Arousal: the real key behind shareable content

The key behind good marketing, especially viral? Arousal. No, not THAT kind of arousal, just arousal in general. We humans are still just animals, and when something arouses us our brain does what it can to remember that thing. If something scared or hurt you, you remember it in order to avoid it next time. When something excited you or made you feel good you remember it so you can seek it out again. Effective marketing causes arousal.

Now there is obviously more to marketing than just arousal. You want to make people excited not scared. You want to make people mad, not sad. Some of the most effective shareable content is awe inspiring content. The strategies go on and on, but at the core of all shareable content is arousal.

When a person is aroused, they are more likely to share information they wouldn’t have otherwise. Again, arousal can mean something like plain old physical activity, e.g. walking. Ever wonder why walking meetings are so effective? The act of walking causes the participants to share more with each other than they otherwise would have.

Have you ever paced while on the telephone? Started talking faster the more excited you became at the front of the conference room? Maybe you even looked back at yourself after the conversation and thought “Wow, I said that?” Humans share more information when they are aroused, and we can use this to our advantage.

By creating content that arouses a user/reader/consumer in some way, they are far more likely to share it. By presenting your content to a user while they are aroused, they will be more likely to share it. I know I find myself wanting to share quotes from audio books constantly during my workouts.

I plan to write a separate piece on why I think we share more when aroused, and how we can utilize it to our advantage for learning.