What am I reading? Contagious

This is for every early-stage marketer out there.

Why do certain ideas and products get more traction than others? Why are some stories and concepts more popular than others in the same genre?

If you are a marketer and this is what keeps you awake at night, you might just want to grab a copy.

As marketers, as we struggle to make things "go viral" - there is very little in terms of formal education that can help you navigate this once you are immersed in a full time marketing role. Marketing agencies might not be able to help either - especially if you are a smaller company without the budgets to create a big-bang campaign.

This is an area that essentially can't be back-engineered - or so I thought, till I read Contagious. Berger, a professor of marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, deconstructs some of the mystique surrounding this concept through a framework called as STEPPS. The "Six Principles of Contagiousness" as he calls them, STEPPS, social currency, triggers, emotion, public, practical value, and stories can help marketers at least put some structure into what was essentially a virtual marketing black box.

I can identify with the audience that Berger wants to reach: the marketer that wonders what clicked every time s/he comes across a social contagion. The ones that see cat videos rake up "likes" and see painfully created thoughtful content lying ignored. What is the magic mix that can make your content soar?

What I liked about this book?

The book is well-organized, replete with explanations, and can help early stage marketers in trying to build their knowledge in this area. Though few ideas may seem obvious in the beginning, the fact that they aren't mainstream, itself is an acknowledgment of their limited widespread implementation.

How can this book help you?

Purchase decisions everyday are becoming more and more complex, with multiple factors weighing it at every stage of consumer decision making. This book is a reaffirmation of what know - that social transmission is a powerful tool - whether it is online or not. Drawing from behavioral economics and consumer psychology, this book can provide a distilled version of how to build word of mouth in an era of digital overkill.

So the next time you embark on a marketing campaign, just try incorporating the elements of the framework, and yes, you might just rake up more visibility than the cat videos you hate!

What I felt this book lacked

Depth, or maybe because I was expecting more.

Final take

Engaging, yes, handy, yes; unique: maybe not but helpful nonetheless.

Psst: you might want to go through this cool animated review of the book here.

Till next time, keep reading!