Brief description

The STEPPS Framework, conceptualized by Jonah Berger in his book "Contagious: How to Build Word of Mouth in the Digital Age," is a guide for creating content or products that are more likely to become popular or go viral.

The acronym STEPPS stands for Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories. This framework helps marketers and businesses understand the key factors that make information shareable and influential in social interactions, both online and offline.

Framework Principles

The idea is to evaluate your product messaging for the below items:

1. Social Currency: People share what makes them look good. Enhance the shareability by making your product or message make people feel like insiders or in the know.

2. Triggers: Link your message or product to everyday cues and contexts that prompt people to think about your product or message.

3. Emotion: We share what we care about. Create content that evokes strong emotions, whether positive (like awe) or negative (like anger).

4. Public: Make it visible. The more public something is, the more likely people will imitate it.

5. Practical Value: People like to help others. If your message or product is useful, it's more likely to be shared.

6. Stories: People do not just share information; they tell stories. Embed your product or message in a narrative.

Practical Application

Scenario Walkthrough

A fitness app can use STEPPS by offering unique workout challenges (Social Currency), sending daily workout reminders (Triggers), sharing success stories that inspire (Emotion), making achievements shareable on social media (Public), providing useful health tips (Practical Value), and creating a storyline about a fitness journey (Stories).

Tips for Implementation

Identify the most relevant STEPPS elements for your product or service, use real-world triggers to keep your brand top of mind, and craft messages that are emotionally engaging and story-driven.

Sample companies

GoPro harnesses STEPPS by showcasing user-generated content that provides social currency, triggers adventurous feelings, evokes excitement, is visibly shared online, offers practical value in capturing moments, and tells a story of adventure.

BuzzFeed utilizes STEPPS with engaging, shareable content that often taps into social currency, is designed around common triggers (like food or nostalgia), evokes emotion, is public and practical, and often tells a relatable story.

Duolingo applies STEPPS through its language learning platform by offering a social currency of learning new languages, daily reminders as triggers, an emotional connection to the joy of learning, public sharing of progress, practical value in acquiring a new skill, and storytelling through its lessons.