Spread idea like butter

Ever get tired spreading butter that’s from the fridge and it just a lump that does not glide across toast cause it’s partial frozen? At the same time, you are rushing for work. Panicked and frustrated for not doing the right thing by leaving it at room temperature the night before, you just know that this toast that you are eating ain’t going to have any butter. Well, that is the same as idea spreading. Without doing it right, your ideas will get stuck at a place where no one will eventually be able to taste that idea you intended to spread.

As marketers, we are consistently trying to spread our idea to our target audience, and not only we want the idea to reach them, but also, we need to them to comprehend the message correctly and accurately to achieve the marketing goal. Hence, it is important that we as the marketers are equipped with the skills to spread our ideas effectively and efficiently!

To understand how we can spread ideas, we need to know that there are 2 philosophies in which why ideas spread; one would be through the message, and the other would be through influential.

With that in mind, there are many theoretical ways that one can spread his or her idea, and in this post, we will explore 3 types of methods to spread ideas, and which one should we select. Under the message philosophy, we will be exploring the theory of message characteristics (Jona Berger). And then from influential philosophy, we will be looking into the theory of network characteristics (Malcolm Gladwell) and people characteristics (Seth Godin).

MESSAGE CHARACTERISTIC

This theory explores a simple acronym; STEPPS, which can be broken down into;

S for Social Currency: In the virtual world, attention and impression are the representation of money in the context of the digital platform. Hence, users are aware of how people looked at them.

T for Triggers: Triggers are the reminder of a certain subject when people are conversing, something for them to say on the tip of their tongue.

E for Emotions: Emotions revolves around the idea of the level of physiological arousal or activation that a message can trigger.

P for Public: Public represents the social proof that makes people unconsciously follows a pattern that is shown to them as they witness the behaviour of others and without knowingly, imitate the actions.

P for Practical Values: The level of practice of the content that is being shared affects the consistency of users sharing within their social media. If the information is practical (e.g. how to pack for a trip efficiently), the higher the chance that the information will be shared.

S for Stories = Stories are there to help the target audience to relate a message with a plot, making it easier to recall considering that we are being exposed to so many messages daily, a story will make it more memorable than others.

A great example would be the Burger King Bullying Jr ad. This ad carries out a social experiment regarding school bullying. Initially, they would customers “Bullied Whopper Jr”, that are smashed and deformed. And throughout the experiment, 95% of the customers reported the burger to the staff. Similarly, they are also experiencing a scripted bullying scenario next to their table, and only 12% of these customers step up and said something.

 

It covers 3 of the STEPPS model;

Trigger – School bullying has always been the talk of the town, considering that more and more unfortunate suicide cases related to bullying are happening. This social experiment triggers the conversation of school bullying and Burger King together.

Emotion – Through this ad, it made us realized how much of a bystander we are when we are faced with bullying. When we are being at a disadvantage, we will be vocal about. But if we see others suffering, most of us will keep quiet. This sends an emotionally heart-wrenching signal to many audiences who now reflect if they are one of those bystanders out there witness bullying and not do anything.

Practical Values – The theme around school bullying is a never-ending conversation, that is very relevant till this day. It is a practical and real situation that we are facing that is potentially physically and emotionally harmful to students who are facing bullying.

These 6 principles are guidelines that explain the message characteristics that will help marketers to craft a sounds digital marketing strategy. It is not required to fully achieve all of the 6 principles, but it offers you a guideline as to what will shape the structure of a clearer and stronger message.

NETWORK CHARACTERISTIC

The network characteristic explores the principle of Pareto, which says that roughly 80% of the work will be done by 20% of the participants. In the context of digital marketing, the participants are Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen.

Connectors: The ones that bring people together with each other.

Mavens: The ones that possess the knowledge and uses it to connect with others, such as shopping experts or professional reviewers.

Salesmen: The ones that engage with others and persuade them to carry out the actions that they are promoting.

These 3 participants usually have a certain motive; it could be to create connections, sharing their knowledge or convince others to carry out their desired actions, to spread the messages that they possessed. This approach adds that human touch to further bring your message or idea to your audience.

PEOPLE CHARACTERISTIC

This approach explores the concept of;

• Knowing who you are targeting; find people who are obsessed and will do anything to get it
• Sell to those people that are paying attention and listening to what you have to say
• Be remarkable – understand what everyone is doing, and try to do something different to stand out
• Figuring out who cares and focus on these people

The above pointers all have a common; the focus on your audience. This approach is a way for you to know exactly who you are targeting, how to know if you are targeting right, and how you can make sure that the people you had targeted will take notice of you when you spread your ideas to them.

One great example would be the Merdeka Story: The Soldier, showing a grandfather reminiscing the national services days with his old friend, in front of his grandson.  This campaign was meant to bring awareness to the Merdeka generation and recognized their contribution towards the nation at the nation’s young days.

 

 

The advertisement is clearly directed towards both the Merdeka generation and the younger generation, bridging both together with a common theme of National Services. Both demographics are able to relate to National Service, and successfully attracting the attention because National Service is what many regards as a turning point in the many lives of young men in Singapore, learning what it means by brotherhood and friendship. And because the ad is focusing on such a topic that is near to their hearts, it hard for them not to pay attention to it.

SO WHICH IDEA IS THE BEST APPROACH?

Before considering which approach should you use to spread an idea, you need to understand the suitability of each approach. For message characteristic, it is suitable to use this approach when you have a rich content or message to spread. For network characteristic, it is suitable if your message requires that human touch bring out that content in order to spread your idea. Lastly, for people characteristic, it revolves around the idea of knowing the audience to target and how to capture their attention.

Considering that the current popular marketing platform surrounds the digital platform, it is advisable to shift your approach towards message characteristic. This approach has a guideline of 6 principles that each serves a different purpose in strengthening the core of the message. It is true that you are not required to meet all 6 of the principles, but if you do have the capability to cover all or most of it, it can help build your idea in a way that gives a lasting impression to your target audience. And with the rising popularity of using social media as a marketing tool, the message characteristic approach will help make your idea be presented that will stand out from the rest. The approach guides you at an early stage to prepare and shape the structure of your idea so it is ready to be spread. And just like your butter, the earlier you prepare that butter by bringing it out, the easier it is to spread in on toast.

A pixel of your thoughts…

Which of the above approaches caught your eye? Or if you have any questions you would like to know what’s my opinion on it, leave it down below!

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers, there is just only personal opinions.

Thank you for reading!