Socialmediaworx

Ivan Askwith, Director of Strategy at Big Spaceship, recently offered an insightful perspective into how brands could best engage consumers over the long-run by ceasing to refer to %u201Cviral%u201D as merely a campaign objective %u2013 but rather as a deliberate choice to share quality content that a consumer will be motivated to share with others.

According to Askwith,

It%u2019s time to accept a difficult truth: viral isn%u2019t a quality that we, as marketers, have the power to bestow. In fact, viral isn%u2019t an inherent trait that advertising can have at all. Viral isn%u2019t what a marketing campaign is, but how that campaign spreads. And when a campaign does achieve viral propagation, it%u2019s not simply a function of what we do as designers and planners. Instead, it%u2019s a function of deliberate choices that each consumer makes about what is worth sharing and why.

The ultimate challenge for brands is to understand their consumers and their motivations well enough to offer them something valuable enough to share.  Askwith suggests that, rather than focus on creating something %u2013 anything %u2013 that might spread like a virus %u2013 brands should focus on offering their consumers gifts so valuable that they%u2019ll want to share these with others.  And what makes a gift %u2013 or content %u2013 worth sharing?  Askwith poses three specific scenarios %u2013 each with unique purposes, motives and behavior patterns %u2013 in which people share content:

1. Contributing (1-to-Many): Sharing relevant content is often more casual and less deliberate, as in an online community.  Anything that might be interesting or useful has a good chance of being shared;  making valuable contributions is an important way to %u201Cprove%u201D that one belongs, and the pride of being the first to discover something of value offers a powerful incentive to share.

2. Broadcasting (1-to-World): In more public spaces like Twitter or Facebook, the act of sharing is more about the person sharing than the person receiving. Sharing an opinion or thought here makes a statement about who the individual is, what they like, and how they wish to be perceived. In this context, consumers are likely to share anything that expresses their identities, opinions or strengths.

3. Gifting (1-to-1/Few): More private channels like email, IM and real-world conversations allow for sharing that is closest to gifting. The decision to share depends on relevance and value to both giver and recipient, since sharing is intended to strengthen relationships and reinforce shared values. Consumers here will be likeliest to share anything that helps generate, strengthen or sustain connections.

Big Spaceship: “Getting Past Viral”