The Key to Effective Viral Marketing is Emotional Engagement
Viral marketing is the process of using peer-to-peer communications in order to rapidly spread information about a brand or message. The term ‘viral’ stems from the concept of a ‘virus’, a self-perpetuating phenomenon which infects whatever it comes in contact with, spreading itself in an expanding outward arc. Your message is the virus. The carriers are your audience.
People encounter specific data or ideas daily and pass it on to their friends and other people in their network. All things equal, one can say that information is shared more rapidly when the recipient has a strong emotional connection with the specific message. They adore it. They despise it. They are deeply puzzled by it. It makes them upset. It makes them happy.
Emotions are inextricably a component of social communication. As humans, we share our emotional experiences as a way to express our individuality and maintain our relationship networks. In a Indiana University study (paywall), researchers pinpointed the six primary emotions with a strong influence on viral referral behavior.
These are surprise, fear, sadness, joy, disgust and anger. In many cases, the more disruptive the message, the sooner it is shared. Surprise, the first emotion, is an essential element of all viral marketing campaigns. It works as a foundation alongside other emotional triggers. Here are the researchers recommendations on each emotion:
- Joy. An emotion suited for irrelevant or fun brands and brands who want to revitalize their image. Suitable for products which promise life enhancement.
- Sadness. Suitable when seeking an immediate response to unfortunate events. Consumer reactions may result in short-term commitments instead of long term patronage. Best to balance sadness with messages of hope or change.
- Anger. Best suited for single issue campaigns that require an immediate reaction to perceived injustices experienced by the target market or general environment/society. Anger is a fleeting emotion and is not suitable for campaigns which require long-term action. Also does not work well with complex or subtle issues.
- Fear. An emotion that is a short-term response to a perceived threat. Must be used carefully and sparingly. Likely to receive mixed responses from target market and best accompanied by proposed solutions which solve the fear-causing problem.
- Disgust. Best targeted towards young males. Suitable for brands with a rebellious image. Should only be used intermittently to avoid unnecessary offense. Males are twice more likely to pass on messages involving disgusting humor than females.
The goal to understand the psyche of consumers has always been a goal for marketers who want influence people. Numerous studies have been conducted by academics/experts and they each give us a snapshot of how people within a specific demographic think.
But bear in mind that the few emotions mentioned in the study cannot define the parameters of each individual’s possible actions and hence, should only be taken as rough guidelines.
Human beings are far more likely to communicate ideas and information with others when they are emotionally engaged. Find the key issues that concern your audience and then inculcate them within your marketing plan to get an emotional response. But know that emotions themselves are fleeting and they can be exhausting enough to be abandoned over time.
I think the element of surprise, either pleasant or nasty, is incredibly important. It jolts people out of their habits of perception and can instantly trigger the instinct to share. This is something I’ll like to talk about more in a separate article tomorrow. Stay tuned!
To receive updates on new articles, subscribe to Dosh Dosh today.
Great read.
Terrific post! Very well written, and indeed the critical plane to
voice from.
But I do wonder; aren’t there more of the ‘positive’ emotions
we can consider? Or do they not make the initial impact as well?
I’d love to read your break out on each emotion!
Thank You for the improved perspective Maki.
Its very important to balance these emotions. Its too easy to become callous to a certain brand or emotion when its presented too much. For example I love beer commercials because they are often quite humorous but I have never bought or tried a beer based on the advice of a commercial instead I will try a new beer when a friend recommends it. I guess what I’m saying is that you need the whole picture before you just throw something surprising (or disgusting) out there.
WoW, Great tips on viral marketing and I cant wait for your tomorrow article on Surprise element..
Fantastic Post, I have been approached by clients throwing around buzzwords like “viral” and “sneezers”, but insisting on remaining in the “interruption” mentality of marketing. Not willing to have the conversations necessary to identify the elements needed to execute an effective viral campaign. Thanks for putting it all so succinctly in your post.
Wow. Twice in one day. Thank you, and thank you very much.
Good to see you pointing this out. Many people tend to take all marketing-related info they read too literally. I can foresee some (amateurish?) marketers think: “What a great idea! We’re young males and our site is for young males like us. So let’s create some disgusting videos, upload them to YouTube and just wait for the traffic! Woohoo!”
Viral marketing is probably the best marketing there is in promoting web content.
Very well written. These two sentences struck home:
Wishing you a wonderful mid-week.
This was an extremely cool article and one that hits the mark on my interests at the moment. Viral marketing is incredibly effective, interesting and (sometimes) cheap. I can’t wait to read more on this subject!
Boy, I’m sure glad I stumbled on this site. Looks very interesting. On line marketing is a mystery to me!
Yes, the audience is the carrier of your message. So have a good message.
“They adore it. They despise it. They are deeply puzzled by it. It makes them upset. It makes them happy.”
My favorite lines. So lovely , this Dosh Dosh Cafe…feels like the left bank to me…chocked full of ideas that are worth having and using. Mille fois merci encore.
Geez, I only expect my mother to be this emotionally manipulative. This creeps me out. Marketing=bad, bad people.
Interesting post, and yes viral marketing is all psychology and the way you use it to get people attention at the right time in the right moment
I think you need to add curiosity to that list, because that is usually where Apple gets people in addition to the beauty of their product. http://is.gd/19FM
awesome, very refreshing from the very beginning …thanks for this great informative post.
That was excellent.I’m just scoping out my upcoming competetion:)
By the next page rank update I should be moving on up close.But this is an excellent Blog
so I will really have to step it up.Your blog is very well known and I respect your skills.
See you in 3 months:)
Albeit informative, I do believe that ‘emotion’ will not be, ultimately, what decides the fate of something viral. I agree that emotion has a certain percentage of the value and effectiveness of a viral product, video, song etc…But there are other factors involved, such as that of a peer pressure which continues long after the typical ‘’schooling life’ has ended. I would be interested to know why “Lolcats” and “Rick-Roll” gained such popularity; thanks for the post Maki.
Hello!
This is a great informative post that should be read by emotionally imbalanced person. We have to balance these emotions so that we could come up with a balanced life. Emotions are as important as Intelligence.
Thank you
Charles
Money Making and Blogging Tips
resourcesandmoney.blogspot.com
Emotions always will be the most solid connection between people. Making that work to ones own advantage is another issue…it’s a fine line and usually only can truly be sucessful when it naturally happens and isn’t forced. I agree with the element of surprise being a “jolting” device.
As always…you made me think a little deeper about this topic.
A really good example of viral content is the story about he lion reuniting with it’s previous owners after being in the wild. I gained like a million hits in one day.
Great post…i just recently discovered doshdosh and im hooked. I work for a sales and marketing company and this is one place that has really useful information. My company targets various industries so on the emotional level, I think we’d have to adjust our branding and marketing messages to the type of personalities depending on the type of industries they belong to.
I never would have thought about viral marketing being related to emotion, but after thinking about it, that is dead on.
Why else would people spread the word about something unless they held some kind of strong emotion about it?
Good post. “Nice” doesn’t appear on your list and so much stuff that wants to be viral is just nice and doesn’t target the readership’s mind set in why they would want to share it. But, then again, does this mean every piece become sensationalised, polarised, Digg bait?
Bit I guess better to make a lot of one reader demographic share than none of the wider readership.
Do you mean irreverent?
Good point. I totally agree with you. I wrote a post about the buzz cuil case. It is just about how good the story was. A living case of your post : http://tinyurl.com/5lsmsz
In my opinion this is the ultimate goal for marketing. Tapping into this will hopefully give you that edge that leads to success.
This goes back to the old saying of, “Sell the Sizzle, Not the Steak”. If you are going to succeed in marketing, you have to figure out what other people are really looking for and hit their hot buttons.
I love how you frame your content and make it so accessible. It really helps a blogger understand his marketing message.
I try to teeter on surprising my audience, but not shocking them. I want my message to still feel good after they are done reading.
Very interesting.
I am a firm believer in communicating to the emotions as a way to make a deeper connection.
If your viral marketing is equipped with emotional trigger elements, your prospects will take the desired action quite easily.
This way your viral marketing exploits certain motivations and behaviors in your favor.
Is it all about emotion, or would the offer of something for free or having an introductory offer help spur along the camapaign?
Thanks, a really useful post, helpful and very informative!
Regards,
Dave.
Thanks for the great post, it was very interesting.
Obviously this is an area that I really need to work on these 5 emotional triggers.
If I make my blog more interesting with an emtional trigger, then my visitors will return more often.
i agree about talking to the emotions
when you try and talk to the rational mind… you will have to try and navigate god knows what
the emotional mind is less rational..and more open to accepting calls for action
Has anyone read up on that guy who completely made up the story on these two teenagers who spent their dads’ money in Vegas? Viral marketing caused large sites like MSNBC to pick up on the story, which later on turned out to be a completely made up lie.
It’s sad, but unless your virus is scandalous, it won’t infect many folks.
~*~ Stacy ~*~
Thanks for the heads up, sometime we really must be more aware of those things. And try not to get more emotional
Other factors for viral content are to have a free gift of unusual value – and to make it easy for people to tell their friends
Hey Maki………Great blog and well written too! I agree with the emotional attachment associated with viral marketing but I think its also about creditability. Anyone who is good at writing can pull at heart strings but to back up the ’story’ there needs to be other content around which is consistent.
Well thats my theory anyway!
Great article and very insightful! Yes emotional engagement is required for good viral marketing. Content is key. The guys at viralmediapros.com focus on emotional engagement content and applied with key social media marketing tactics.
I completely agree with emotional engagement being the key to viral marketing. I find this very true with blogs. As a reader, if you are not moved by some form of emotion, even if the content is good, you’ll probably never mention what you read to anyone else, let alone remember what you read a day later.
Very informative article. Your blog is just perfect for someone like me, learning the trades of social media and viral marketing.
I have become a regular reader and share all you have to say with my colleagues and friends. Hope you don’t mind this sharing…
I agree. I´m a teacher and I see your point.
Great article & very well written!
Great post, I agree completely. This is a great blog on viral marketing. We recently started a Facebook group for our business and saw close to 800 people join in the first 3 months itself. I think the ‘emotional engagement’ connect that our target audience had with our advertising and marketing message was a big part of ramping up so quickly.
I agree vial marketing is a mixture os marketing concepts all boiled down into one.
Making your market listen to your techniques are very essential to viral marketing lol
“Your message is the virus” makes me think of the book “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson. These days can you be infected by a viral campaign and help spread it without being aware it’s a viral campaign? Don’t all campaigns hope you will use “peer-to-peer communications in order to rapidly spread information about a brand or message?” How do you decide which campaign is viral and which isn’t?
Sounds easier than in actual practice. I’ve attempted several viral marketing campaigns but none of them was ever really successful or achieved the goals I’ve set.
True, I’ve tried few viral marketing as well….but can’t get the result I expected