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In late 2017, WeChat launched its mini-game platform, and the game "Jump" instantly became a phenomenon. Though there were many other WeChat mini-games and mobile games available at the time, none could match Jump's popularity—it essentially became China's national game. This led me to wonder: why do some products, ideas, and behaviors become wildly popular while others remain obscure?
While factors like product quality, price, and advertising partly explain popularity, they don't tell the whole story. I recently read "Contagious" (2014), which examines successful marketing behaviors. The author argues that social influence, primarily through word-of-mouth communication (or iWOM, as I've known it in my five years of experience), is the key to products, ideas, and behaviors becoming popular. People naturally share interesting stories and novel information with friends. Word-of-mouth plays a vital role in information spread and has become central to creating popular trends. The key is finding the right word-of-mouth strategy for each consumer group.
The book outlines six STEPPS principles that make things go viral: Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public visibility, Practical Value, and Stories. It explains each principle through detailed examples.
The concept of social currency introduces a fresh perspective that differs from traditional viral and word-of-mouth marketing theories.
📝 Going Viral: How Products, Ideas, and Behaviors Spread Like Wildfire
Minting Social Currency
We share things that make us look better
The free expression and disclosure of information is an inherent reward for oneself.
People eagerly share products, ideas, or experiences that enhance their image, making them appear more sophisticated or distinguished. This drives the success of social media and networks. These shareable elements become social currency—just as we use money to buy goods, we use social currency to earn praise from family, friends, and colleagues, building a positive reputation. Though "showing off" has become an internet buzzword, it reflects a fundamental human desire to display and tag our experiences.
There are several effective ways to mint social currency.
First is creating extraordinary appeal—making products, ideas, or services more interesting, novel, and engaging. This often involves breaking conventions or creating mystery and controversy. I've implemented such marketing strategies myself through embedded messaging, suspense building, and controversy generation.
Second is leveraging game mechanics. Games help us gain social recognition and a sense of superiority. Well-designed reward systems and displayable achievements create addictive experiences that naturally encourage word-of-mouth sharing. The Keep fitness app's medal system is a real-world example of this.
Third is creating social competitions where people share their product experiences on social media as part of a contest. Likes become votes, sometimes even determining champions.
Word-of-mouth can grow organically through voting processes. The desire to win fashion trend contests motivates participants to promote themselves to friends for support. This voluntary promotion of company products and ideas differs from direct advertising because it gives promoters a sense of achievement in competition.
Fourth is creating a sense of belonging. Whether a product is trendy or basic, creating scarcity and making customers feel special encourages them to share with their social circles to demonstrate their privileged status. Mi's smartphone hunger marketing exemplifies this approach.
Fifth is activating internal motivation to encourage organic word-of-mouth sharing. A key consideration is avoiding monetary rewards, as they can diminish intrinsic motivation. This relates to the subsidy wars between Chinese Fast Rider and Didi Rider—when monetary incentives determine customer choice between products, it exceeds marketing and becomes market manipulation.
The final approach is the "please don't spread this" secret membership model. Limiting access and availability not only creates scarcity but gives owners something to showcase. It can manage customer expectations and maintain satisfaction. This reminds me of a local bacon shop that's operated for 20 years. It opens at 4 PM and sells out by 6 PM, forcing neighbors to queue from 3 PM. Though the shop offers various items, each type is limited to fewer than ten pieces. The owner often says, "We're sold out—would you like something else? There's one piece left. Otherwise, come early tomorrow."
Triggers: The Foundation of Word-of-Mouth and Popularity
Top-of-mind means tip of tongue
Trigger frequency must match intensity for optimal effect. Effective triggers activate emotions and behaviors, encouraging continued word-of-mouth sharing. By connecting triggers to word-of-mouth communication and considering environmental factors like timing and location, we can significantly impact sharing effectiveness. We must distinguish between immediate and sustained word-of-mouth, both fundamentally tied to product usage frequency. Immediate sharing needs triggering, while sustained sharing develops through repeated exposure—quantity transforms into quality.
While I haven't found current examples of the book's supermarket music-sales correlation, Andy Lau's "Gong Xi Fa Cai" during Chinese New Year demonstrates how seasonal music can boost holiday shopping. Setting the right scene is crucial for effective triggers.
This section's concept is more about connection than incentive. The Mars Chocolate example shows how clever wordplay, name associations, and related events can increase attention and drive promotion.
High-Arousal Emotions Drive Sharing
When we care, we share
High-arousal emotions include both positive and negative feelings, plus awe. Positive emotions like humor and excitement, negative emotions like anger and anxiety, all trigger sharing. However, low-arousal emotions like contentment or sadness don't prompt sharing behavior. Awe stands apart as a unique high-arousal emotion.
Negative emotion appeals work well with patriotic, disaster, and cause marketing. I've managed a Hope Elementary School brand charity campaign where product purchases triggered donations, which typically yields strong results.
Positive emotion campaigns, including trending search ads and celebrity promotions, have been remarkably successful in my experience. The hourly gross merchandise value can surge to 100,000 times daily sales, even breaking Tmall's live sales records.
Public Visibility Accelerates Word-of-Mouth
Build visible and positive things
Visibility means making things easily observable, encouraging imitation and sharing. When something is naturally visible to others, it sparks imitation and speeds up spreading. Visibility is crucial for product and idea popularity because observable things are easier to discuss publicly. The more visible something is, the more likely people are to talk about it and make purchase decisions.
The book discusses yellow wristbands and voting posts to illustrate public visibility, similar to promotional shopping bags, carts, and brand logos. Multiple distinct customer touchpoints drive purchasing decisions. In a personal example, I worked on an advertising campaign for a consumer goods brand where we reached the same audience through different apps, times, and ad formats to boost overall sales. However, measuring effectiveness proved challenging—orders through single-platform links didn't correlate directly with platform ad spend. Customers often saw ads on multiple platforms before purchasing directly or through subsequent ad exposure.
The book specifically cautions about public service advertising, noting how incorrect messaging can misplace emphasis.
Practical Information Speeds Up Sharing
If it's useful, people can't help sharing it
The book describes how a blogger's life-hack video went viral, demonstrating that practical information spreads quickly because people want to help others by sharing useful content.
While the book assumes most viral videos target youth, I've noticed Bilibili's shift toward longer, in-depth content aimed at viewers over 25. Though I lack supporting data, I believe this older demographic has greater spending power, making them valuable customers. Platform evaluation should consider future commercial value, user profiles, and purchasing power alongside active user numbers.
Additionally, Douyin's emergence has established 15-second videos as a distinct category. Short, medium, and long-form videos are becoming three separate tracks.
Regarding practical information, peer-to-peer sharing proves more effective than top-down instruction. However, fresh content requires stable market demand and platform incentives—without these, breakthrough creators become rare.
Stories Pack Surprising Marketing Power
Information sharing disguised as casual conversation
Stories remain one of humanity's oldest forms of entertainment. Despite countless modern diversions, our love for storytelling endures. Stories naturally convey messages, with lessons embedded in myths, fables, and legends. Like blood carrying nutrients through vessels, stories efficiently transport information between people. A compelling narrative can attract attention and customers without explicit promotion, driving ongoing consumption. Stories efficiently deliver essential information in memorable ways. When brands or products integrate with stories, the narrative power becomes crucial—people can't discuss the story without mentioning the product.
The book describes a customer service case where a complaint about a defective product led to an immediate replacement, creating a positive shopping experience that customers eagerly shared. This demonstrates how stories can simultaneously convey information, shape brand image, and boost sales. I often note that truly difficult customers are rare. In today's oversupplied market, brands might benefit from increasing service investment, which can significantly reduce inventory costs, customer service staffing, and marketing expenses.
Returning to Jump's viral success, it leveraged social currency, triggers, public visibility, and emotion. The game struck an ideal balance between accessibility and challenge. My current small game project may struggle to generate similar social currency impact. Given uncertain mini-game prospects, we must focus on input-output efficiency.
Recommended Reading
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by brothers Chip and Dan Heath
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
