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Influences and Thoughts

How Does A Video Go Viral?

Marketing notes
1. Making Progress
2. Finding a Competitive Advantage
3. Law Firm Culture
4. Technology Doesn’t Equate To Client Service
5. Outstanding Client Service Can’t Be Delegated
6. What Law Firm Culture Is Not About
7. My Review of CardScan Personal
8. Bar Prohibitions v. Law Firm Marketing: What’s the Point?
9. Competitiveness May Derail Marketing Effectiveness
10. Loyalty Fundamental to Human Relationships
11. Hello, LMA Minnesota!
12. Who’s Got Klout and Why We Should (Or Shouldn’t) Care
13. Is This Any Way To Start A Relationship?
14. In-house Panelists Rebuff Lawyer Marketing
15. How Does A Video Go Viral?
16. Future Looks Online to Dave Saunders
17. Is It Too Crowded to Be Social?
18. This Says It All
19. Are The Klout Changes Relevant?
20. 90% Really Like You
21. In Blogging, Size Does Matter
22. Social Media: Time Suck or Time Saver?
23. Nielsen and Twitter Start Screen Romance
24. Edelman Was Example of Relevance
25. Privacy v. Services Kills Google Reader
26. That Email Newsletter You’re Sending Is Being Read On Someone’s Smartphone
27. Blogs Build Buyers Brands Want
28. How Soon Will Mobile Use Dominate the Internet

In a recent Market Dialogue presented by the American Marketing Association Richmond Chapter at the University of Richmond RobinsSchool of Business, Dave Saunders of Madison + Main described the process of viral engineering. Only he wasn’t talking about the newest pathogen or pandemic.
Instead, Dave was explaining how to create an internet video that would “go viral” as a popular pass-along in social media and other online communications. In his 45 minute talk on video, he touched on the scale of social media and themes for online marketing in the future. It was a remarkably generous conversation by the leader of an ad agency currently travelling in the fast lane of Richmond, Virginia.
Social media is a sweet spot for Dave and his group, so the 20 people who gathered were “all eyes” as he listed the content that typically grabs viewers’ attention and triggers sharing online: 
  1. Funny or cute
  2. Talent or unusual skill
  3. Funny: commercials
  4. Funny: awkward or embarrassing
  5. Celebrations in real life
  6. Nerdy (robots, videogames)
  7. Funny/strange: compilations
  8. Funny: spoofs (imitation, satire or parody)
  9. Tragedy: disasters and world events
  10.  Memes and themes (like badgers or bacon)

Most (but certainly not all) of these can be lumped under the term “entertainment.” But entertainment, no matter how side-splitting or compelling, has to be noticed first by the right viewers to release its viral power. Dave identified these tools as effective in the encouraging a video’s online contagion:
  • Memes (to find what is currently popular, try searching trends.google.com)
  • Tag/hashtags/links – piggyback on trending ones
  • Influencers and bookmarking (digg.com, reddit.com)
  • Web PR (try distribution services)
  • Paid placement

Dave also gave out a very valuable “YouTube Best Practices” handout to the attendees. You should ask him about it.
In “The Tipping Point“, Malcolm Gladwell’s hypothesis about social behavior becoming “viral” was predicated on interrelated components. It’s clear that “going viral” online also requires interrelated elements: content and distribution must function together based on viewer’s interests and involvement in social media. Far from being accidental, viral videos are intentionally designed to spread online.
What do you see as the value of going viral? 

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