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Book Summary: Contagious: Why Things Catch On, by Jonah Berger
Engineering virality.
Contagious: Why Things Catch On is a book by Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger.
While its beginning is informative, Berger could have edited two-thirds of his book and it would have been just as great, if not better.
The idea of social currency that you are about to discover is by far the most important one in the book.
The last three principles are merely repetitions.
Berger uses way too many examples to highlight his principles. It feels like he’s doing so because he has nothing else to say.
Let’s be clear: the information in this book is mandatory for writers and marketers.
But no need to read the book. This summary will suffice.
Summary of Contagious by Jonah Berger
Why do certain ideas and products propagate and sell, while others don’t?
Possible reasons: performance, price, marketing, word-of-mouth (WOM), also called social influence.
WOM helps restaurants make $200 more per customer. A 5-star review on Amazon sells 20 more books. And doctors are more likely to prescribe drugs other doctors have prescribed.
