News Flash … Emotion Works!
Along with your general avalanche of year-end online fundraising messages, I hope you’re including video to sell your story. December should deliver a boatload of compelling video fundraisers to eager donors!
And in case you’re wondering what makes for a compelling video — one so impressive it will not only elicit a gift but also be widely shared by the recipient — here’s an article from the New Republic aiming to shed light.
In The Psychological Secret Behind Viral YouTube Videos we learn from Jonah Berger, a professor at Wharton and the author of the NY Times bestseller Contagious: Why Things Catch On: “Emotion is a big driver of what goes viral … “Whether something pulls on our heartstrings, makes us angry, or provokes controversy, the more we care, the more we share.”
Does this strike you as a gigantic DUH! moment?!
Actually, the article does include some interesting discussion suggesting that all emotions are not created equal when it comes to triggering sharing behavior. For example, studies are cited to indicate that positive emotions (inspiration, astonishment, and hilarity) are more triggering than negative (discomfort, boredom, and frustration). And then there are ‘high arousal’ emotions (better for triggering sharing, like anxiety and amusement) versus ‘low arousal’ emotions (sadness and contentment).
Surprise is an emotion common to highly viral videos.
Even exercise creates physiological arousal beneficial to sharing — in one study, of those who jogged in place, 75% chose to forward an article—compared to just 33% of those who sat still (consider doing your face-to-face solicitation in gyms?!).
“The more we care, the more we share.” Where would fundraisers be without the research community?!
Tom
P.S. I haven’t read Contagious, so I can’t vouch for whether Professor Berger has heaps of lab studies to back up his radical conclusion about the power of emotion. But generally I’m a sucker for titles like that, so perhaps I’ll have a read over the holidays.
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