why people say “yes,” which can enhance your understanding of social currency and public influence.
- “Youtility” by Jay Baer expands on the concept of providing practical value in marketing.
- “Building a StoryBrand” by Donald Miller provides a framework for integrating storytelling into your brand messaging.
- “Viral Loop” by Adam L. Penenberg offers additional perspectives on how things go viral in the digital age.
Implementing the STEPPS Framework in Your Business
Now that we’ve explored the principles of “contagious” in depth, let’s discuss how entrepreneurs can systematically implement these ideas in their businesses:
- Audit your current marketing:
- Review your existing marketing materials and strategies.
- Identify which STEPPS principles you’re already using effectively.
- Note areas where you could incorporate more of the STEPPS principles.
- Develop a STEPPS strategy:
- For each principle, brainstorm ways you could apply it to your business.
- Prioritise ideas based on feasibility and potential impact.
- Create an action plan for implementing your top ideas.
- Create contagious content:
- Use the STEPPS framework to guide your content creation process.
- Experiment with different types of content (blog posts, videos, and social media posts) that embody the STEPPS principles.
- Monitor which content performs best and refine your approach accordingly.
- Enhance product development:
- Consider how you can build STEPPS principles into your products or services themselves.
- Could you add features that increase social currency or make usage more public?
- Can you create triggers that remind people of your product in their daily lives?
- Train Your Team:
- Share the STEPPS framework with your marketing team and other relevant staff.
- Encourage them to consider these principles in their day-to-day work.
- Hold brainstorming sessions to generate new ideas using the STEPPS framework.
- Measure and iterate:
- Set up metrics to track the success of your STEPPS-inspired initiatives.
- Regularly review performance and gather feedback from customers.
- Continuously refine and improve your approach based on what you learn.
Conclusion: The Power of Contagious Ideas
“Contagious” by Jonah Berger offers entrepreneurs a powerful framework for understanding and harnessing the factors that make ideas and products spread. By applying the STEPPS principles—social currency, triggers, emotions, public, practical value, and stories—businesses can create more effective marketing strategies and increase the likelihood of their offerings going viral.
The book’s blend of scientific research and practical examples makes it an invaluable resource for entrepreneurs looking to cut through the noise in today’s crowded digital marketplace. While it’s important to recognise the limitations of any single framework, the insights provided in “Contagious” can serve as a solid foundation for developing more shareable, memorable, and impactful marketing campaigns.
As we’ve explored in this review, the principles of “contagious” can be applied across various aspects of a business, from content creation and social media strategy to product development and brand storytelling. By thoughtfully implementing these ideas and continually refining their approach, entrepreneurs can significantly enhance their ability to reach and engage their target audience.
In the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, the fundamental human behaviours and psychological principles outlined in “Contagious” remain remarkably constant. Understanding why people talk about and share certain ideas can give entrepreneurs a significant competitive advantage, helping them create products and messages that naturally inspire word-of-mouth promotion.
Ultimately, the goal is not just to create a single viral hit, but to build a brand and products that are inherently contagious. By embedding the STEPPS principles into the core of their businesses, entrepreneurs can create sustained word-of-mouth marketing that drives long-term success.
As you apply these insights to your own business, remember that becoming “contagious” is an ongoing process of experimentation, learning, and refinement. The principles outlined in Berger’s book provide a valuable roadmap, but the specific implementation will depend on your unique business, audience, and goals.
So, take these ideas, adapt them to your context, and start creating marketing that’s truly contagious. In doing so, you’ll be well on your way to building a brand that people can’t help but talk about and share.