A lot of brands are trying to capitalize on the “sharing” factor of social networking sites by coming up with various “viral marketing” campaigns. Some of them worked wonderfully like Cebu Pacific’s Dancing Flight Attendants video which powered their IPO. It doesn’t even have to big companies. SME’s like Power Mac Center tapped popular bands like Urbandub to play their music on iPod Touches and the videos gained a lot of traction on Youtube and Facebook as well. The most recent one of course is the botched Daniel Matsunaga kissing video which was “revealed” too early.
This makes you wonder – what are the factors for making a successful viral campaign? There’s no surefire formula to this because if there was then we’d be seeing tons of brands taking advantage. Also the fact that it doesn’t have a formula actually makes it even more successful because once it’s generic, contrived, and common people won’t bother spreading it. We should however take note of successful viral campaigns because there are several indispensable elements for viral content. Here’s a video explaining how Kitkat was able to launch a campaign that generated them millions of mileage but it only took a few e-mails and a well timed photo.
Amazing right?
Here’s what I picked up. Please do chime in at the comments section below if I missed anything:
Your content has to be relevant
Kit Kat picked up on a trend and used it as a platform to push their brand. The timing was just perfect. You can also say the same for Cebu Pacific because at that time the airline industry was at the forefront of national discourse because both Cebu Pacific and PAL were getting bad publicity from various issues. You have to pick big waves that you can ride on so that the acceptance and “shareability” of your content is higher. For example, the Power Mac Urbandub video did get a lot of hits but it wasn’t sudden. It didn’t flood in. It got hits because the content was nice and unique but not necessarily relevant to a lot of people.
The reveal is crucial
This is where Cebu Pacific truly shone. Up to this day we haven’t heard if the video was a complete marketing ploy. This made the content being perceived as “genuine” making the adoption rate higher. What fueled the video even more was the response it got from the competitors and opponents of Cebu Pacific. PAL and Gabriela made statements making the issue even bigger and giving the video more attention.
You need bigger media channels to pick it up
Lastly you have to pick where you will seed the video. You can probably send it to well known bloggers in your niche or industry to kick things off but you have to monitor it and make sure that it snowballs. Slowly keep seeding and sending links to blogs, news sites, and other online channels and if it gets enough traction traditional media will pick it up and feature the content.
So what do you guys think? Let me know in the comments below.
Hi Carlo. Thanks for sharing again unselfishly your insights on on-line viral marketing. Very educational indeed. Sometimes I just forget to make comments. But your efforts are truly appreciated my good friend.
If I may… I think the viral video has to be perceived spontaneously generated. It should be thought as if it occurred unexpectedly. Audience should be allowed to speculate and debate on its genuineness on various on-line platforms.
Filipinos love reality shows like Pinoy Big Brother, Biggest Pinoy Loser, Master Chef, etc.. SMEs should be able to capitalize on this penchant for these shows. They like them to be not scripted (or if scripted, at least do not appear that obvious). So does any viral marketing video. Operative word is “spontaneity.
Hi Carlo,
Thanks for sharing, Your post will be helpful, I’m currently looking for some idea on how we can make our campaign viral.