MKT 389

CONTENT THAT CATCHES ON

PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION• How did the owner of Barclay Prime get people to talk about his

restaurant? Why do you think his choices represented good ones?

• Give me an example of a social epidemic. Something that diffused through a population. An idea that caught on.

• Think about the example. What role did ‘betterness’ play in the epidemic? What role did price play? Advertising?

• What role do you think social transmission plays (WOM) in things catching on? Give me an example of a recent behavior change or action you took because of WOM.

• What have you passed on/socially transmitted today? This week? Why did you pass it on?

• Why is it wrong to focus on the messenger as opposed to the message when it comes to social transmission? What does this mean? What can ‘Will it Blend’ tell us in this regard?

DEVELOPING CONTENT THAT CATCHES ON

Why do some things catch on and others don’t?

What role do WOM, social transmission and social influence play in all of this?

Berger’s STEPPS

Heath & Heaths focus areas for making ideas stick

Visual content that catches on

Value and viralness

CONCEPTS

WOM

Social Transmission

Social Influence

Why do we care (as individuals)?

Maslow’s Hierarchy

CONCEPTS

WOM

Social Transmission

Social Influence

Why do we care (as marketers)?

CONCEPTS

WOM

Social Transmission

Social Influence

How do we react to others ‘caring’?

WHY DO SOME THINGS CATCH ON?

Inherently ‘better’ or ‘superior’

Value is clear without need for stories

A problem is solved in a convenient, effective, efficient way

Does anyone use a handheld calculator anymore?

OTHERS CATCH ON BECAUSE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Social ‘selling’ is real

Social influences and influencers have enormous power, ability, capability for things to self-replicate

Happens every day

Big question is HOW?

Contagiousness and Sticking

BERGER’S CONTAGIOUSNESS

STEPPS:

Social Currency

Triggers

Emotions

Public

Practical Value

Stories

SOCIAL CURRENCY

What we choose to talk about influences the way people see us. No different form the choices we make about clothing, cars, etc.

As social beings we want to be known for our ideas and what we stand for intellectually.

How does it make you look if you are first to know? To share?

Buzz factor

TRIGGERSUse of subtle clues to remind us of other thing

Heuristics, prompts, calls to action

Simple statements or ideas that keep things top of mind

Top of mind=top of tongue=WOM

Value based summaries! (Needs driven…)

EMOTIONS

Emotional messages get shared more frequently (Not to be confused with social currency which is about the self interest/share imperative that drives social sharing)

Funny is not the only emotion!

Scary

Infuriating

Touching

Others?

PUBLIC

Visible but much more than visibility

Social proof

Can the thing being shared provoke behavioral changes that are visible beyond the message itself?

PRACTICAL VALUEUseful

Needs are met

Represents a ‘good deal’ monetarily or otherwise

Low effort high return

Easily understood and explained so it can be passed on to others

STORIESThe broader narrative to wrap the idea in

Think of them as social packaging for concepts

Contains all of the previous (social currency, triggers, emotions, public/social proof, value)

Why? Because stories can be retold easily…it’s what we do socially. Stories are more likely to be contagious.

HEATH & HEATH ON MAKING THINGS STICK

Focus areas:

Simplicity

Unexpected

Credibility

Concreteness

Emotional Value

Stories

(SUCCESS—my acronym not authors’!!)

EXAMPLES?Will it blend?

It’s a snap?

Twerking girl

Picard let it snow

Coachella Lie Witness

Taylor Swift Goat Duet

Taylor Swift Grammies

NFL Bad Lip Reading

Carrie Coffee Shop

Wrecking Ball Chatroulette

Songs in Real Life/Steve Kardynal

http://mashable.com/2013/12/27/viral-videos-2013/

http://adage.com/article/the-viral-video-chart/digital-marketing-top-10-viral-ads-time/145673/

VISUAL SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT THAT CATCHES ON

Some are calling the next phase of social media “visual sociality”

Preference for visual messaging and storytelling (Instagram, Pinterest, Vine, Snapchat etc.)

What vehicles are available?

• Still photos

• GIFs and short video

• Video

• Memes (written too)

• Infographics

CONSIDER THE FOLLOWINGPinterest visual storytelling page

GE Tumblr

Samasara

NY Humane Society

JetBlue SoFly

Experience JetBlue

Discussion:

How would you describe the relationship between visual storytelling and social media?

What story is JetBlue trying to tell with it’s Instagram page?

INFOGRAPHICS

Been around a long time!

William Playfair…know who he is?

Edward Tufte is the father of modern data visualization

Why so compelling? Why do our brains crave them?!

What do they do for storytellers? Listeners?

Some great examples…

QUALITATIVE OR QUANTITATIVE?Can be one or the other or both

Most people think of them as purely quantitative and based upon complex datasets but this is not always the case

Can even be narrative driven and lead viewers through a story that ends in a value judgment!

MORE OFTEN A COMBINATION OF ALL OF THESE THINGS

INFOGRAPHICS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Maslow’s hierarchy and share imperative combined with social media have created the ‘perfect storm’ in order for infographics to explode in popularity.

Why?

How would brands or marketers use them for storytelling? Creating content that gets shared?

CONTENT MARKETING AND INFOGRAPHICS

Why do you think marketers like them?

Content marketers in particular?

What role does credibility play in the choice to convey information or data with graphics?

INFOGRAPHICS AND MARKETING

Brands can use infographics to start conversations and share complex content in easy, and easily replicated, ways that also provoke engagement.

Quiz infographic

INFOGRAPHICS AND MARKETING

Illustrative infographics

Fun fact infographics

Facts related to brand

Provides context for discussion and sharing

INFOGRAPHICS AND MARKETING

Product information infographics

Good for competitive comparisons

INFOGRAPHICS AND MARKETING

How to infographics

Directional

INFOGRAPHICS AND MARKETING

Maps

Can market places or locations

FOR NEXT WEEK

Use piktochart or visua.ly to create an infographic for one of your fan sites.

Use data to tell a story.

Find the data any way you want.

Brainstorm possible ideas…