The first time you do something it’s hard. The second and third time it gets easier.
The problem is as you repeat something the effectiveness wears off.
The first time someone does something remarkable everyone talks about it, the second time a little bit and the third time so so.
Really it is a race to be first. The cool thing is that anybody can be first at something. And that is remarkable.
Easy – remember the adage that 64 people hear about a bad experience.
If you can go to the exact opposite emotive state but through a positive experience. You are going to cut through the clutter to the same amount of people.
An example would be the Burger King Flame, $3.99 for a Whopper smelling perfume. Sold out instantly. Remarkable enough to cut the clutter.
So remember this, you are looking to leverage word of mouth to get this spread. Each and every person has the potential to spread it indirectly to 64 people. Now that’s why word of mouth can spread like fire.
Viral activities are a dime a dozen. Everyone giving it a go. And that is great because they longer they keep at it the better they will get.
Often you will see a somewhat lame initiative go viral, or at least succeed in your perspective, you think hey i had a better idea.
But guess what?
They have much more momentum. When Nike or Skittles does something cool, it is more likely to spread due to their momentum.
If I announce a project it has a higher chance of spreading than a blogger just starting out even if it is the same initiative.
Viral success = Momentum + Remarkability
If you don’t have momentum you need to really push the remarkability side. You need to be doubly, triply, quadruply remarkable.
So don’t be disheartened if you haven’t had success the first time, keep giving it a go and remember the formula.
Why do people keep coming back for more on Twitter? Blogs? Podcasts?
It is like a drug, getting great content is like the mouse in the cocaine experiment, he can press a lever for a pellet of cocaine or sugar. Inevitably he keeps pressing cocaine, as he likes the feeling.
I have absolutely no scientific proof but I suspect that is why once your in, your in.
You keep coming back to twitter for the great content & people you meet, the same with your favourite blogs they write in a fashion you understand, is relevant and what you demand. Podcasts the same.
You keep chasing that experience….
Browsing a book shop over the holidays I was scanning the business section.
Now as a bit of a side note, I don’t read any old book, I like to limit the ‘content’ that I engage with so purchase books that others have read and recommended.
And I thought about all the rubbish books there must be.
Think about it.
How does a book come to be?
You merely have to be a) good enough b) persevere through the process.
The publishers have the distribution, editors, marketing materials. If you can get through that process wham your book is out.
However with self publishing I think books are going to emulate whats happened with music.
As the number of books released each year soars, the talent pool is going to increase, and the ‘average’ books just aren’t going to sell. As everyone will buy the remarkable books within their interest. The long tail is only going to grow.
Never been a better time to be remarkable huh?
I wonder what publishers are doing to be proactive.