--- title: "Crafting Contagious Content Marketing: Jonah Berger's ASPECTS" description: Craft contagious content marketing using Jonah Berger's ASPECTS to engineer viral and talkable word of mouth. --- [Content Talks Business Blog | Stand Out With Content ](https://www.simplemarketingnow.com/content-talks-business-blog) # [Crafting Contagious Content Marketing: Jonah Berger's ASPECTS](https://www.simplemarketingnow.com/content-talks-business-blog/bid/88349/crafting-contagious-content-marketing-jonah-berger-s-aspects) Written by [Christine B. Whittemore](https://www.simplemarketingnow.com/content-talks-business-blog/author/christine-b-whittemore) | August 10, 2011 *Better to craft contagious talkable content than focus on influentials* says **Jonah Berger**, assistant professor of marketing at Wharton, who studies what makes products and ideas viral or talk-worthy in the consumer marketplace. Using the [acrostic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrostic) ASPECTS, Berger explained how to engineer content to make it more talkable during the June 30th, 2011 **UnitedInsight** *Contagious Marketing* event in New York City. ### ASPECTS and Contagious Content Jonah Berger's seven ASPECTS, based on his research on viral word-of-mouth marketing, include: **Advertise** **Themselves** - products that make consumption of themselves observable are talkworthy. They create 'behavioral residue' that generates a public signal [e.g., think Apple logo placed upside down on the Mac clamshell so others can observe it; the iconic white iPod headphones; Intel Inside logo; Windows startup sound; the blue Tiffany bag]. Publicly visible products get 8% more word-of-mouth. **Social Currency **- people care about what others think about them. Give them something to talk about! The [Please Don't Tell Bar in NYC](http://www.pdtnyc.com/) counts on patrons wanting to share the secret of its existence. Other examples include "[Will It Blend?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_It_Blend%3F)" with surprising content,  [In/Out Burger's "secret" menu](http://www.in-n-out.com/secretmenu.asp).  Applying this means making  people feel like insiders [e.g., soft openings]; when they share news, they feel in the know. This piggy-backs on the motivation we feel for self display [E.g., [Tom's Shoes](http://www.toms.com/our-movement/) and [Burberry's Art of the Trench.](http://artofthetrench.com/) **Practical Value** - Did you know that the New York Times' most viral sections are dining, technology and education? This because of the utility and practicality of the content.  Other examples: KFC coupon fiasco, [IKEA's brilliant use of Facebook photo tagging for a new store launch](http://mashable.com/2009/11/25/facebook-marketing-ikeas-genius-use-of-photo-tagging/). To apply this concept: offer people value [i.e., save money and be useful] they can share. Create value if there isn't any already.  **Emotion** - Make people feel something so they pass it around. Be aware that positive stories get shared more often than negative ones do. [*Ed. note: Facebook epitomizes this!*] An exception is [how viral Dave Carroll's *United Breaks Guitars*](http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/) became. Sharing requires aroused emotion; sadness isn't shareable. To apply: when people care, they share. Figure out what the emotional core of your idea is. [E.g., think how Google showcased intense emotion via Google Search Stories. You can explore a [wide range of Google Search Stories, and even create your own!](http://www.youtube.com/user/SearchStories)] **Common Ground** - Think how important it is to have common ground to speak with and connect with other people: the weather, sports, celebrities, food. It's critical to connect an idea with something everyone knows. **Triggered** - What prevalent cues or triggers exist to remind people of the product? What is top of mind now?  Stimuli in the environment can change what is accessible in your mind [e.g., orange and Halloween; Cheerios in the morning at breakfast time]. Using a product makes it top of mind as well as related cues [e.g., peanut butter and jelly]. Triggers lead to talking. Products triggered more frequently get 15% more word-of-mouth. What triggers people to think about your product? Can you increase the 'habitat' and create new triggers [e.g., Boston Market at dinner, KitKat and coffee]? **Stories** - What broader narrative can you link with your product? [What's the story behind serving a $100 cheese steak?](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6187408/ns/business-consumer_news/t/restaurant-serves-philly-cheesesteak/) You don't want to sound like an advertisement; you want to capture people's interest and get them to talk about you.  You want them to tell your story!  Figure out what your story is [and how your product saves the day] and build a narrative that carries your idea. Information travels under idle chatter.  Berger's conclusion: word-of-mouth marketing increases sales. Understand what makes people talk. Craft your content to make it contagious! ### Additional Contagious Content [i.e., Word-of-Mouth marketing] Resources: - Jonah Berger, [What Makes Online Content Viral](http://marketing.wharton.upenn.edu/documents/research/virality.pdf) - Jonah Berger, [Negative Publicity: When Negative is Positive](http://www.stanford.edu/~asorense/papers/Negative_Publicity.pdf) - Do check out Neil Glassman's post titled [7 Essential Aspects of Word of Mouth Marketing](http://www.whizbangpowwow.com/2011/07/09/7-essential-aspects-of-word-of-mouth-marketing/) which also includes a marvelous Re-Tweetables section! - A previous post on word-of-mouth marketing, [How Do You Create Buzz?](http://flooringtheconsumer.blogspot.com/2006/11/how-do-you-create-buzz.html) What's your reaction to ASPECTS? How would you apply it? Have you come across examples of contagious content and talkable marketing? Let me know in the comments. 3/24/13: Here's an interview with Jonah Berger titled ['Contagious': Jonah Berger on Why Things Catch On](http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=3206)   -- Photo Credit: UnitedInsight.com Contagious Marketing Conference Photography which also includes videos from the event. [View full post](https://www.simplemarketingnow.com/content-talks-business-blog/bid/88349/crafting-contagious-content-marketing-jonah-berger-s-aspects) ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Christine B. 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