Lets throwback to the year 2014. Remember scrolling through your news feed and seeing people pouring buckets of ice water on themselves? Yes, my friend, that was the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. A campaign that aimed to raised awareness of ALS received $98.2 million from donation just from 29 July to 28 August, 2014.
But the question is, how did this campaign successfully go viral compared to other ordinary campaigns? If we were to be scientific about this, the Ice Bucket Challenge had followed the principle of contagious. That is, it involves people sharing the campaign to restore faith in humanity, a roller-coaster of emotions, an essence of social pressure and cue the sad backstory behind ALS. Not to mention that noticeable influencers including Justin Bieber, Bill Gates and Kim Kardashian are just some whom had participated in the challenge. And if you know that Kim is doing it, then the whole world is bound to follow. A formula for success which worked for the non-profit organisation.
With the social pressure of being nominated and not donating, comes the fun and engaging poke between friends within the community. The campaign was different, fun and a subtle way of harassment between internet users.
So pouring buckets of water down someone is the key to being viral? If we take the #LikeAGirl campaign by Always which went viral (focusing on empowering adolescent girls) we see a key similarity between the two hit campaigns. Social currency.
Not all campaigns can achieve such results and most of the time, it will be hard to predict the reaction of the public. But what we can gain from this is that social purpose not only makes a difference to the world itself, but to the likelihood of trendiness.
To leave on that note, what other factors do you think come to play in spreading ideas? Be a good human-being and donate a comment below.
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Hey Carmen,
Wow – a fantastic article and examples of viral marketing successes. Your post really reiterated the importance of Berger’s six STEPPS theory, and have explained this in a manner that is totally understandable.
I totally agree that Social Currency plays a significant role in the success of a viral marketing campaign. I also believe that the third STEPPS ‘Emotion’ is also a large factor contributing to success in campaigns that intend to raise awareness and donations – when we care, we share.
Although not all six STEPPS may be needed in order to create a successful campaign, I’d love to hear what STEPPS you think are almost non-negotiable in developing of campaign for a new product about to enter the market.
Cheers Brodie!
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Hey Brodie,
I definitely agree that the third STEPPS, Emotion, is a massive contributor to spreading ideas. As many say, ”actions speaks louder than words”, so if a campaign can make someone feel the need to act a certain way (whether it be sharing or liking), then it’s undeniable that a play on our emotions is a really key factor.
I think the ‘Public’ factor from Berger’s six STEPPS theory also highly contributes to a success of a campaign. When developing a campaign, I feel there should be a need for it to be public-friendly since it’s a human tendency to conform to social norms. In a day and age where many are influenced upon public figures and celebrities- it would be beneficial if campaigns can somehow be supported by these figures, whether it be sponsored or by the good-hearted of themselves, as they have a massive following of people.
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Really like your words for this. I must say I did think the ice bucket challenge was just a viral video that you tag your friends in to follow your steps with the challenge. It was really more of a social community act in my eyes. I had thought people who were doing this had disregarded the donations but I’m so glad to read that people did contribute to this and it was worth it and not just another viral on social media.
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Indeed. That’s the beauty of viral marketing. Not only can you reach out your message to everyone instantly but you can also bring together the community. If it weren’t for the ice bucket challenge, not many would had been aware of ALS and not many would had donated to the association. Thankfully the campaign was a success and contributed for the better of society, with the donations used to fund for future research on ALS.
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Hi Carmen!
I think that the principle of contagious is vitally important for a campaign to go viral, especially if it is one that pulls on the heartstrings such as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was. It is definitely, like you said, sometimes hard to get a reaction from the general public but when you add social currency in people start to value what these campaigns really do and what they help to achieve. It is crazy how successful the ALS marketing campaign was! Emotion (the third STEPPS) is also a large contributing factor to ensure the campaign raises awareness nationally, if not globally.
How good is viral marketing !
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Thanks for the comment!
I agree, social currency and emotion both can really influence the likelihood of virality of a campaign. Some can share about the campaign if it hits them with the feels, or some can raise the awareness of it to be positively perceived as a good person. Either way, it’s interesting how both strategies can be well received globally 🙂
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