Virality
Everyday we will always stumble across one post on our social media pages that has a lot of views or reactions. May it be a funny post that involves someone being laughed at, a video where it gets people talking because of a persons misconduct or even a fake news that involves a celebrity. The point is today there a lot of ways to be viral nationwide or even worldwide. Virality is an interesting marketing skills that involves a viral video or a post from brands. But what makes it viral? Is it the product, the advertisement, the campaign or simply lucky, that makes something such a big hit. This is why I am keen on understanding more about what is Virality and its forms.
Viral content usually has a well-designed viral strategy behind it, but virality could also be due to luck, creativity and preparation. To break down this concept a little better, I am going to explain the definition of this concept with the help from different websites, on how a viral campaign works, the advantages of viral marketing and also some of my personal favourite viral campaigns as an example.
Based on MarketingSchools.org. Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people in their social networks, much in the same way that a virus spreads from one person to another. The basis of viral marketing is in the spread of information by word-of-mouth, but modern technology has allowed the viral effect to include many Internet-based platforms as well.
The list below are some networks on how a viral effect can spread through:
- Word-of-mouth
- Social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc)
- Video sharing sites (Youtube, Vimeo, etc)
- Web forums
But why does something goes viral?
Talkwalker.com says that a viral content is sticky. It makes you want to watch it again. It makes you want to be a part of it. This is is why TikTok so addictive. The videos are short. They loop again and again. And in the case of things like #hashtagchallenges, TikTok makes it easy for you to join in on the fun and remix something popular to give it your own spin.
But there are over a million videos viewed on TikTok everyday. If you’re not on the app, but have seen something that originally went viral on there on a different platform, just know that you are seeing the very best of TikTok content. The video below will give 2 tips on how to make campaigns or advertisement always go viral.
Now that I know what virality or viral marketing is, here are some of its advantage, by cyberclick.es, that might help me consider creating a viral campaign when doing future group projects.
Advantages of viral marketing
- Low cost. What characterizes viral campaigns is that the users do a significant part of the work for the brand, which drastically cuts down the costs of dispersion. It is unnecessary to buy advertising or media space.
- Potential of great reach. A viral video on the Internet has the ability to reach a huge international audience without having to invest a ton of money or make any extra effort. Due to this, a small company or even a private individual can go extremely viral.
- It is not invasive. In viral marketing, the social media user is the one making the decision to participate and share content, so it lessens the possibility of the brand coming across as invasive. Like this, the perception of the brand and the interaction are significantly better, compared to more classical forms of advertising.
- It helps build up your brand. If we really hit the bull’s-eye in terms of creativity, we are creating content so incredible that users themselves decide to share it and, hence create a personal connection with your brand. It is without a doubt an extremely powerful tool when it comes to branding and awareness.
Viral marketing might have some advantages but I know that it also has its cons. Which I need to consider before making something goes viral and find every possible outcomes that might happen, to prevent any backlash from it.
Some Of My Favourite Viral Campaigns
Dumb ways to die
Dumb Ways to Die is an Australian public service announcement campaign done by Metro Trains to promote railway safety. The campaign video went viral through sharing and social media starting in November 2012.
This campaign is something that went viral worldwide and even become a mobile game. The video received over $60 million in media impressions in 2013. But most importantly, the message of the video caused people to be more aware and act safer around trains, resulting in 20% reduction in rail-related accidents. Listening to this when I was young, it didn’t occur to me that it is a campaign video as I find it funny and entertaining.
Dove Campaign for Real Beauty
In 2004, Unilever’s research found that only four percent of women considered themselves beautiful. After working with Ogilvy and Mather, Unilever launched the Campaign for Real Beauty. This campaign became large and the message spread like a bush fire. The message was translated into many languages to get more women involved in the campaign.
Even talk shows, women’s magazines, and TV news began discussing modern female beauty standards and the campaign evolved into a series of viral videos, commercials, and print ads that changed how we all look at beauty. This was one of the most talked about campaigns and until now Dove continues with the campaign to reassure women for their real beauty.
Dollar Shave Club: Our Blades are F**king Great
In 2012 the razor subscription service, Dollar Shave Club, was looking for a simple way to explain why their product is so unique compared to the rest. After much consideration, they ended up creating this comedic yet practical video to explain exactly that:
After the release of the video, the previously unknown brand’s website crashed multiple times and ended up receiving over 12,000 new subscribers in 48 hours. The video currently has over 26.8 million views on YouTube.
Overall, learning Virality or viral marketing as a skill is an interesting way on how to help small businesses to be known to the public. Virality could be an excellent way to create attention from the public for the new Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 2. It could be in the form of a creative campaign that can attract the media’s attention.
Virality in my opinion, should be a skill that combines with content creation, whereas a post has the clarity of message and call-to-action at the same time it gets people talking and causes word-of-mouth online.
Marc Yuan 