The big question for a lot of businesses these days is how do I make an ad and/or video go viral? I believe that these are some key characteristics that can make a post go viral. There are also some key ways businesses enable viewers to share posts across the Internet.
Humorous:
In order for an ad and/or video to go viral I believe it needs to have some humor in it. It also needs to be engaging and relate to the specific target market the business is attempting to reach. Here is an example of a humorous video that went viral for the Dollar Shave Club.
When you go to the Dollar Shave Club website they also have a quiz available. You can take this quiz to help them customize a box of products just for you. So you can see the videos assist in creating brand awareness for a business like the Dollar Shave Club. However, on their website they also have tools or Linkbait to assist in engaging and converting customers as well.
Engagement:
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is another example of a video that went viral. Eventhough this video was more related to doing something positive there are some key reasons why it went viral. The main reasons are it was easy to partcipate in this challenge through the engagement of creating a video, and then challenging some peers to also participate. It also involved other people, was simple, and involved people participating. The ALS website has an infographic with the progress made since the Ice Bucket Challenge you can share to continue to promote the cause. You have the ability to share this infographic across all the social media platforms and you can also e-mail it as well too.
Here is also an example of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge below:
Relevant:
When creating a viral post it also must be relevant to the latest news and/or trend. The intention of the video on the New York Times website is to educate the citizens of the United States about the protests occurring across the nation related to the #blacklivesmatter movement. This is a relevant topic right now occurring in our country. In their news story the New York Times has a widget available for a reader to share across Twitter and Facebook.
Here is another example of a video related to this relevant topic that is being shared across Twitter.
Creative:
A viral video must not only be humorous, engaging, and relevant but also must be creative. In this YouTube channel for Blendtec they developed a creative marketing campaign entitled @willitblend
This is a unique interesting idea that shows a combination of humor, creativity, and also revelancy because it is showcasing a potential product that will be sold on Amazon Prime Day. It also gives Blendtec an opportunity to showcase their product and also give a link for it to buy off of Amazon. There is also a widget available to share the video on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. In addition, at the end of the video the host asks the viewer to comment on an item they would like to see blended next.
Easy to Share & Promote:
The last key concept I believe to make a video go viral is making it easy to share and promote. The Most Interesting Man in the World’s slogan; “he doesn’t always do X, but when he does Y,” was a perfect opportunity for people across the world to create memes revolving around the campaign. Here is a link to Complex to check out and rank the 50 best Most Interesting Man in the World memes. This is an example of how this campaigin connected to an audience and was easy to share and promote just because of the simple slogan. People also seeked out these ads out on YouTube to watch and share with their friends.
As you can see from these examples there are various ways businesses engage consumers across social media platforms. There are also other key characteristics that exist in order to make a video go viral. In my opinion the key characterisics that must make up a viral video are humor, engagement, relevantcy, creative and it must be easy to share and post.
The Impact of Social Media on Business 