The Science of Social Media How to engineer contagious ideas.

Dan Zarrella

Social Media Scientist

Unicorns and

Rainbows

Unicorns & Rainbows Myth:

Don’t call yourself a

guru.

`

Science:

Ideas do not

spread because

they are “good.”

Meme:

A unit of cultural

inheritance.

Our world

is made of

memes.

Memetics:

The study of

cultural transfer.

Variation

+ Competition

Evolution

Takeaway:

Try lots of campaigns

and iterate on what

works.

R0 Reproduction Rate (The average number of new infections a

single infection case will cause)

Selection

pressure: a factor that

reduces R0.

The variation

best suited to

pressures wins.

Longevity

Fecundity

Elephants

Fruit Flies

Longevity

Fecundity

Religions

ReTweets

Epidemic

Endemic

Die out

R0 >1

R0 =1

R0 <1

Myth:

All “viral” ideas spread

exponentially.

Seed

Spread

Reality:

Most ideas have an

R0 under 1.

If I’m going to spread

your idea 3 things have

to happen…

Exposure

Awareness

Motivation

As marketers we can

optimize for each step…

Reach Exposure

Awareness

Motivation

Seeds

•If seed = 10

•Generation 2 = 1

•Generation 3 < 1

•If seed = 100,000

•Generation 2 = 10,000

•Generation 3 = 1,000

•Generation 4 = 100

•Generation 5 = 10

•Generation 6 = 1

Let R0 = .1

Big Seeds

Takeaway:

Audience size does

matter.

Influencers

`

`

Takeaway:

Find and target your

influencers.

Attention

Exposure

Awareness

Motivation

Breaking through

the noise

`

Takeaway:

Bigger & louder

works – to a point.

Selective attention:

hearing your name across

a crowded,

noisy room.

Takeaway:

Personalize: talk to

your audience.

Avoiding crowds

`

`

`

Takeaway:

Avoid link fatigue.

Sharing

Exposure

Awareness

Motivation

Why do people share?

Performance: Social media users are always

performing in front of a crowd

of their friends.

Reputation: People share content to increase

their reputations.

Takeaway:

Help your audience

look cool.

Social exchange

“… the more valuable the sentiment or

activity the members exchange with

one another, the greater the average

frequency of interaction of the

members.”

Social Behavior as Exchange

George C. Homans

Novelty

Scarcity

Warnings

Information

voids

Takeaway:

Don’t let information

voids form.

Imitation

Social Proof

“We view a behavior as more correct…

to the degree that we see others

performing it” -Robert Cialdini

Information

cascades

A

B

? ? ? ? ?

Which restaurant would

you pick?

A

B

The goliath

effect

The villain

is wronging

the victim.

Communal

Recreation

Zombies Marketing

Me

Anytime my friends see an article

about “marketing to zombies”

they send it to me.

Takeaway:

Use combined

relevance.

What do people

share?

Gossip is just news

running ahead of itself in a

red satin dress. -Liz Smith

“…advertisements that were

both original and familiar

attracted the largest amount of

attention…” Breaking Through the Clutter: Benefits of Advertisement Originality and

Familiarity for Brand Attention and Memory

Rik Pieters, Luk Warlop and Michel Wedel 2002

New/Old

Most ReTweetable Words & Phrases

1. you

2. twitter

3. please

4. retweet

5. post

6. blog

7. social

8. free

9. media

10. help

11. please retweet

12. great

13. social media

14. 10

15. follow

16. how to

17. top

18. blog post

19. check out

20. new blog post

Takeaway:

Don’t forget calls-to-

action.

Least ReTweetable Words & Phrases

1. game

2. going

3. haha

4. lol

5. but

6. watching

7. work

8. home

9. night

10. bed

11. well

12. sleep

13. gonna

14. hey

15. tomorrow

16. tired

17. some

18. back

19. bored

20. listening

Takeaway:

Don’t talk about

yourself so much.

Dan Zarrella

@DanZarrella