So how do triggers drive viral campaigns? There are a six psychological drivers which cause people to share information: Social Currency, Triggers, Emotions, Public Value, Practical Value and Stories. These factors make people talk more about one subject than another. Drivers of social interaction are what makes a subject go viral. Whether it be online or in real world interactions, these factors make one want to talk and spread information. To a marketer, getting someone (and hopefully everyone) talking about your product or idea is the end goal and holy grail of the viral campaign.
In our last blog post we spoke about Social Currency, which is giving people information that makes them feel special and in the know to get social kudos. Today’s blog post is all about Triggers. Triggers are the certain something in an environment that will remind people of your product or service. The trigger gets them to start talking about you!
A trigger is any stimulus in the environment–it could be a website, a sound, anything at all–that reminds you about something else. Triggers are the cause that gets you, and keeps you, talking and talking more. An example would be, if I said Peanut Butter, the chances are, you would think of Jelly as PB & J goes together like Bacon and Eggs. You get the point. One stimulus solicits another, so in fact Jelly gets free advertising. Now in your own business, you need to find that trigger to piggyback off, that stimulus which will recall you and and your product. What is it, that will remind people about you?
- What’s your Peanut butter?
- What is the environmental stimulus that you’re going to use to trigger people to think and talk about your product or idea?
You can spend a lot of time and effort reminding people that you exist and pay a lot of money in advertising for various ad campaigns, but if you can find some way of getting the your customer’ environment to trigger good thoughts about you, that is the makings of a viral masterpiece.
- Whats your environmental reminder?
- How will you get your customer to think about your product or service?