it was not just social media that led to this content’s success. The film’s creator sent copies to twenty-one friends, and by the end of the morning two million people had seen it. Then the New York Times did a story on this video in conjunction with the start of Fashion Week, as did other news outlets. The fact that this wasn’t obviously advertising increased the content’s appeal because people felt like they were watching an artfully produced, quirky film.
I would be remiss if I did not mention the Ice Bucket Challenge, a viral phenomenon that overtook the Internet during much of the summer of 2014. This initiative was a fundraiser to leverage social media and consumer-generated video to raise money for charity. Viewers were challenged to videotape themselves dumping a bucket of ice water on their heads or to donate money (most did both) and then challenge other people to do the same. Celebrities like Bill Gates and Martha Stewart, as well as thousands of everyday people, did just that. Most of the videos were fun to watch, with some evoking considerable pathos. What made this so successful is that social currency (“Did you see Lady Gaga’s ice bucket challenge?” or “did you do the challenge?”) and storytelling (why people chose to make their videos) are ingeniously embedded into the challenge itself. The Ice Bucket Challenge thus embodies the key elements that would lead people to share this content with others. That said, this example doesn’t neatly fall into a single category. Yes, it went viral, but it was not produced by the ALS Association, an organization that raises money to help cure amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease).15 In that sense, this was consumer-generated marketing (discussed below). We all heard about the video challenge, in part from the mainstream media and in part by its online presence. However, it is difficult to quantify the success of this initiative because it is not based on a single video but on thousands of individual ones. Rather, the success of the campaign is evident in the funds raised for the organization: $115 million from July 29 to September 15, compared to $5 million raised in the same period the year before.
As is evident, not all elements are necessary for content to go viral. It can evoke emotion and be practical, but it does not have to contain a trigger or be made public. What I have found in using the STEPPS framework to analyze content is that emotions—the stronger the better—are what shape virality and social currency. We share content when we are moved by its message in the hopes that by doing so we will project a positive image of ourselves to the online world. And this ties in to what marketers are trying to achieve: the ever important customer-brand relationship. As Melissa Coker, Wren’s founder and creative director, said about their video: “What we really wanted to do with this video is to generate lasting brand awareness and love, not just a quick hit sale.”16
Static visuals can also be viral content, but these tend not to have the same emotional or widespread impact as videos. The most shared picture on Twitter, for example, is the Ellen DeGeneres/Samsung selfie at the 2014 Oscars, with 3.3 million retweets. This was achieved through a combination of product placement during the TV broadcast and from DeGeneres asking viewers to make it the most retweeted picture—an example of two stealth modes working in conjunction with one another.17 To put this into context, the second most tweeted picture is President Obama hugging the first lady after he won his bid for a second term in 2012 (750,000+ retweets).
As marketers move away from written content in favor of visual formats, the practice of sharing video and visual content will increase. In just two years, video content is expected to make up 69 percent of online traffic.
WORD OF MOUTH AND SPONSORED WORD OF MOUTH
We have already discussed word of mouth broadly as the communication of information from one person to another. More specifically, there are two types of word of mouth: unsponsored and sponsored. Unsponsored is what we have been discussing thus far: any natural or “organic” conversation about a product. Sponsored word of mouth, on the other hand, is far more stealth than its unpaid counterpart. These communications make it look like one person is simply making a recommendation to another, but in reality, there is a marketer behind the Influencer’s message.
Word of mouth—sponsored or otherwise—is being driven by the ubiquitous use of mobile phones and the accompanying apps. These have enabled us to read, share, review, and retweet on the go when we have down time during our workday, or at night while we are engaging with other media. As of the third quarter of 2014, Americans spend more time on mobile devices than they do watching television. Most of that online time is spent with apps, and of that, 80 percent is spent with one of the following five sources: Facebook, YouTube, Pandora, Google Maps, and Gmail. Since advertising spending follows the eyeballs, spending on mobile has grown exponentially, with the expectation that it will reach $40 billion in 2016, more than doubling what it was in 2014.18
Talking about brands (unsponsored WOM) has become a part of everyday conversation. Here are the stats: on a typical day, 76 percent of Americans will talk about brands, ten brands will be discussed, and 70 percent of the time, those conversations will include a recommendation.19 As noted above, many of these brand-based conversations are urged along with corporate intervention. This WOM marketing can also be called buzz marketing, viral marketing, and grassroots marketing.20 Whatever it is called, the intention behind it is to drive consumer conversations without making it look like there’s a marketer’s hand in the mix.
Marketers generate brand conversations by finding Influencers (Millennials with followings or celebrities) who will positively promote a product in the hopes of it going viral, thus creating “buzz” around a product. According to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), buzz marketing is “using high-profile entertainment or news to get people to talk about your brand.”21 There are several methods that can be used to do this. Sponsored celebrity tweets are used for a vast array of products, and the cost for those 140 characters can be substantial, depending on the celebrity and the size of their audience. The Kardashian sisters make more than $10,000 per tweet, and Kim is reported to have made double that to promote EOS lip balm.22 Chinese actress Fan Bingbing combined her announcement of a new romance with three brands that she endorses.23 Vine celebrities—people who have become online stars by making six-second videos—can also make a handsome sum by using these short snippets to promote consumer products. These “celebs” with anywhere from 300 thousand to 4 million followers have been known to promote everything from GE to Warner’s Bras to Coke, and they can make as much as $30,000 for a Vine—which has no sponsor designation in sight.24 There is now even an app called Cosign that enables individuals to make money when their friends purchase products based on their recommendation.
More controversial, and frankly illegal, is promoting products online without letting readers know that the blogger or Influencer received compensation for writing about the product.25 A whole industry now exists to support connecting Influencers with products. Amazon, for instance, has the Amazon Vine program, which gives “trusted reviewers” products to sample so that they can write about them.26 Beyond PR companies that connect Influencers to products, as we discussed in the previous chapter, there are now online companies, like Izea and Ad.ly, that match blogs and social media stars to products. Advertisers can go onto the Izea website, for example, and see how many followers a celebrity has and how much they charge for tweeting. The website then sends an email to the celebrity, who can accept the advertiser’s offer of promotional money or not. If accepted, the cost gets charged to a credit card. It’s that simple. Similarly, anyone who blogs, tweets, or uses Instagram can create an account on Izea and presumably be connected to advertisers. Their promotional video describes it in the following way:
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