Contagious: Triggers

Key Points: 

• Marketing is about spreading love. Interesting products get talked about more than boring ones. Products can be interesting because they're novel, exciting, or confound expectations in some way. 
• As we discussed in the Social Currency chapter when we talk to others, we're not only communicating information; we're also saying something about ourselves.

Word Of Mouth:

Some word of mouth is immediate, while some are ongoing.

• Immediate Word of Mouth
• Occurs when you pass on the details of an experience, or share new information you've acquired, soon after it occurs.
• Ongoing Word of Mouth
• Covers the conversations you have in the weeks and months that follow. The movies you last month or the vacation you took last year. 

Both types of word of mouth are valuable, but certain types are more important for certain products or ideas. But stimuli in the surrounding environment can also determine which thoughts and ideas are top of mind. Sights, smells, and sounds can trigger related thoughts and ideas, making them more top of mind. 

Triggers:

• Triggers can be indirect. Seeing a jar of peanut butter not only triggers us to think about peanut butter, it also makes us think about its frequent partner, jelly. Triggers are like little environmental reminders for related concepts and ideas. 
• So rather than just going for a catchy message, consider the context. Think about whether the message will be triggered by the everyday environments of the target audience.  
• The more the desired behavior happens after a delay, the more important being triggered becomes.

To use an analogy, think of most rock bands. Social Currency is the front man or women. It's exciting, fun, and gets lots of attention. Triggers could be the drummer or bassist. It's not as sexy a concept as Social Currency, but it's an important workhorse that gets the job done. 

The more something is triggered, the more it will be top of mind, and the more successful it will become. Triggers and cues lead people to talk, choose, and use. Social currency gets people talking, but Triggers keep them talking.