Epiphany's Little Book of Ideas: Why Do People Share?
In the second excerpt from Epiphany’s Little Book of Ideas, published in association with The Drum last week, Epiphany's marketing director Tom Salmon explores why understanding the characteristics of play can help you to see why people share your brand content.
Why do some ideas get talked about and shared while others attract little social attention? It’s because we take decisions about what we share seriously.
Scot Osterweil’s work on the characteristics of play provide a good checklist for digital marketers to consider whether people are likely to share their content or stories.
He suggests that play is characterised by:
• Freedom to imagine new things
• Freedom to try an identity
• Freedom of effort (you get to decide how much effort you put in)
• Freedom to fail (because it’s safe)
These ideas describe some of the characteristics of good content. We share inspirational stories that help us to imagine new things. We share content that fits with our online identity. We decide which content is worth the effort of sharing.
But it’s the point on ‘freedom to fail’ that is the most interesting.
Participation in viral activity is often seen as playful, but in truth it is not. We’re not free to fail. The risks of sharing content that doesn’t fit our identity are too great. Of course, the definition of what constitutes ‘risk’ will vary from person to person.
It’s a reminder of the importance of creating the right digital content for your brands’ audiences, especially if you’d like them to share it.
Think about it…
• What is the most shared story from your brand?
• Was it even about your brand?
• Why did people share it?
Share your views #littleorangebook
About Epiphany’s Little Book of Ideas
The Little Book of Ideas is a collection of 20 of the most powerful ideas on marketing and strategic thinking, published by Epiphany in association with The Drum on 5th March 2014. Each idea was handpicked by Epiphany’s Tom Salmon and Dr David Mihell because of its potential to produce better marketing. To shape strategy. To create change. To build more successful brands. Complete with models, exercises and tips, it’s designed as a practical companion for marketers and strategists to use whenever they need inspiration or help addressing their most fundamental marketing challenges. Subscribers of The Drum received the book on 5th March. It is also available from www.epiphanysearch.co.uk.
Get in touch with Epiphany at info@epiphanysearch.co.uk if you’d like to know more.