Editing Viral marketing (section)

== Psychology ==
To form deeper connections with viewers and increase the chances of virality, many marketers use psychological principles. They argue that this approach is scientific and can foster an environment where the odds of gaining traction are much higher. <ref name="Gregoire">{{Cite web |last=Gregoire |first=Renae |title=Viral Marketing Moments: How To Create Irresistibly Shareable Content |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/renaegregoire/2024/10/10/viral-marketing-moments-how-to-create-irresistibly-shareable-content/ |access-date=2025-02-27 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>

People find psychological safety and can develop a sense of trust when more people interact with online content. For this reason, marketers work to develop media that resonates with viewers on a deeper, emotional level as this approach frequently results in higher engagement. This level of interaction serves as a sign of approval, reducing the personal risk that is subconsciously linked to associating oneself with a company or brand’s content.<ref name="Poston">{{Cite web |last=Poston |first=Leslie |title=Council Post: Decoding Social Proof In Consumer Psychology |url=https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbescommunicationscouncil/2024/05/09/decoding-social-proof-in-consumer-psychology/ |access-date=2025-02-27 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>

Professor [[Jonah Berger]] at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business affirms that marketing campaigns that trigger psychological responses linked to strong emotions tend to perform better. In particular, Berger found that positive emotions like happiness, joy, and excitement have more successful share rates than their negative counterparts. This outcome results from the human instinct to respond more positively to content with activating emotions, increasing the desire to share content, which contributes to its virality.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-02-04 |title=Want Your Ad to Go Viral? Activate These Emotions. |url=https://hbr.org/2021/02/want-your-ad-to-go-viral-activate-these-emotions |access-date=2025-02-27 |work=Harvard Business Review |language=en |issn=0017-8012}}</ref>

Viral marketing utilizes the primitive feeling of [[frisson]] to increase their view and share counts. This feeling of excitement is considered powerful because of its ability to cause a physical response. From increased heart rates to full body chills, Professor Brent Coker at the University of Melbourne describes that this approach to marketing triggers a primitive response that immerses the viewer in the content on a deeper level.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The science behind viral videos |url=https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/the-science-behind-viral-videos |access-date=2025-02-27 |website=Pursuit |language=en}}</ref>  

Researchers Juliana Fernandes from the University of Florida and Sigal Segev from the Florida International University also found that people are more inclined to share emotional campaigns over those that are heavily informational. They claim that consumers do not often care to learn about a product’s actual features and benefits. Instead, people prefer to be immersed in experience-based content that creates an emotional impact.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Science Behind Viral Ads: What Makes Content Spread? |url=https://www.jou.ufl.edu/insights/the-science-behind-viral-ads-what-makes-content-spread/ |access-date=2025-02-27 |website=UF College of Journalism and Communications |language=en-US}}</ref> Companies and brands can benefit from treating their content in this manner and go viral more frequently than those who do not.

[[Social proof]] is another psychological phenomenon that impacts viral content. Experts in this field argue that it is a natural instinct to want to behave similarly to others because it results in positive validation. This phenomenon explains the human need to conform, so marketers focus on creating engaging content that encourages interactions and causes a [[snowball effect]]. This subconsciously influences people to like, comment, and share if they already see others doing the same.<ref name="Poston" />

Social proof goes further by providing people with a form of [[Social currency#:~:text=Social currency is information shared,a form of social currency.|social currency]]. When individuals interact with and share content, they become associated with the topics at hand. People naturally tend to perceive one another, and this pattern carries over to the digital world. As a result, many people tend to be vigilant about the viral marketing they engage with, since they want to be perceived positively. Companies and brands have the opportunity to develop social currency themselves by aligning with their target audiences and creating marketing campaigns that fit their interests or match their values.<ref name="Gregoire" /> The more the content aligns with a company’s intended audience, the higher the chances a campaign is to go viral.