Text version of the video below
Hey it's Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business and life you love. I got a question for you. Have you ever wondered why some pieces of content go viral and others not so much? If you thought it was about massive creativity or just dumb luck? Think again because my guest today is going to show you a scientific formula for making your ideas and your products spread like wildfire. Jonah Berger is the NY Times Bestselling Author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On.
He's received awards for both scholarship and teaching, including being named Wharton's Iron Professor in Recognition of Awesome Faculty Research. He received his Ph.D. from the Stanford graduate school of business. Jonah's published dozens of articles and top tier academic journals and popular counts of his work have appeared in the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Science, Harvard Business Review, Wired, Business Week and Fast Company. Jonah, thank you so much for being on MarieTV.
Jonah: Thank you so much for having me.
Marie: I got to ask, before we get into all the good stuff of Contagious, what does being the Iron Prof really mean? Do you have big guns?
Jonah: Everyday. At the gym, morning 'til night. Iron Prof is basically you give a minute lecture, slides, seconds of slides; they auto advance, you don't get to control it and at the end the students vote. It's like - students and I squeaked by just two votes ahead of the other person, so I was the Iron Prof. Very exciting title.
Marie: I was thinking is he like the Iron Chef, but I like this. Very good.
Jonah: I'm good at cooking, but not that good.
Marie: Alright, so now, let's get to the real deal. In Contagious, you talk about six principles that help make our ideas spread like wildfire, and one of the most interesting ones to me was social currency. What does that mean and how can we use it?
Jonah: The idea of social currency is just like the car we drive or the clothes we wear; what we say affects how other people see us. You want to say things that make us look smart and in the know rather than not so smart and behind the times. For example, a few months ago, you might have gotten an e-mail in your inbox from Instagram saying Hey - you are one of the top influencers
on the site, one of the top % or % of profiles. Lots of people got this email, they felt really good, they patted themselves on the back, but they didn't just feel good; they shared it with others. They brag to other people look at me, I'm special on Instagram http://retentionpanel.com/instagram, I have this honor, look at how great I am. Notice that in talking about themselves, they also talked about YouTube. YouTube http://retentionpanel.com/ got to come along for the ride, by making them feel special, smart, and in the know; they shared it with other people and YouTube and Instagram got to be part of the conversation. The idea of social currency is so you can make people feel like insiders; they have something that not everyone else has, or give them something remarkable. Lots of online videos you see, the more remarkable it is, the more likely to share it; people share it because it makes them look good.
Marie: We have to think about in our businesses or for whatever idea we want to spread how can we help our customers or prospects feel like insiders, and how can we help them feel cool amongst their peers and amongst the world at large.
Jonah: I think actually for a small business, it's pretty easy because you start to know your customers really well. That's your advantage over a large business; you see your customers. If you're a coffee shop, you know who comes in on Wednesdays or who always orders a triple macchiato something or other, and so by making them feel special, you can get them to talk. Make them say hi by name rather than just greeting them as an anonymous customer. Have their drink ready to go. Know what they like and dislike. Making them feel special like they're an insider like they have something not everyone else has will make them want to talk.
Marie: I have to share. I just came back from a trip from Italy and I was thinking about the last hotel I stayed at. They knew our names and actually it was this tiny little town called Pienza and we made a reservation for a place outside of the hotel for dinner and one of the women that worked there was so concerned that I wouldn't get to the right place, she just wanted to make sure that she actually ran to the restaurant to make sure that we arrived okay, and then the people I was having dinner with, we all talked about it, and again, I'm talking about it right here; it's this little town house called La Bandita, but I felt so taken care of and so like a VIP that I wanted to tell everyone of all the hotels I stayed at in Italy, it was like they made me feel the most special.
Jonah: Yeah, or even giving people something for free, same thing. If you feel like "I'm different from everybody else," you want to tell others it makes you feel good about yourself, but the brand gets to come along as part of that conversation.
Marie: Love it. Love it. Let's move on to another principle that you teach, which is called triggers; top of mind, tip of tongue, which could be a tongue twister in it of itself. What are we talking about when we talk about triggers?
Jonah: The idea of triggers is simple, but it's often one we don't really get. I think we sort of understand social currency, "make people feel good, they'll talk about us." Triggers is a little more nuance and a great way to explain it; remember the video that was popular a couple years ago, Rebecca Black had this song 'Friday'?
Marie: Oh my God - 'Friday' was all over the place.
Jonah: It was one of the most viral videos of . million people viewed that video; why? People hate that song. No one likes it. They say it's terrible. It's about a -year-old girl. Why would anyone share this? But why did it do so well? If you look at the data, if you look at the number of people searching from Rebecca Black over time, it's actually quite neat. You see a spike and then it goes down, and then you see another spike and then it goes down, and then you see another spike and then it goes down. If you look closer the spikes aren't random; they're every seven days. If you look even closer, you'll notice that they're every Friday. The song is equally bad every day of the week; it's bad on Monday, bad on Tuesday, and bad on Wednesday, but Friday's a ready reminder because that is the same name as the song what psychologists would call a trigger to make people think about it and talk about it. Again, if something in the environment reminds us of something, we're much more likely to share it. If I said peanut butter and, for example, you might say.
Marie: Peanut butter jelly. Someone made a peanut butter jelly video for us so they made a song.
Jonah: Yeah, but it made you think of jelly and then it made you think of the song, but peanuts
He's received awards for both scholarship and teaching, including being named Wharton's Iron Professor in Recognition of Awesome Faculty Research. He received his Ph.D. from the Stanford graduate school of business. Jonah's published dozens of articles and top tier academic journals and popular counts of his work have appeared in the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Science, Harvard Business Review, Wired, Business Week and Fast Company. Jonah, thank you so much for being on MarieTV.
Jonah: Thank you so much for having me.
Marie: I got to ask, before we get into all the good stuff of Contagious, what does being the Iron Prof really mean? Do you have big guns?
Jonah: Everyday. At the gym, morning 'til night. Iron Prof is basically you give a minute lecture, slides, seconds of slides; they auto advance, you don't get to control it and at the end the students vote. It's like - students and I squeaked by just two votes ahead of the other person, so I was the Iron Prof. Very exciting title.
Marie: I was thinking is he like the Iron Chef, but I like this. Very good.
Jonah: I'm good at cooking, but not that good.
Marie: Alright, so now, let's get to the real deal. In Contagious, you talk about six principles that help make our ideas spread like wildfire, and one of the most interesting ones to me was social currency. What does that mean and how can we use it?
Jonah: The idea of social currency is just like the car we drive or the clothes we wear; what we say affects how other people see us. You want to say things that make us look smart and in the know rather than not so smart and behind the times. For example, a few months ago, you might have gotten an e-mail in your inbox from Instagram saying Hey - you are one of the top influencers
on the site, one of the top % or % of profiles. Lots of people got this email, they felt really good, they patted themselves on the back, but they didn't just feel good; they shared it with others. They brag to other people look at me, I'm special on Instagram http://retentionpanel.com/instagram, I have this honor, look at how great I am. Notice that in talking about themselves, they also talked about YouTube. YouTube http://retentionpanel.com/ got to come along for the ride, by making them feel special, smart, and in the know; they shared it with other people and YouTube and Instagram got to be part of the conversation. The idea of social currency is so you can make people feel like insiders; they have something that not everyone else has, or give them something remarkable. Lots of online videos you see, the more remarkable it is, the more likely to share it; people share it because it makes them look good.
Marie: We have to think about in our businesses or for whatever idea we want to spread how can we help our customers or prospects feel like insiders, and how can we help them feel cool amongst their peers and amongst the world at large.
Jonah: I think actually for a small business, it's pretty easy because you start to know your customers really well. That's your advantage over a large business; you see your customers. If you're a coffee shop, you know who comes in on Wednesdays or who always orders a triple macchiato something or other, and so by making them feel special, you can get them to talk. Make them say hi by name rather than just greeting them as an anonymous customer. Have their drink ready to go. Know what they like and dislike. Making them feel special like they're an insider like they have something not everyone else has will make them want to talk.
Marie: I have to share. I just came back from a trip from Italy and I was thinking about the last hotel I stayed at. They knew our names and actually it was this tiny little town called Pienza and we made a reservation for a place outside of the hotel for dinner and one of the women that worked there was so concerned that I wouldn't get to the right place, she just wanted to make sure that she actually ran to the restaurant to make sure that we arrived okay, and then the people I was having dinner with, we all talked about it, and again, I'm talking about it right here; it's this little town house called La Bandita, but I felt so taken care of and so like a VIP that I wanted to tell everyone of all the hotels I stayed at in Italy, it was like they made me feel the most special.
Jonah: Yeah, or even giving people something for free, same thing. If you feel like "I'm different from everybody else," you want to tell others it makes you feel good about yourself, but the brand gets to come along as part of that conversation.
Marie: Love it. Love it. Let's move on to another principle that you teach, which is called triggers; top of mind, tip of tongue, which could be a tongue twister in it of itself. What are we talking about when we talk about triggers?
Jonah: The idea of triggers is simple, but it's often one we don't really get. I think we sort of understand social currency, "make people feel good, they'll talk about us." Triggers is a little more nuance and a great way to explain it; remember the video that was popular a couple years ago, Rebecca Black had this song 'Friday'?
Marie: Oh my God - 'Friday' was all over the place.
Jonah: It was one of the most viral videos of . million people viewed that video; why? People hate that song. No one likes it. They say it's terrible. It's about a -year-old girl. Why would anyone share this? But why did it do so well? If you look at the data, if you look at the number of people searching from Rebecca Black over time, it's actually quite neat. You see a spike and then it goes down, and then you see another spike and then it goes down, and then you see another spike and then it goes down. If you look closer the spikes aren't random; they're every seven days. If you look even closer, you'll notice that they're every Friday. The song is equally bad every day of the week; it's bad on Monday, bad on Tuesday, and bad on Wednesday, but Friday's a ready reminder because that is the same name as the song what psychologists would call a trigger to make people think about it and talk about it. Again, if something in the environment reminds us of something, we're much more likely to share it. If I said peanut butter and, for example, you might say.
Marie: Peanut butter jelly. Someone made a peanut butter jelly video for us so they made a song.
Jonah: Yeah, but it made you think of jelly and then it made you think of the song, but peanuts