There are many tried and tested successful marketing techniques to gain brand awareness but what is it that makes a campaign go viral?
Firstly, you have to understand what viral is. To get straight to the point and to eradicate the negative connotations that come along with the not so sexy word that is viral, I’ll start by explaining that viral isn’t a disease which has infected the internet in a way that will make you need to approach your machine with sanitizers and a surgical mask.
The term is adopted to explain the velocity of a marketing movement, being similar to the movement of a virus – passing from person to person – infecting their networks and branching out until it has grown beyond belief. Not so fun if we are talking diseases but in the wonderful world of online marketing viral is a bug every brand wants to catch.
Viral marketing describes any strategy which encourages the sharing of a message from person to person. If one person sees something that stimulates any of their primary emotions the likelihood of them passing this onto their networks is high, the same will then go for each recipient in that network, who will in turn have their own separate networks and so on. Before you know it something Suzie in Surrey found hilarious is playing on computer screens in Japan.
There are many key factors a campaign must have in order for it to go viral but as with all other areas of online marketing, content is King. If something isn’t worth sharing it isn’t going anywhere. The key to viral success is to play to human nature and stimulate the drivers society have. The overpowering need we have as a species to be popular, powerful and loved is something a campaign that will stand the test of time will play to. Emotions are another key thing content has to evoke, if something makes you feel fear, happiness, humility or sadness you are likely to share this moving material with others.
Creating a marketing strategy that manipulates common motivations and behaviours for its transmission is likely to become a viral hit. Think ‘Evian: Live Young” campaign (or as I like to refer to it, the amazing skating baby circus). It is funny and unexpected, why wouldn’t you share this as you sit and smile at the screen? What reason do you have not to tell your friends about the rollerblading babies that have made your afternoon?
Another key behaviour to cater to is curiosity; it may have killed the cat but it made movies such as District 9 and the Blair Witch Project an unbelievable success. Strategically sharing snippets and teasers will entice your target audience creating intrigue and curiosity. This gets people talking, sharing and ultimately seeking the source that reveals the message. By creating something original and that will stimulate audiences by being surprisingly funny and mysterious you will generate a buzz like no other.
Finally, possibly the strongest driver in modern day society is greed. The oldest trick in the book is a freebie. By offering a free incentive we take away the threat of a campaign and makes it sharable as each recipient gains from this – there is nothing to lose by sharing and responding to the campaign.
So like a virus manipulates the human immune system your campaign must infect the brains and hearts of the population making your brand and message a viral success.
