LiSeven Marketing & Communications

People like to share content they found interesting online. They share funny Youtube clips, informative scientific articles, angry news, or exciting deals. What are the commonalities among these viral pieces of content? Will informative content is less likely to be shared than emotional content? How does viral content affect brand evaluation and brand-related outcomes such as engagement and purchase intention? You will find all the answers here.

Let’s first start with the question “Why do people share?”

Extant research on online content virality has found that there are three broad categories explaining why people share: (1) self-serving, (2) social, and (3) altruistic motivations (Tellis et al., 2019).

Now we are aware of the motivations behind individuals’ sharing behavior, our next question is what content provokes these drivers. My guess is that emotional-focused content with humor or excitement may work out the best. Well, it turns out that what researchers found is more complicated (as usually). Here, I will summarise some key findings that I believe that any marketers can leverage on their social media content strategy.

Finding 1. Information-focused content can still drive social sharing, especially when involving new products/services with high perceived risk

Spotify released personal playlists for premium users to look back on not just the past year, but also the past decade in music (new feature).  Nike introduces its new Ultimate Sneakerhunt, a collaborative campaign between Nike Air Max and Fotnite.

In a research on hundreds of real online ads, Akpinar and Berger (2017) posit that informative appeals which focus on product features have lower sharing outcomes. This similar finding is also found in Tellis et al. (2019)’s research on online video ads sharing. It reports that the use of argument and factual descriptions in information-focused clips makes the ads dry and challenging to catch viewers’ attention.

However, informative ads still have their compelling strengths that we shouldn’t ignore. They boost brand evaluations and purchases because the brand is an integral part of the content (Akpinar & Berger, 2017). In the context of new products/services, information-focused ads indeed facilitate social sharing, possibly because the information about these new products appears to be novel and valuable to recipients, making the sharers look good.

Finding 2. Not all positive/negative emotion-focused content can drive sharing, and positive content is more viral than negative content.

By associating its brand with a prominent athlete, Nike aims to inspire and motivate their audience, while also benefiting from the potential virality that such content can generate. By juxtaposing a powerful image with a positive message, the CMHA aims to evoke a strong emotional response from viewers. The statement “Attitude matters” likely seeks to activate and engage the audience, encouraging them to share the post to spread awareness and promote positive mental health

Overall, people tend to share more positive content online than negative content. It makes sense because we all have a tendency to drive ourselves toward positivity and away from negativity. Especially in the social media usage context where people use social media mainly for entertainment, they are more likely to be attracted by positive emotional content, those that are aligned with their personal preferences, mood, or attitudes.

In a study on online digital content, the authors find that ads that evoke inspiration, warmth, amusement, and excitement are most likely to be shared (Tellis et al., 2019). Further, this study measures how different ad characteristics arouse positive emotions. In detail, dramatization has a significant positive effect on emotions including inspiration, warmth, and amusement. The use of Surprise leads to significantly higher amusement. The use of celebrities significantly increases the emotions of excitement and inspiration. while the use of endearing sources like babies and animals effectively stimulates the emotions of inspiration, warmth, and amusement. Last but not least, sharing is greatest when ad length is moderate (1.2 to 1.7 minutes) (Tellis et al., 2019).

Nevertheless, this piece of finding still cannot encapsulate the virality of such social media movements as the #Metoo movement or #BlackLivesMatter. To explain these phenomena, here comes the concept of specific emotions. This realm deconstructs emotions into several information-rich dimensions to identify other essential differences among emotions apart from just valence (i.e., positive versus negative) (Smith & Ellsworth, 1985). Using a unique dataset of all the New York Times articles published over a three-month period, Berger & Milkman postulate that content with high-arousal emotional (i.e., awe, anger, and anxiety) appeals, regardless of their valence, is more likely to become viral as people prefer to share around. The authors explain that these high-arousal emotions induce high activation level. This high activation level then encourages the focal individuals to react quickly as they believe that their behaviors can change/fix the situation (Smith & Ellsworth, 1985). Likewise, in Berger & Milkman’s study (2012), the results also indicate that people tend to share an advertisement when it evoked more amusement and share a customer service experience when it evoked more anger.

Finding 3. Viral content is considered ineffective (i.e., not driving positive brand evaluation or sales) when it cannot make the brand an integral part of its content

Lego’s utilization of the image of Le Mans racing and the promotion of its brand through a life-sized LEGO Technic Peugeot car is an effective strategy to target viewers who are both racing enthusiasts and fans of Lego. The use of emotionally resonant words and imagery helps Dove establish a strong brand presence while conveying a powerful message.

We sometimes overlook the fact that virality also means sacrificing advertising effectiveness. Generally, research has found that for every million views a video ad achieves, ad persuasiveness decreases by 10% (Tucker, 2015). One of the most highly shared ads, Evian’s Roller Babies, received more than 55 million views but had little impact on sales (O’Leary, 2010).

Is it true that brands must sacrifice their presence to increase virality? Which is the way to create “valuable virality“? – that is, ads that people will share and believe in its brand value at the same time?

The answer lies in the concept of brand integralness, that is how the brand plays its role in its advertisement story. Generally, advertisers may avoid making the brand integral part of the ad because they concern that brand presence will make people acknowledge the selling intention of the brand and thus choose not to share. In a field observation of 240 viral ads, the finding also indicates that companies tend to trade-off between creating emotional ads and making the brand an integral part of the ad content (Akpinar & Berger, 2017).

However, the study conducted by Akpinar and Berger (2017) supports the notion that brand integralness can enhance brand evaluation while achieving a similar number of shares compared to pure emotional nonintegral advertisements. In their experiments, the researchers investigated sharing and brand-related outcomes across three types of ad content: (1) emotional integral ads, where the brand is an integral part of the narrative, (2) emotional nonintegral ads, where the brand is absent from the story, and (3) informative ads.(see below image)

Overall, this study confirms that purely emotional ads have the potential to encourage sharing among viewers. However, they may not be as effective in generating brand evaluation and purchase likelihood compared to informative content. On the other hand, emotional integral ads, which combine both informative and emotional elements, offer the benefits of both approaches. They feature the brand playing a central role in the ad’s story, thereby enhancing brand evaluation. Additionally, they leverage emotional appeal to motivate people to share the content.

Final remark:

Indeed, different desired goals will require different content strategies. While sharing is an important indicator of brand awareness, marketers should always keep their end goals in mind. Ultimately, companies aim to increase sales and enhance their brand value. Therefore, creating viral content should not be a trade-off between emotional appeal and brand integralness. Instead, marketers should strive for a balanced approach that incorporates emotional appeal while naturally infusing their brand into the ad stories. That approach is called valuable virality.

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Reference list

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