Motivators

Examples:

• WhatsApp (and other instant messengers)
• Battleship (and other mandatory multi-player games)
• Google Docs (and other collaboration tools)

Pros:

• The most powerful motivator
• Doesn't require much implementation

Cons:

• Suitable only for certain kinds of products

Examples:

• movie theaters
• chess, cards, and other optionally multi-player games

Pros:

• Powerful motivator
• can be applied to a wide variety of products

Cons:

• May require much creative thinking and implementation effort

Examples:

• Pokemon Go, networking conferences

Pros:

• Powerful motivator
• Doesn't require much implementation

Cons:

• Suitable only for certain kinds of products

Examples:

• airlines (sharing itinerary with family/friends, so they know when you're coming)

Pros:

• Powerful motivator
• can be applied to a wide variety of products

Cons:

• May require much creative thinking and implementation effort
• may feel a bit selfish, decreasing sharing rate

Examples:

• Group tours, charter flights, cruises, rental cars, multi-guest hotel rooms

Pros:

• Doesn't require much implementation
• Can be applied to almost any product, although in most cases feels forced

Cons:

• Often feels selfish, makes people hesitate to share

Examples:

• Facebook (and other social networks)
• Ancestry.com (the more people use it, the more results you get)

Pros:

• Doesn't require much implementation

Cons:

• Suitable only for certain kinds of products
• not very powerful

Examples:

Pros:

• Powerful motivator
• can be applied to a wide variety of products

Cons:

• Some people (though not many) think sharing achievements shows a lack of modesty

Examples:

• Apple (I swear, I saw a guy boasting about his new iPhone by taking a picture of it with his old iPhone and posting it to Facebook)
• Porsche and other fancy cars
• jewelry

Pros:

• Doesn't require much implementation (for a suitable product, at least)

Cons:

• Applies mostly to exceptional products (although exceptionality is often a matter of branding)
• Many people see such sharing as pure vanity

Examples:

• Kryivka - a secret, hidden restaurant in Ukraine, which you can find only if instructed by someone who's been there (yes, it works, that's how I found it)

Pros:

• Can be applied to a wide variety of products (surely, insider info can be found for most products)

Cons:

• Requires a great deal of creative effort to craft the info (perhaps even on a regular basis)

Examples:

• IMDB or any site with a large share/like counter (note that "likes" work as "shares" on Facebook)

Pros:

• Easy to implement (sharing counters are provided by many frameworks)

Cons:

• Relatively easy to resist the sharing temptation. This motivator should augment others rather than being a primary one

Examples:

• Ice Bucket Challenge

Pros:

• Very powerful, although only for very specific products
• easy to implement

Cons:

• Controversial even for noblest causes (even IBC received some bad press)

Examples:

Pros:

• Should apply to any product (if a product doesn't solve any problem or pain, then what's the point?)

Cons:

• Not very effective, since we usually help people only when explicitly asked. Should augment other motivators rather than being the primary one

Examples:

• Ice Bucket Challenge

Pros:

• Can be applied to a wide variety of products, e.g. by participating in charitable campaigns

Cons:

• Not very effective - many people hesitate to expose polarizing positions like that (even environment is a partisan issue these days...)

Examples:

Pros:

• Applies to any product
• Very easy to implement (just ask)

Cons:

• Limited effectiveness - only a small subset of people will be compelled to share (though not necessarily just close friends)

Examples:

• Seth Godin's "Purple Cow"

Pros:

• Relatively easy to implement (e.g. add a convincing message suggesting to get another product as a present)

Cons:

• Low yield sharing, because you only share it with a few people at best

Examples:

Pros:

• Can be applied to almost any product (see examples if you don't believe that)

Cons:

• Requires a significant creative effort
• humor is subjective and may cause backlash if not used carefully

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• Only relevant on Facebook and even there is not very effective

Examples:

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Examples:

• Pokemon Go (playing in public places makes people curious about it)

Pros:

• With some effort can be applied to almost any product (as a last resort give away free t-shirts with product's logo on them)

Cons:

• May cost money (depends on the implementation)
• not very effective, because most people don't notice the sharing and those who do don't know you enough to trust your endorsement

Examples:

• Tagged - (almost) can't register without sharing it first

Pros:

• Suitable for any product
• very easy to implement

Cons:

• Easily turns people off, decreasing conversion rate

Examples:

Pros:

• Suitable for any product
• very easy to implement

Cons:

• Relatively expensive
• May not be very effective or good for the image, because many people don't want to appear selfish and greedy.