Contagious

Application Note

Contagious Application

Notes

Principle 1 - social currency

• does advertising your product/content make them look good?
  • ppl wanna look like they’re supporting something valuable/“aura farming” kinda
  • reason sometimes my content doesn’t get traction is because people works but gain any social currency, and in some cases, lose (like my failures, pornography, rejection vids)
• ppl r willing to spend that social currency to look good in front of ppl
  • think of the ppl who supported your venture. Why did they do that? How did it benefit them? It made them look good
• people love talking about themselves. They wouldn’t mind getting a pay cut to have a chance to share their opinions
  • p.s. I’m nothing like most ppl lol
• Snapple facts, fortune cookies, secret bar
  • you can’t help but talk about them
  • people like talking about remarkable things
    • unusual
    • extraordinary
    • worthy of attention
• the desire for social approval
• we naturally exaggerate stories we share because us humans can’t recall every single detail. So we exaggerate these parts (esp in groups). Cockroaches are double in size
• remarkability:
  • when faced with a controversial mystery like a movie “based on a true story”, we want answers, so we talk about it
  • blender tech. Black toilet paper
• no matter how stupid the game is, people still play them. Best e.g. is airmiles.
  • Less than 10% of ppl use them even though everyone is so horny for them.
  • Why? Because it’s a fun game
  • especially when we get close to the reward. And why do rewards matter? Exclusivity. That’s important others the value of the reward is meaningless. You can’t flex it anymore.
  • Here’s where it gets crazy, their flexing is helping your product. That’s some 5d chess move to gain social currency
• this leads us to the fact that it is essential to gamify certain things and track them and make it a competition to be good at it
  • make
  • v1 Orbit idea: “go to a certain area on campus and get some money”
• campaigns like:
  • take a picture with your best friend for a chance to win a car. What happens when you win? You tell everyone. Literally series
• make them feel like insiders
  • literally series
  • the Berlin black clothes party room. If you get in, you tell everyone
• scarcity and exclusivity
  • literally series with it’s “invite only” bs
  • exclusivity can come from knowing information. Orion is free for everyone who signs up early. I can do something similar for Orbit
  • THE INTERACTION COMPANY and their app
    • my users have to convince Orbit why the deserve to be in the platform? Nah. There must be a better way
• beezeez agents

Triggers

• do things have to be interesting to be used? No
• some word of mouth is immediate (movies, food) vs ongoing word of mouth (most, election)
  • they’re different
• a big part of it is how often does a product get brought into your brain. All your senses can trigger thoughts about yr app
  • there are direct triggers:
    • milk when drinking coffee
    • toilet
    • eggs
  • there are indirect triggers
    • peanut butter → jelly
  • mars & NASA
  • remember a quote → you enact that quote unconsciously:
    • “no tray is complete without some fruits”
• people voted for more school funding when the voting took place in school.
  • only advertise orbit inside the places you want people to use it. It's like I got home for advantage
• trigger
  • Rebecca black - Friday
  • Ziploc
  • toilet
• small talk:
  • THE place where triggers live
  • fill your advertisement with triggers that are directly connected to ucalgary things (exclusivity)
    • mac hall restaurants, toilets, common events, situations. It doesn’t have to be interesting, just fill it with triggers. It doesn’t have to be interesting because I’m not focusing on instant signups
  • top of mind → tip of tongue
• don’t be Ethiopian food. There’s nothing for it to be remembered by
  • instead be a hotdog, KitKat n coffee
• make a rival’s message (series) act as a trigger for yr own (orbit)
  • anti-ciggarette ad using Marlboro
• this ties to the importance of context. Ad in the right place and right time
  • anti-soda in the places ppl consider buying soda
  • just like the 100 dollar Philly sandwich being done in Philly, and the “no one should know” restaurant in NYC, these things only work in these areas
  • try to find something that would only work in Calgary/ucalgary
  • Atomic Habits
• most shared (emailed) articles:
  • scientific/personal “ahh” moment givers
    • ppl love that spark they feel. Self transcendence.
    • they inspire, evoke emotion
    • hero’s journey?
  • health
  • everything else
• Susan from Britain got talent (inspiring)
  • ppl have the desire to share emotional experiences with people.
  • it helps us connect through that content
• the key here is that only positive emotions are shareworthy, not negative
  • ppl don’t wanna share bad vibes
• but, anger and anxiety inducing things (stock market) get shared. Why?
  • evolutionary activation/physiological arousal
• all these emotional responses fuel action. Ppl can’t stay quiet or do nothing after being inspired, anxious, scared. They have to take action. any action
• on the contrary: sadness and contentment do the complete opposite. It’s slows you down. Demotivates you

How to find the thing that evokes emotion in your product

• to find the emotional core of an idea, ask the 3 why’s:
  • why do you think people are doing something?
  • why is this important?
• loop 3 times in whatever order.
• Google ad
• excite them, make them mad (bmw did that with their commercials, not sad
• sometimes ads are received badly but how do you know how it’ll go? Part of it is, again, physiological arousal.

exercise makes people share

• it’s a form of physiological arousal
  • place ads in front of treadmills. They got nothing else to do but scan the QR code and potentially share it as well
• emotions lead to action
• focus on feelings. They want to be entertained.
• after going through arousing experiences, we tend to want to share things

Social proof

• donation count

Highlights