Whether you’re a businessman, politician, musician, or artist – your success depends on your ability to get your ideas to spread to large amounts of people.
But how do you get them to pay attention to your ideas?
And how do you get people to share your message, and actually care about it?
The more your idea fits this recipe, the more likely it is to be successful.
1. Social Currency
We share things to look good.
We often share information because it shows we are “in the know”
When your idea is backed by social currency, it means there is value to sharing it with others.
It signals that we are knowledgeable, sexy, funny, or “cool”.
The idea is quite simple:
If sharing your idea or product makes people feel better about themselves (if it adds a “social benefit”) – people are gong to be more likely to share it.
Not because they love you, but because they love themselves.
2. Triggers
We share things when we are triggered to do so by something in the environment.
The more we are reminded of something, the more likely we are to share it.
This is why marketers know that it usually takes at least 7 communications to get someone to buy your stuff.
And here are some crazy examples of how triggers work:
In 1997, the candy company Mars experiences a spike in sales, even though they haven’t changed anything about their marketing.
The reason? NASA had just started a mission to Mars, and it was being reported all over the news.
The simple triggers of “Mars” influenced more people to buy the candy bar.
Another example is The Kit Kat Bar.
In 2007 they launched a Marketing Campaign to link Kit Kats and Coffee, describing the pair as “a break’s best friend”.
The campaign was very successful – sales increased, and the $300 million dollar brand grew into a $500 million brand.
This was another great trigger, because coffee is a common drink to have during mornings and work breaks. Creating this association, influenced more people to have them together.
3. Emotion
When it comes to making decisions, we are often more motivated by our emotions, than our thoughts.
Marketers and salesman understand the power behind this concept and use emotions to get people to take action.
We purchase things based on our emotions, and use logic to rationalize the purchase.
The discovery was that it didn’t matter whether the emotions were positive or negative, but rather if they were high arousal or low arousal.
High Arousal emotions are what get people to take the most action – on the positive side, it’s things like awe, inspiration, excitement, and humor. On the negative side, emotions like anger, fear, and anxiety.
Low Arousal emotions have the opposite effect. Relaxation and contentment may be positive, but they don’t drive us to take action. Same with sadness and misery – they were found to not be that motivating.
When it comes to getting people to share your stuff, the higher arousal, the better.
4. Stories
Facts are necessary and can be persuasive, but if you can use those facts to form a coherent narrative, people are going to remember that information and spread it for you.
Stories are remarkable for making ideas popular. They are easy to remember, they tug at our emotions, and they are hidden with a lot of information that can influence our decisions.
If you tell someone 100 facts to support your idea, you may convince one person.
But if you tell them just one captivating story, you will leave a stronger impact, and they will be more likely to share your idea.
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