THE ESSENCE OF CONTAGIOUS CONTENT

The more emotion the content can evoke, the more viral it can become, whether or not the emotion is anger about a customer service issue or amusement over a campaign. If that content can effect the inner feeling of a consumer, the more likely they will tell their friends.

Within Jonah Berger's book 'Contagious: Why Things Catch On' he speaks about the 6 STEPPS need to follow in order to produce content that will go viral.

The 6 STEPPS include:

Social Currency - Jonah Berger refers to social currency as something that is sharable, and how sharing something can make someone look and feel good.

Triggers - Triggers are something that is remembered about a product or idea and if something remains at the top of somebody's mind it is more likely to be passed on.

Emotion - Emotional content connects with consumers and if you can connect with your consumers to produce a psychological response such as amusement or anger you will more likely to be spoken about to others.

Public - Jonah berger references “If something is built to show, it's build to grow", elaborating on that, in order to make shareable content it should be designed to be shared.

Practical Value - Practical value refers to content fulfilling the practical and relevant needs for your consumers. If your content is not relevant or useful to your consumers it may not be likely to get shared.

Stories - Great stories have been told for generations and stories are always getting listened to. If you can tell a good story within your content, your story will get shared and told by others.

In the humorous marketing campaign for Specsavers AUZ in 2018, the company launched a new TV ad that allowed consumers to take part in a free eye exam through the television screen. The ad features a man intending to make a 'cubby house' for his two daughters, but during the 30 second ad, 'over 15 'mistakes' are displayed and the public are told to try and spot them. This first ever ever interactive eye exam created a great amount of remarkability throughout Australia and New Zealand which resulted in a viral spread throughout the countries.

Referring back to Jonah Berger's 6 STEPPS, this campaign was easily sharable as it met 5 out of the 6 STEPPS to contagious content. It showed social currency as it created a lighthearted competition between the public, sharing your score with the public can make you feel good. The brand is produced a trigger, "Should've gone to specsavers" tagline is a trigger word for the audience. It evoked emotion by creating amusement and making the public laugh. The campaign was public, it was made to cause a conversation and to be shared throughout the country. Lastly it was practical, the underlying message that was portrayed to the public was a friendly reminder, to get their eyes checked with the brand Specsavers.