Psychological Drivers and Emotional Triggers
Arguably the biggest challenge that businesses face today is for their brand to be ‘known’ — seen and heard – by clients and potential clients despite the onslaught of marketing noise bombarding our eyes and ears from all directions. Newspapers. Magazines. Television. Radio. Social media websites. Emails. Blogs. Even if someone tries to ‘turn off’ the noise and disconnect from telecommunications, it would still be impossible in the industrialized world to completely avoid marketing messaging. Billboards. Bus benches. Street signs. Unsolicited circulars (a/k/a junk mail). Marketing is everywhere. The challenge for any businesses, then, is to cut through the clatter so that potential customers can receive their specific message.
Yet, some messages are being delivered to millions of people with little cost or effort. That is what happens when a video ‘goes viral’. Case in point. One 30-minute video posted on March 5, 2012, just 13 days ago, has been viewed 77,384, 697 times. That same video has also been shared on Facebook 8,012,263. Since the average FB user has 120 confirmed friend connections, that means that potentially, in time, 961,471,560 people may end up viewing that video. (Note: Studies also show that people will remain watching a video three times longer when it has been shared by a friend, as opposed to finding it online themselves.) Additionally, that video has been posted on 7,472 blogs and has had 643,616 people post comments about it. Indeed, that video is currently the #1 video online, according to the Video Viral Chart. What causes a video to ‘go viral’ (marketing-speak meaning to spread like a virus)? Opinions abound. But new research provides some real insight on what causes a video to ‘go viral.’
First, let’s briefly consider the video causing such a sensation. The video is called Kony 2012, and it is not a music video or a branded video (such as webisode or an extended commercial). It is not selling a product or service…. it is selling an idea. The video’s goal is to make the named target, Joseph Kony, famous – or should we say infamous. The video, which was created by Jason Russell in-house — that is to say, the content is user-generated (amateur) as opposed to brand-generated (professional) — is part of a campaign by Invisible Children, a grassroots non-profit 501(c)3 organization, to raise global awareness about Joseph Kony (who has been indicted by the International Court of Justice for crimes against humanity… particularly against children) and lead to his capture. Without getting into the politics or message of the video (which is not the point or focus here), the question is why has this video gone viral?
Consider the stats and characteristics of this particular video. In addition to being #1 on the Video Viral Chart for the last two weeks, the same video with Spanish subtitles is also ranked #11 on the Video Viral Chart. Practically the rest of the current top 20 videos on the current Video Viral Chart are music videos by popular musicians or music groups. What is most interesting is that the Kony 2012 video defies some of the accepted wisdom about the type of videos that go viral; namely short and funny videos. At nearly 30-minutes in length, the Kony 2012 video is not short. Considering the subject matter, it is certainly not funny or even amusing.
In October, 2010, Dan Greenberg of Mashable Social Media suggested there were three basic psychological drivers that make people share a video. The sharing is what causes the viral effect.
1) The video captures an emotion that resonates with its audience.
2) The video defines the person’s personality to his/her friends. Thus, the viewer is able to align him/herself with the message, either because it’s a reflection of their humor, fashion sense, tech-savvy, popularity, politics, values, etc. This is called the “this-is-me” effect.
3) The video teaches or informs the viewer and provides new and interesting information about a topic.
The Kony 2012 video does all three. The video generates a strong emotional response. It focuses on the topic of protecting children, an issue that surely resonates with many if not most people. And it calmly and rationally explains a complex but little-known problem in the world.
However, it wasn’t until recently that scientific research was done to determine which emotions resonate most when people watch videos. A study, led by Dr. Karen Nelson-Field, Dr. Erica Riebe, and Dr. Kellie Newstead of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science at the University of South Australia, identified the emotions that are most likely to trigger video sharing online causing it to go viral. The study took 400 user-generated videos and worked out the average number of daily shares each clip generated on Facebook. They then asked 14 independent people to watch a sub-set of the sample and indicate the emotions they personally felt from a list of 16 potential emotional responses. Those emotions were: astonishment, exhilaration, inspiration, hilarity, surprise, happiness, calmness, amusement, shock, anger, frustration, disgust, discomfort, sadness, boredom, and irritation. Each video was “coded” twice to lessen the impact of subjectivity. They then allocated each emotion an average number of daily shares. The results: hilarity and anger ranked at the top with 6,392 and 5,293 respectively. Boredom ranked at the bottom with 622. Here is what they found.
1. Laughter is, indeed, the best way to get someone to share video content. Hilarity is easily the most likely emotion to trigger sharing activity, not amusement or happiness.
2. The stronger the emotion (laughter, anger, crying, shock), the more likely a video would be shared.
3. Most videos currently generate either boredom or amusement. That explains why most videos don’t go viral. The majority of the countless videos in the vast digital realm too often failed to create enough motivation for the viewer to share. For a video to be shared, it needs to hit strong emotional triggers.
Next week, we’ll look at whether brand-generated videos (such as commercials) can ‘go viral’ and what other factors may also help a video to spread like a virus. Stay tuned!
Quote of the Week
“The brain wants to have fun. If you keep thinking about that every day, you’re always going to be interesting and relevant. The brain hates boring and expected.”
Linus Karlsson & Paul Malmstrom, Mother New York
© 2012, Keren Peters-Atkinson. All rights reserved.
