Unleashing the Ideavirus

Unleashing the Ideavirus
84
 www.ideavirus.com
The same reasoning is obviously a factor in choosing which members of the media to
contact. Saul Hansell at the 
New York Times
has far more reach and influence than Jason
Snaggs at the 
Phoenix Register
. Seems obvious, but what most marketers miss is the fact that a
very small number of powerful sneezers can have an impact far outside their perceived
influence. A reporter with the 
right
readers could have far more sway over your virus than
someone with plenty of reach but little influence.
[persistence of the virus (how long does a sneezer sneeze?)]
A short-lived experience that leaves no lasting effects is hard to turn into a virus, especially if
it’s not a social event like pop music (does every generation after ours realize just how bad
their pop tunes are?). Tattoos, on the other hand, are extraordinarily persistent, so even
though they’re not very smooth, they continue to infect people for decades, making up what
they lack in impact with sheer stick-to-it-ness.
[number of people infected /(divided by) number of people in the hive]
This is about measuring hive dominance. If just a small percentage of people in your chosen
hive have been infected, you really have your work cut out for you. While you shouldn’t
compromise the essence of your idea in order to get a wide platform, you should be super-
wary that you don’t start with too small a sample of too large a hive. It’s very easy for your
virus to fade before it catches on.

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Unleashing the Ideavirus
85
 www.ideavirus.com
Advanced Riffs On The Eight Variables You Can Tweak In Building Your Virus
In this section, we’ll take a look at each of the eight underlying variables in the ideavirus
formula, and try to get a handle on exactly how you can manipulate them for your product.
No two industries rely on the eight fundamental principles in precisely the same way. But
virtually every ideavirus I’ve ever seen uses some of these principles in an extraordinary way,
and just about every one could be improved if it expanded further into the other areas.
The Eight:
1.
Sneezers
2.
Hive
3.
Velocity
4.
Vector
5.
Medium
6.
Smoothness
7.
Persistence
8.
Amplifier

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