Top 3 Ingredients That Make Content “Contagious” According to Jonah Berger

Jonah Berger is a best-selling author and professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He specializes in consumer behavior amongst other topics and has published multiple academic journals in lieu of his research. His book “Contagious” delivers a crash course in how to get your brand, post or business reaching new audience heights by delving into the psychological science behind it.

According to Berger, there are 6 ingredients that were all prominent when analyzing a variety of products, posts, articles etc. He referred to these ingredients in the acronym STEPPS, which is short for: Social Currency, Triggers, Emotions, Public, Practical Value and Stories. However for the purposes of this blog, I’m going to share my top 3!

1. Social Currency

For those of us who were born in the era of Hannah Montana, we also remember the special Miley’s World Exclusive Access card that promised a chance to win a recording session with Miley Cyrus herself, a free trial into the fan site, and all access information into Miley’s life and album making process. This was what you wanted if you wanted to be considered cool amongst your peers. However, many of us who grew up with parents that did not see the point of spending $20 a month for this had to take on the shame of being unable to access the secret fan club. As kids, we wanted to be in the know about Miley Cyrus, we wanted to know more about her to seem as if she were our friend and we knew things that others didn’t know about the popular star. The secret fan site is an example of Berger’s explanation of social currency. We all want to be in the know, be the spreader of news and stay current with anything that is going on in the world. This is where social currency comes into play. According to Berger, we don’t want to look like absolute fools in front of others, we want to look like we know than the person next to us. This is where social currency comes into play.

Photo Courtesy of (@MileyNewsAccess/X)

2. Triggers

A long time ago while scrolling through social media, I came across a post that contained an image. This image caught my attention due to the images of the well-known Harry Potter cast. The beauty of this image was that this advertisement did not need the name of the movie for the public to know that this was a billboard for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II.” Audiences had grown with the stories and the cast for them to know this was the final movie that would end the long running series from Warner Brothers. Berger explains that there are things that people find more interesting than others. Harry Potter was an interesting topic for many around the world when the movies were running. When looking at this poster, the first thing that will come to everyone’s mind is Harry Potter. Berger explains that a trigger should refer to a social currency, and lead to emotions. This was the final movie of the Harry Potter series, so there was much excitement and anticipation for this movie before it was released.

http://roadbillboard.blogspot.com/2011/06/movie-week-harry-potter-it-all-ends.html

3. Emotions

One Piece is a manga turned animated series that aired in 1999. Recently, Netflix just released the live-action version this month and there is much buzz going around for it. The manga and animated series are known worldwide due to its inspiring messaging, relation to social issues and great characters that were developed by author Eiichiro Oda. This show hooked me during its Arlong Park arc where we see the sacrifice Nami makes to save her home from the pirates that killed her mother and overran the village. This entire arc showed companionship, loyalty and standing up to injustice of those in the lower class who were required to pay to live in the show. Although, this storyline did hook me, I began to watch the show after hearing a friend discuss it, and watching a movie related to the series with them. The movie appealed to me towards the end due to its emotional twist of the antagonist. Both storylines made me feel sad, but they also made me feel anger. Anger towards the villains in the story that I had to continue watching to ensure their downfall by the protagonist. Berger explains in his book that high physiological arousal plays a huge part when it comes to things that will be shared. Originally, he believed that positive content was shared more than negative content but noticed that stories that contained anger and anxiety (which are considered negative) did just as well as positive stories. In his research he found that anger and anxiety “kindle the fire, activate people and drive them to action.” (Berger, 2016, Pg.110) These storylines made me engage more with One Piece and began sharing it to my friends who were unfamiliar with the anime.

Photo Courtesy of FilmAffinity

While these three are my favorite, you may have some that you consider your favorite such as Public, Practical Value and Storytelling. The book “Contagious: Why Things Catch On” is an informative book that I suggest you get your hands on. Jonah Berger provides in-depth analysis and examples that will help you better understand the material he is providing you with. When reading the book, you can have a better understanding of the psychology that is the reason behind the popular content with view daily. So, get it while you can and start working on your next viral hit by utilizing the STEPPS provided by Jonah Berger!

Refrences:

Berger, J. (2016). Contagious: Why things catch on . Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.