What Causes Something to Become Contagious? What makes you share something you like?
This week's episode is a book club of sorts: Vonda and Lori dig into Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger — recommended to Lori by her son Sayer, and reminiscent of Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. Yes, they see the irony of reading a book called Contagious in the middle of a pandemic. But the timing is actually perfect: the power of flowers is having its own tipping-point moment as people discover what flowers do for mental health and happiness, and this book explains why some things get shared and some don't — which is really a marketing playbook for your shop.
Social currency: why we share
Berger's idea of social currency says people share things partly to make themselves look good — but the hosts add a warmer truth: mostly we share because we care. Lori's example is her famous $15 sweater. When a friend complimented it, she couldn't wait to share where she got it and what a bargain it was — not to look cool, but because she wanted her friend to have the same joy. It doesn't have to be a remarkable product; a great bargain works too.
Remarkable things — unusual, extraordinary, worthy of notice — carry the most social currency, and stories naturally grow in the telling. Think of fish stories, or Lori's 86-year-old father's ten-mile walk to school, uphill both ways. It's not deliberate exaggeration; our memories aren't perfect records, and we want the story to be remarkable. Exclusivity and secrets are currency too — airline loyalty programs make members feel special (ask frequent flyers Vonda and Mark Wilson, currently grounded and not happy about it), and "don't tell anybody... well, maybe one person" is the fastest way to get something told.
Triggers: peanut butter, jelly, and gift guides
Triggers are the cues in your environment that prompt behavior. See peanut butter, think jelly — which is why the grocery store shelves them side by side. The catch: the trigger has to sit close to the desired behavior. If you slip in the shower and think "I need a bathmat," you'll slip five more times before you buy one, because nothing at the point of the trigger lets you act.
The flower shop application is immediate, especially heading into Christmas: build gift-guide vignettes right in the store — gifts for mom, for dad, for the teenager, for the mother-in-law — so the trigger ("I need to buy for her") and everything needed to act on it sit together. It's a gift to last-minute shoppers especially. Then photograph those displays, post them, and consider boosting the posts. When a customer knocks out half their Christmas list in one visit, wrap it up beautifully and share that too — "just got half her shopping done here!" — because that's trigger, social currency, and social proof in one post.
Emotion: awe moves people to act
Emotion drives sharing, and of the high-energy positive emotions — awe, excitement, humor — awe ranks number one. The hosts note that extremes get shared: high-anger, high-anxiety content spreads too, but it's the positive awe that leads people to actually buy. And flowers are already an emotional purchase. Post the two dozen pink roses a husband ordered to surprise his wife for their anniversary, and watch the "that's so sweet" shares put your shop top of mind — with a link right there so the trigger sits next to the action.
The best example is Flower Clique member Steve Regata, who posts his amazing custom sympathy designs — a tractor, a giant baseball mitt, something deeply personal — on Facebook. He never set out to be "that guy"; he just kept posting, mourners kept asking "where did you have the flowers done?", and now other flower shops contract him for custom pieces. At a funeral, a little awe amid the sadness is remarkable — and remarkable gets shared. (Fun study from the book: students who ran in place for one minute before deciding whether to share something shared 75 percent more than those who sat still. Adrenaline moves us to spread the word.)
Social proof: full parking lots and 50 reviews
When people are uncertain, they look at what others do. You pick the restaurant with the full parking lot; Lori and her husband skipped a new local place because only one car was outside. The book's sobering example: patients far down the kidney transplant list sometimes refuse a viable kidney, assuming that if 99 people ahead of them passed, something must be wrong with it — roughly one in ten refusals happens in error.
For your shop, social proof means reviews and engagement. Berger calls online opinions "behavioral residue," and volume matters: fifty reviews beats three, even at a slightly lower star rating. Lori's ask for reviews goes "good, better, best" — a written review is good, a video review is better, and a personal phone-call recommendation is best. And engagement on your Facebook page is proof too: every comment surfaces your shop in that person's friends' feeds, and the more conversation, the more the public sees you as the quality shop in town.
Key takeaways
- People share what makes them look good and what brings others joy — give customers remarkable, bargain-worthy, or exclusive things to talk about.
- Put triggers next to the action: in-store gift-guide vignettes, boosted posts, and links right where the emotion hits.
- Awe is the number one sharing emotion — post the surprise anniversary roses and the custom sympathy tractors.
- Stack your social proof: more reviews, more Facebook engagement, more visible customers. Uncertain buyers follow the crowd.
- The big line from Lori's notes: people don't want to be told something — they want to be moved.
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist