Using Observability To Make Content Go Viral
When a piece of content goes viral, your reach and exposure goes through the roof.
Many more pairs of eyes see your brand and it can do wonders for businesses.
So far we’ve covered social currency, triggers and emotion. Using these properly encourages people to share your content.
This article is about the public and how using observability can explode your brand.
Observability
Humans are sheep. We follow.
We’re more likely to do something if we see other people doing it.
There have been lots of social experiments conducted on this.
Watch the video below to see.
The video is a little extreme but proves our point.
People follow what others do.
And you can use this fact to grow your business.
Apple Logo
A good example is Apple laptops.
Apple changed the logo on the back of them so that it doesn’t face you when it’s closed.
This is because now, when it’s open, everyone who walks past or looks in the way of the laptop will see Apple’s logo.
Steve Jobs realised that this would entice more people to buy Apple products.
Social Proof
The concept of doing things that friends, or even strangers, are doing, is called social proof.
‘People often imitate people around them.’ Jonah Berger
A product’s observability therefore can have a major impact on whether it becomes popular or not.
If you can see other people with this product then they are building the product’s social proof because they themselves are using it.
They are an advert for the product simply by using it.
YOU MIGHT LIKE: Build Your Social Currency For Success In 2019
Behavioural Residue
Is there anything that generates social proof whilst the product is not being used, or it isn’t top of mind?
Yes, this is behavioural residue.
‘Behavioral residue is the physical traces or remnants that most actions or behaviors leave in their wake.’
Livestrong
The best example here is of Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong campaign.
Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France five times in a row (seven times in total throughout his career).
He did this after having recovered from life-threatening testicular cancer and being given only a 40% chance of survival.
He had quite the story to tell and he helped people believe in themselves. For if he could overcome cancer to win the world’s most prestigious cycling event, five times in a row then anything is possible really.
When the Livestrong charity was set up they needed ways to promote it.
Yellow wristbands were chosen for a number of reasons:
- it’s the colour of the race leader’s jersey in the tour
- it’s fairly gender neutral
- it stands out
The yellow wristbands became the symbol of this campaign. Wherever you’d see a yellow rubber wristband, it would likely trigger thoughts of the Armstrong’s charity.
And they lasted for a long time – a long while after the race had finished.
And still the remnants of that campaign float around society today as people continue to wear rubber bands of that type.
(Although Lance Armstrong has been condemned for cheating, it’s still a good example of behavioural residue.)
Observability is just one way to reach prolonged promotion.
Make your products and logo visible when people are and aren’t using them.
For more information on Jonah Berger’s ‘Contagious’, use this link.
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