PAST AND PRESENT OF GOING VIRAL

Have you ever thought of the difference between the past and current ways of digital marketing?

In the past when there were only traditional medias such as newspapers, brochures and public posters, there are only a limited audience that companies can reach out to. It goes without saying that advertisements cost were always exceeding budgets, while also not being able to get to the category of audience they were aiming at.

Now, we do not need to rely purely on those methods. Thanks to technology advancement, the internet has evolved. Marketers can look into less expensive medias such as digital marketing online.

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When companies have more innovative ideas to reach out to consumers:

Studies shows that only 16% of people remembers the brand and advertisements correctly. Loud advertisements are the way to go, but the message has to be clear. If the "noise" of the advertisement is too overwhelming, consumers may remember what the advertisement is about but would tend to forget the brand...

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Based on Statista in 2018, digital advertising market size has been peaking and was predicted to increase. As we are globally going digital, there are more use of digital marketing rather than traditional methods. It is due to reasons such as the time it takes to reach target audience and cost.

Internet advertising market size from 2012 to 2018, with forecast from 2019 to 2024

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In the Diffusion of Innovation Theory, Innovators are not adopted by people at the same time. Instead, they adopt in different time sequences depending on how long it took for them to use the new innovation. At this stage, there are 2.5% of the population, which have a new idea will definitely shift demand from existing products to the new product. To continue being successful with this product, companies have to be ahead of the other players and offer more attractive incentives to retain customers.

Early Adopters stage has 13.5% of the population, where the market opens up to this product. This is when demand and sales increases the most. Even when customers are into the product already, building brand image and new versions of the product will make existing customers want to re-purchase.

The third and fourth stage have most population of people, at 34%. The product's prices and profits decrease because of strong competition from competitors. If the company is doing even better than before, it is very likely that they will force weaker competitors to leave the market. At this point, creating stronger impressions to differentiate them from competitors is very important.

At Late Majority, lesser new customers purchase the new product, and existing customers may not repurchase. Being in this phase, prices are slated and other players in the industry fight for their market share or sales. After some time, the company's product will get replaced to newer players in the industry.

In this final stage, the number of Innovators and Early Adopters combined together, 16% are Laggards. Competitors have taken over the positions in the market, possibly with substitutes and having distinctiveness.

Based on this Diffusion of Innovation Theory, if a company wants to be successful in the industry, they should target being in the Innovators and Early Adopters as they will stand out as compared to competitors.

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We will move on to Jonah Berger's 6 STEPPS to create digital viral content.

STEPPS:

STEP 1. SOCIAL CURRENCY

This is where people share about what they feel to make themselves feel good. For me, I express my opinions and thoughts to others because I want them to think positively about me, just the way I do. When I express my view on social media and other people shares it, I would feel accepted as people think the same way. When my post gets popular, it means I have an influence towards others.

A great example would be the ALS challenge It was for a good cause, raising awareness for the disease, encouraging donations for research. With the viral trend going about, even US president Donald Trump did the challenge too! This gave people who watched the video a sense of satisfaction while raising awareness with a good cause.

A few benefits of social currency for a business:

- Brand awareness

- Brand Loyalty

- Higher sales

STEP 2: TRIGGERS

When there is a trigger, it automatically goes to "Top-of-mind and tip-of-tongue". Triggers can be from the simplest things to remind people about brands, logos or even their product. Usually, they are either visuals or something catchy such as a phrase.

EXAMPLES

1. From the iconic phrase "May the Force Be With You", Star Wars Day is on May 4th.

2. When someone asks what the time is, they automatically get reminded of Tiger Beer. This proves how strong their slogan is "What time is it? It's Tiger Time".

3. On Fridays?

Rebecca Black's song "Friday" is a catchy song that people will get reminded of!

These examples illustrates having emphasis on something that is easy to be reminded of, regardless if its a product, song or movie. Just take a look at how long it has been since the release of each movie, advertisement and song!

STEP 3: EMOTIONS

Emotional content are more likely to go viral. When having pleasant emotions, it is more likely to form positive emotions, while negative emotions influence people to fair poorer. Our emotions influence the way we react to things.

Take this Coca-Cola advertisement for example:

STEP 4: PUBLIC

Monkey see, monkey do. When something gets more public, the more people will have the tendency to do it. When there is a crowd in public, I will be curious to know what is going on, and join in the crowd. The intention of brands building attractive advertisements are for more people to get attracted and purchase their products.

For ladies who are high heels lover, this might be for you!

Christian Louboutin's red soled-shoes

Men? No shave November!

STEP 5: PIRATICAL VALUES

These are also news that you can use. When there are useful tips being shared to me, I would want to share it with others. When there are useful tips, people tend to share it so other people will come across them too. These content needs to be useful and short to understand.

For example, by knowing these products can help with cleaning efficiency, people would approach respective companies for them to make cleaning less of a hassle!

STEP 6: STORIES

Experiences are usually told in the form of stories. When someone shares their story, it is definitely more credible and persuasive, as compared to hearing it from someone you don't personally know. When content is shared as a story or narrative, it is more likely that people remember the product. It is important that the brand will be well-remembered, even if the product gets forgotten.

For example, Panda Cheese's commercial. The cute yet violent panda is a huge part of brand awareness. The whole point of the commercial is to remind consumers that if they were going for other products, never forget about their brand!

When these 6 STEPPS elements are included when creating content, it would become more contagious, and increase the chance of audience remembering the content.

So what do you think about STEPPS? Any one that you think will work better than the others?

Let me know in the comments!

References:

https://www.dontpaniclondon.com/importance-of-creativity-in-advertising/

http://bbh-labs.com/most-marketing-is-bad-because-it-ignores-the-most-basic-data/#_edn2

https://www.statista.com

https://www.qualitylogoproducts.com/blog/innovation-adoption-curve/

https://www.ou.edu/deptcomm/dodjcc/groups/99A2/theories.htm