Is this worthy enough to share?
I’ve been thinking about everything I share on social media and what decision process did I go through to share it and help it go viral. I’m one of those people that has a collection of saved memes, posts, pulse articles, blogs, and videos that I keep to share with my circle. Sometimes it’s for connection to help a friend laugh, others are to inspire, many are to help, and some are to be at the forefront of my industry. Each and every one of them has a purpose. As I share those items, the word-of-mouth I build expands that brand and contributes to the virality of their marketing. The big question is, is there a secret recipe that makes me want to share what I see or experience?
The answer, there certainly is, and depending on what type of viral marketing you are looking to achieve will depend on the philosophy you pick. Today I’m going to concentrate on the philosophy of message characteristics. Mostly because it is the one that attracts me the most, and one that I believe works best for the Professional Services industry.
Jonah Berger has written three books (so far) on marketing and his book Contagious is based on why people latch onto and share content. He uses a framework based on STEPPS: Social; Trigger; Emotion; Public; Practical Value; and Stories. But overall, the idea is to engage your audience, to ensure they remember you. So how does it work?
STEPPS Framework to help with viral marketing
Social
Social is about social currency, it is how we want people to perceive us, and how we share because it makes us feel good. I completely do this. I love making friends and family laugh, helping inspire a colleague, or showing I know my industry by sharing information on the latest tech.
Trigger
Trigger this the message has something that reminds us of them. It might be a visual connection, a day of the week, a saying, or a topic. Two items that I certainly helped, and still help go viral do this for me. That song ‘It’s Friday then Saturday Sunday what!!’ by Debskie I share at least once a month and I guarantee I share it on a Friday. The other is take a break, I will always think about Kit Kat and, when working in an office, I would share an ad from KitKat with a friend to trigger our coffee catch-up.
Emotion
Emotion is when we care we share. A campaign close to me is the ‘go pink’ for breast cancer campaigns. I have an emotional (and physical) connection to this so whenever I see an ad for pink buns, or pink tradie I instantly contribute to the campaign going viral.
Public
Public is about imitation. We want people to know we have one, we support the brand, or we wish we worked there. A great example is Accenture and their Instagram. Many staff share the branding across everything from mugs and devices through to bags, t-shirts and how they arrange their food. They want everyone to know that they work for Accenture.
Practical value
Practical value is when we share something because it helps someone make a decision or do something. I am really bad with this one. I will forward on how-to videos a lot, particularly if they are explained easily and quickly. If your company helps me make a decision on what technology to pick and how to do that quickly and succinctly, I will share that as much as I can. Which brings us to the final and most influential if you ask me…stories.
Stories
Stories are what the professional services market is all about. Donald Miller explores this in his book Marketing Made Simple and in his online university Business Made Simple. Don and the team believe in inviting your customer into the narrative, so they connect to your brand. They discuss the need for the customer to feel like the hero and you’re helping them achieve their goals. If a customer finds your message and they relate to the story they are going to share it with others. Just as I am about the Business Made Simple service.
So next time you start to plan your next marketing campaign and you want the buzz to expand and be continuously shared, use the STEPPS and think about what makes it sharable.
What was the last marketing campaign you shared?
18 thoughts on “Is this worthy enough to share?”
Hi Belinda! First time visiting your site, must I say the layout and ease of navigation of your site is super impressive. I really enjoyed your take on viral marketing. You addressed all the components of the STEPPS framework in a very informative yet concise way, I definitely have a deeper understanding now of why people share content. Your own stories really gave your blog a personal touch which made it inviting. Thank you for the great read Belinda! 🙂
Hi Jacqueline,
Thank you so much for your kind comments and feedback. I’m glad you enjoyed reading my blog and gained some deeper insights from the content. I found it fascinating as I started to think about the STEPPS framework and how it had worked on me as a consumer. I have to say, your comment on my personal touch is appreciated greatly. I wasn’t sure if I had achieved this well and you have definitely given me confidence to keep on trying this approach.
Thanks again for the visit and taking time to comment.
I hope you come back to look at the future topics!
Hi Belinda, very informative blog, I like the way you give your thinking into each step of the principles of contagiousness, however, in my opinion, I think it is hard to combine 6 steps together in a campaign, and not every company uses all of the principles, do you think this is a weak point? I like your blog and waiting for your next blog.
Hi Jasmine,
Thanks for reading my blog and leaving your feedback. You are right, it would be difficult to combine all of the STEPPS into one campaign. I wonder if the more you include the higher level of saturation, or as you put it contagiousness, it reaches. I’ll have to investigate that one.
Thanks again for the feedback!
I like how you write mention different areas in viral marketing. What do you think is the key to makes people wanted to share your content?
Hi Yean,
Thanks for visiting my blog. I’m glad you liked the different STEPPS of viral marketing. You have asked a great question, I think there are a lot of different motives that make people share content. You just have to find the right types that suit your demographic.
Thanks again for visiting!
Hello Belinda, I really enjoyed your blog post for this week. Honestly, your posts are always so concise and to the point and truely showcase the main points of what you are trying to say. I love the incorporation of different areas in viral marketing especially, the 6 points in relation to the STEPPS framework. I have learnt quite a bit in this post and was very happy in which you have included external sources to further clarify your points. I am quite curious, a company may or may incorporate ALL six of these points? It would be quite difficult wouldn’t you agree? In saying this, I would have loved to have seen an example in which this has occurred. Looking forward to your future blog posts. Kindest regards Grace.
Hello Grace,
Thank you for your kind words. I enjoyed trying to think about campaigns that suited each of the STEPPS framework. Some of them had a few of the STEPPS criteria but I don’t think any of them involved all six. You have made me think about whether having more points brings a higher level of virality. I’ll have to look into it.
Thanks for taking the time to visit and leave a comment!
Hey Belinda, your blog layout is extremally professional looking, I quite like how you place your images to the right, it helps reading the blog a smooth process. I would like to know your opinion on if businesses should use whole STEPPS framework or focus on specific principles. Cannot wait to hear from you and for your next blog. 😊
Hey Jesse,
Thanks for your kind comments regarding my blog. I’m glad you found it a smooth process to read. A few of the visitors have bought up a similar question about using all of the STEPPS framework. I think a company can go viral using just one of the framework points. I do want to do research and understand if your percentage increases if you have more than one of the STEPPS included.
Thanks for taking the time to visit and leave a comment!
Hey Belinda, what a delightful read. Super engaging to tune into. I found it super easy to navigate through the blog. The breaking down of the STEPPS Framework to help with viral marketing was also quite easy to understand. I’d love to hear more from you! Looking forward to your next blog!
Hi, love the way you used STEPPS to explain viral marketing and how you incorporate it into your daily life as well, furthermore its great to see how common it has become for people to share, save and comment on posts nowadays making it go viral. The blog was very insightful and a lot was learnt from it, thanks for sharing.
Hi,
Thanks for reading my blog and leaving a comment. I’m glad you found it insightful and enjoyed the link to my daily life. It was interesting as I thought about the examples and just how much I personally help campaigns go viral. In reading your reply you have given me more confidence to bring in that personal experience side into my writing.
Thanks again for your feedback!
Hi, it was great to see how you utilised STEPPS to not only explain but also discuss how content becomes viral. Also I love that you gave insight into how you utilise STEPPS as well. I think it also has become very common for people to share, save and comment on posts tagging their friends which helps in making content become viral, glad to know I am not the only one saving random memes that I see online. Thanks for sharing,
Hey Belinda, what a delightful read. Super engaging to tune into. I found it super easy to navigate through the blog. The breaking down of the STEPPS Framework to help with viral marketing was also quite easy to understand. I also really liked the incorporation of the ‘go pink’ for breast cancer campaign as an example for the emotional framework step. I’d love to hear more from you! Looking forward to your next blog!
Hey Meher,
Thank you for visiting and taking the time to leave a comment. I’m glad you found the blog easy to follow and understand. That emotional framework step is certainly one our society relies on a lot to raise those much needed funds.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment!
Hey Belinda, very insightful read! Your blog was engaging and easy to navigate. I like your breakdown of the STEPPS framework and the personal real life examples you used to explain each step. I find that many companies do not use all 6 STEPPS in their campaigns. Do you think that it is more effective for companies to use all elements of the STEPPS model for a viral ad campaign or should they strategically choose which elements to focus on?
Thanks for the great read, looking forward to your next blog! 🙂
Hey Nicole,
Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment! I’m glad you found it an insightful read. I’ve had your question a few times with this blog so I completed some research. What I could find is to use as many STEPPS as suitable but to be careful not to dilute your message by trying to embed all of the them. Which to me says make sure you have a strategy behind your digital marketing that way if an opportunity arises quickly your team can jump straight onto it without jeopardising your brand message.
I also appreciate your comment about about using real life examples, it has given me more confidence to take that approach in the future.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment!