What Makes a Video go Viral?
Anything that strikes a chord with enough people willing to pass it along to others has the potential to go viral. Viral marketing increases the chances of a message going viral by purposely and strategically mass promoting a message.
Corporate and Brand Videos That Went Viral - and Why
The following videos have all gone viral. None are even remotely similar in content or presentation. But they all resonated with a wide audience because they went beyond funny and or clever: they connected with some basic part tenant of human nature.
Bensons for Beds - Mattress Dominoes World Record Attempt. Agency: Wand. Get your employees involved in something fun and they will tell friends and post their own plugs for your business. Grassroots public support is where all viral marketing begins.
- Diet Coke and Mentos Experiments: Do something fun with your product and you might spawn hundreds of your own experimental videos that further promote sales.
- Hillary 1984: An employee of an online communications firm that worked with the Obama campaign put out an anti-Hillary video that quickly went viral. This video, with more than 5.9 million views, effectively branded Obama as the "alternative to Hillary." Sometimes, what you say about the competition can be even more powerful than what you have to say about yourself (at least in politics.)
- The Evolution of Dance: Comedian Judson Laipply's video has been viewed more than 135 million times. His dance act pulls together music from the 50s to the 90s, appealing to audiences of all ages. We laugh at his dance moves because we all did at least some of them at some point in our lives.
- Flea Market Montgomery: Sammy Stevens, business owner and rapper who performs jingles in commercials, boosted his local star power when one of his videos went viral. Stevens uses his fame to solicit support for local charities. His appeal is his wide-eyed, over enthusiastic style and unabashed flamboyance. We all know someone like Sammy.
