I’m very much intrigued by the idea of propagation planning.
Propagation planning challenges marketers to:
“Plan not for the people you reach, but the people that they reach”
Opportunities for marketing success with digital media have moved beyond hyper-targeting and increases in click through rates. In today’s connected world we have the opportunity to create custom content that is designed to spread.
As spreadable digital content becomes water cooler fodder, seeding and creating this type of content becomes paramount for brands. Propagation planning is an intoxicating idea, but how can a brand work to make sure that their content is shared? Successful propagation planning is about understanding why people share, the nuances of different networks, and keen observation of online behavior.
Let’s analyze the top viewed and shared items from Buzzfeed, the New York Times, NYMagazine, Reddit, and Huffington Post.
Where the data came from:
- The top 20 most “viral” content on Buzzfeed
- NYTimes most emailed
- NYMag– most emailed — on front page.
I chose these sites fairly selfishly, as these are sites that I visit regularly to quickly understand what people like me are talking about online.
Categorization:
Posts were categorized based on their site, the type of content, the type of media, and why people would share.
After recognizing patterns among the initial content, I grouped them into 5 content types (With an example for each):
1) Celebrity
“The 21 best pictures of Luke Perry at DragonCon” — (BuzzFeed).
2) Internet/Nerd/Computer Culture
“How to sum up the Star Wars prequels in one .gif” — (Reddit).
3) News/Current Events/ Time Sensitive Opinion
“Maureen Dowd: Supremely Bad Judgment” — (NYTimes)
4) Humor/Snark
“So, Actually, The World Might Not End in 2012″ — (NYMag)
5) Shock/Awe
“Photos: Oversized Animals” — (HuffPo)
Obviously, this categorization is highly subjective, but I do think it helps shed some light on content that successfully propagates around the web.
Observations:
Across the four sites, and 47 posts, the News/Current Event/Opinion content type was the most common. 30% of posts were news, time sensitive opinion, and current event posts. However, this was largely driven by the inclusion of the NYTimes and Huffington Post. Moreover, the data was pulled on Sunday, where the well known opinion writers of the New York Times are prominently featured which may have skewed the data.
If we remove the Huffington Post and New York Times from the data set, we find that News/Current Events/Opinion category dwindles to just one post, and the internet/nerd/computer culture category remains the same. Out of the 30 posts from Buzzfeed, NyMag and Reddit, 37% of posts fall into the internet/nerd/computer culture category.
These findings illustrate, not surprisingly, that the most spreadable stories on the Huffington Post and NYTmes are tied directly to current events and news-worthy items. Much of the New York Times content that is shared the most is driven by their big names — Maureen Dowd, Nicholas Kristof, Paul Krugman etc.
The most spreadable items on Buzzfeed tend to be driven by a combination of humor, popular culture and examples of the collision between internet and popular culture. Reddit success is generally dominated by meme generation and technological observation that speaks to a shared nerd culture. NYMag success is driven by local pride, almost always focused on Brooklyn, and a sarcastic or snarky approach to newsworthy items. There is absolutely overlap between all of these sites, but by attempting to understand the differences rather than similarities we can better identify what makes each site unique.
Now that we understand the types of content that succeed on these various sites, a second question remains. Why do people share these stories?
When I placed each story into the spreadsheet, I included a column called “Why someone would share” — This is a tag cloud of the most common words used in that description:
From this Wordcloud, we can see that the content analyzed would commonly inspire these sharing motivations:
1) Making someone laugh.
2) Shock someone.
3) Reinforce or challenge a political viewpoint.
4) Reinforce or challenge a cultural viewpoint.
5) Show knowledge of the internet and/or popular culture.
When we think about what it means to share a piece of content, and how it impacts the identity of a web user, we are more likely to find the types of content that will propagate.
Takeaways
1. Understand the Nuances of Different Content Publishing Sites, and Tailor Your Content Accordingly.
2. When It Comes to the Web, Most Viewed and Most Shared Are Not Synonymous.
- Sharing is a public act that impacts user identity, while viewing is understood as private.
3. Images and Video are Helpful To Ensure That Your Content Spreads.
- If the goal of sharing content is to inspire awe, make someone laugh, or illustrate your “interesting-ness” visuals are a powerful way to make an impression.
Opportunities for Brands:
1. Reacting in near real time to cultural events.
- While engaging with your customers is still important, why not be proactive? Understand the types of content they are viewing and sharing on the web and be part of that conversation, rather than solely talking about your own products.
- Example: Sesame Street, “Smell Like A Monster:
This Old Spice spoof successfully targeted millennial mothers by referencing a cultural phenomenon. Sesame street continues to stay relevant through seeding digital content.
2. Seed content, and understand what sharing that content says about the propagator:
- Example: DonQ Lady Data On Buzzfeed:
This content fits in well with the top content on Buzzfeed, and motivations for sharing the DonQ LadyData match up with the motivations for sharing from the Buzzfeed site — It reflects an knowledge of the internet and popular culture, and, most of all, that a user can identify funny stuff on the internet before the masses.
3. Create richer understanding for your customers through data sharing and visualizations:
- Frito Lay Chip Tracker:
This combination of transparency, personalization, and data sharing provides the opportunity for a unique consumer experience that begs to be shared.
It is fantastic that brands are actively monitoring and engaging with their customer base, but a richer understanding of the web, and online sharing allows for more effective content planning — Where brands can be proactive in seeding spreadable content, rather than merely reacting to consumers.
What are some challenges with propagation planning? Can all brands use this to their advantage?
To read more on propagation planning head here.
What culturally relevant, interesting, and site specific content are you creating at the speed of the web today?
