Gere’s a summary of a book on word of mouth, talk value, behavior etc.

1. Contagious
Why Things catch On
Jonah Berger

2. Jonah Berger is a Professor at
Wharton Business school.

3. Why do some products, ideas,
behaviors succeed when others
fail?
One reason is they are functionally
better, another reason is attractive
pricing, a third reason is
advertising and finally is word of
mouth

4. Social Influence and word of
mouth are important. People
share more than 16,000 words
per day and every hour there
are 100 million conversations
about brands.

5. Word of Mouth is more
effective than traditional
advertising because its
persuasive and second it is
targeted.

6. Our friends tell it to us straight,
their objectivity, candidness
makes us more likely to trust,
listen and believe our friends.

7. Research finds that more than
40 % of what people talk about
is their personal experiences or
personal relationships.

8. What people talk about also
affects what others think of
them. Emphasize what’s
remarkable about a product or
idea and people will talk.

9. People don’t just care about
how they are doing, they care
about their performance in
relation to others. Status is
inherently relational and hence
word of mouth and chatter are
important.

10. Scarcity is about how much of
something is offered.
Exclusivity is about availability
in a different way, exclusive
things are available to people
who meet certain criteria.

11. Exclusivity isn’t about money or
celebrity, its also about
knowledge.

12. Scarcity and exclusivity help
products catch on by making
them desirable also boosts
word of mouth.

13. People don’t need to be paid to
be motivated. Managers often
default to monetary incentives
when trying to motivate
employees.

14. As soon as you pay people to
do something, you crowd out
their intrinsic motivation.

15. Some word of mouth is
immediate, some is ongoing.
Movies need immediate word
of mouth.

16. Kit Kat increased it sales by
associating with coffee and a
break.

17. Susan Boyle, in Britain’s got
talent showed strength and
heart and that emotion drove
people to pass it on.

18. The most obvious difference
between different emotions is
their pleasantness or positivity.

19. Positive articles are more
shared than negative articles.

20. Marketing messages focus on
information. That is where
emotion comes in. Rather than
features or facts, we need to
focus on feelings, the feelings
that motivate people to action.

21. Technology has allowed people
to quickly converge behind a
goal or a common interest.

22. Emotions drive people to
action. They make us laugh,
shout and cry. So rather than
quoting statistics or providing
information, we need to focus
on feelings.

23. Observability. Watching people
makes us more likely to do
it.People often imitate those
around them.

24. Behavior is public and thoughts
are private.

25. The message at the end of a mail
sent from a phone reads sent from
a windows phone, from my iPhone
etc.
These products advertise
themselves, every time someone
gets this, it transmits social proof
and passive approval.

26. Shapes, sounds and a host of
other distinctive characteristics
can also help products
advertise themselves.

27. It’s been said that when people
are free to do as they please,
they usually imitate one
another.

28. In discounts, if a products price
is less than $100, then
percentage discounts seem
larger than absolute drops.

29. People don’t think in terms of
information, they think in
terms of narratives. That’s why
story telling is crucial.

30. Narratives are inherently more
engrossing than basic facts.
They have a beginning, a
middle and an end. If people
get sucked in the beginning,
they will stay till the end.

31. People are also less likely to
argue against stories as
opposed to advertising claims.

32. The media in general and the
beauty industry in particular paint
a skewed picture of women. Not
surprisingly, only 2 pc of women
describe themselves as beautiful.
More than 66 % of women believe
that the media sets an unrealistic
expectation on women’s beauty.

33. Word of mouth is not just talk,
more important, what people
are talking about.

34. Social currency We share things that make us look good
Triggers Top of mind, tip of tongue
Emotion When we care, we share
Public Built to show, built to grow
Practical value News you can use
Stories Information travels under the guise of idle
chatter

35. Social currency Does talking about your product make people look
good? Does it make them feel like insiders
Triggers What cues make people think about your product or
idea?
Emotion Does talking about your product generate an
emotion?
Public Does your product advertise itself
Practical value Does talking about your product help people help
others. How can you package information to get this
going?
Stories What is your Trojan horse/ Is your product
embedded in a broader narrative that people want to
share?