How to create a popular product that goes viral?

Being popular and a hit is what every product aspires to achieve. If a product can be widely disseminated, trigger heated discussions, and eventually form a brand-like effect, then its prospects are bright.

However, it is actually not that easy to achieve this effect. I have seen many products, both content and physical, with very good quality and outstanding product managers behind them, but after they are made, they remain unknown and few people are interested in them, making it difficult for them to become popular within a certain range.

When we observe those products that have been proven by the market, it is not difficult to find that these products have at least achieved high-density dissemination and popularity among specific groups of people at a specific time. For example, the once popular photo-taking app "Footprints" and the now popular fitness app "Keep", these products are phenomenal in the eyes of their users. In the process of using the products, users have gained great enjoyment and a sense of accomplishment, and are happy to share them, ultimately creating the so-called best-sellers.

So how do they do it? Are there any experiences or methods worth learning from?

1. Help users build a sense of superiority and give products social attributes

If any product or thing wants to become popular in the mobile Internet era, it must have social attributes. We often say that products in this era must not only have practical value, but also social value. Only when users are willing to comment on the product and share it on their Moments can a scale effect be achieved. The value of this social attribute comes from stimulating the user's sense of psychological superiority. In short, after using the product, people will have a sense of accomplishment in their social circles, which can be used to establish their own tastes.

For example, Douban is an application with a strong literary and artistic atmosphere. When using Douban, users will unconsciously associate themselves with the identity of literary youth. The subsequent sharing will emphasize their literary youth attributes again and again. The long-term and high-frequency display of this external label has greatly stimulated the user's sense of superiority.

Another example is Zhihu. Users' use of Zhihu, to a certain extent, represents their thirst for knowledge and curiosity about the world, which is a very active and positive image. In order to continue to maintain this image, users will more frequently and proactively spread the information "I am using Zhihu". Through repeated sharing in the social dimension, Zhihu's brand effect is greatly enhanced.

If you want your product to become popular, you must first focus on its social attributes.

2. Be good at using the external environment to cleverly stimulate users' desire to use

Sometimes, user behavior is actually influenced by the external environment and occurs unconsciously . As entrepreneurs , we must be good at capturing this influence and making good use of it to guide user behavior .

During the World Cup, beer sales will be very good. Users at this time do not suddenly and actively buy a large amount of beer, but are unconsciously influenced by this atmosphere and buy beer.

The same is true for roses and chocolates on Valentine's Day, carnations on Mother's Day, and razors on Father's Day. Specific environments and specific time points will deeply influence users' purchasing behavior. If you are good at discovering and using them skillfully, you can reap good results.

Supermarkets always play festive songs during the Chinese New Year, and the store environment is decorated in a festive manner, allowing customers to directly feel the festive atmosphere. Customers will unconsciously become more impulsive in their consumption at this time than before.

The company that has done the most in this regard is Alibaba . Double Eleven was originally a day without any special meaning. It was neither a festival nor a commemorative day. It just looked very distinctive in appearance after being written in Arabic numerals. But the Alibaba team at that time created a festival on this day. At the beginning, they used the Guanghun Festival to attract attention, and later this day became a national shopping festival.

For experts, even if there is no very suitable external environment, they will not be discouraged, but will take the initiative to create a suitable environment to stimulate users' desire to buy.

3. Start from people’s psychology and use the energy of emotions

Some emotions are very strong, such as anger, excitement, and agitation. If you can make good use of these emotions and let users' usage and purchasing behaviors be immersed in these emotions, it will be very beneficial to the popularity of the product.

Many singers in talent shows always like to tell stories in front of the judges. The core of these stories are all similar, expressing emotions such as dreams, filial piety, optimism, etc. Although the stories are old-fashioned, the effects are not outdated at all. The judges and the audience will unconsciously immerse themselves in these emotions and inadvertently make judgments in favor of the contestants.

When people mention folk songs, they think of sentiment; when people mention rock music, they think of freedom and unrestrainedness; when people mention jazz, they think of elegance and calmness. These emotions are relatively fixed and have their own routines. Repackaging these emotions in novel ways with ease will naturally arouse the greatest resonance. The so-called new wine in old bottles is the best explanation.

For example, the “Escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou” campaign that once swept the circle of friends fully targeted the pressure people felt from living in big cities and the negative emotions under this pressure. It conducted a collective catharsis and packaged it in an emotional way. As a result, many people participated in this marketing campaign in a very short period of time, and it easily attracted a lot of attention.

Only by being good at utilizing emotions that are representative enough and matching them with your own products can you create your own hit product.

4. Expand the space for discussion

A product's discussion space, that is, its topicality, must be large enough to be discussed by people on public platforms . For example, the MIX mobile phone recently launched by Xiaomi cleverly used the method of taking photos to spread its marketing on social platforms such as Weibo. When users use this full-screen mobile phone and take photos in a specific way, it will present an effect of "the mobile phone is transparent". Many celebrities have participated in it, taking their own photos, and spreading them wildly on major social platforms, attracting a lot of attention in a very short period of time, which played a big role in re-establishing the technological attributes of the Xiaomi mobile phone brand.

If the concept of full screen is simply presented, and the focus of promotion is on how high-tech the full screen is, what hard work the scientific researchers have put in behind the scenes, and what new technological elements have been added, users will also pay attention, but there will be little room for discussion.

On the contrary, using a photo that looks incredible, and is taken by the user himself rather than by Xiaomi officials, can arouse the user's curiosity and sense of participation to the greatest extent, thereby creating a topic trigger.

When promoting products, we should avoid using brute force or promoting them vigorously without any support. Instead, we should use cleverness and achieve great results with little effort. By expanding the space for discussion, we can attract users' attention and participation, and let users take the initiative to help you spread the word.

5. Spread the word through stories

Compared with blunt advertisements, vivid stories are more likely to be spread by word of mouth. In order to promote its own properties, Vanke told many stories. For example, an owner returned home late at night and forgot to close the car window due to negligence. The property staff was worried about disturbing the user's rest, so they waited by the side and did not knock on the door to inform them until the next day.

If we simply emphasize how professional Vanke's property management is, how much experience it has, and how qualified the operation team behind it is, it will be difficult to attract people's attention. However, if we inject storytelling elements, the communication will become very natural and efficient.

Nongfu Spring’s latest advertisements are all based on the work experiences of ordinary employees at Nongfu Spring. In the commercials, we can see, just like watching a movie , that in order to obtain high-quality water, these employees travel through mountains and rivers, go to very remote places, work tirelessly and persist all year round. It is easy for us to remember such stories and spread them unconsciously. Therefore, Nongfu Spring has added a layer of emotion to the product dimension of mineral water, making the cold water warm.

It is not that difficult to make a product popular and become a hit. The key is to start with social attributes, utilize people's emotions, expand the space for discussion, and spread it in the form of stories. The key to creating a hit product is to find the fuse that detonates it and ignite it, so that linear communication can be upgraded to a network, thereby attracting a lot of attention in a short period of time.

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

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