Virality: A Science or luck?

Virality seems to be the word on everyone's mind and the goal of every marketing and ad department.

Since the creation of social media, the holy grial, so to say, has been creating the most popular and most viewed advertising. Just as the medical term "Viral", in marketing, being viral or virality is the spreading of information from person to person. Unlike the sickness however, you actually want to infect everyone with your marketing genius.

How do you create such a massive marketing infection? Over time, many marketers and self proclaimed advertising profits have conjured up ways to achieve this marketing super-stardom. Some have been successful, as other have not. (see examples below) These campaigns have included every tip and trick from contest incentives to catchy jingles to dancing animals and talking babies. But not all of these maneuvers work for everyone.

 Dollar Shave Club viral video success.

PSP's racy subway advertising fail. 

So, is virality a science or luck?

While working on creating my own viral video and covering related material in numerous marketing classes, I became curious about Virality myself. I researched blogs, websites, social media sites, and of course, youtube. After this laborious effort of trolling the internet, I finally found the answer.

Virality, while not quite a science, does have a pretty effective recipe and if followed, will increase a campaign's chances at reaching the viral level.


Viral Marketing
Time: < 60 seconds
Yields: Millions

1 C.        Effective Content
2 C.        Sharing
1 Pinch     Accessibility
1/3 C.      Strong Branding
1 Tsp.      Humor
1 Stick     User-Generated Content


Mix together, cross your fingers, and share with anyone and everyone. 

Now, while this recipe may change and serving sizes may be altered, the basics are still the same. Viral marketing must have interesting and useful content. Without a concrete back bone, the rest of your campaign will fall apart. There is, however, one exception and one only to this rule: humor. What viewers love more than things that they can actually apply in real life is a good piece of comedic advertising. Comedy is a balance though, so be careful. It can elevate a brand or it could ruin it.

The next key element in becoming viral is sharing. Although this may seem like a no-brainer, sharing is usually the biggest obstacle when achieving virality. You have to put yourself in the shoes of the consumer and think - what will not only grab their attention, but what will make your advertising so interesting to them that they want, no NEED, to share it with everyone they know. Knowing your targeted audience and how to reach them is the key to success here.

Last, but certainly not least is user-generated content. Referred to as UCG in the internet world,  user-generated content is, well, exactly what is sounds like: content created by users. This is important when creating viral marketing because the more active a user can be in a campaign, the more interest is drawn and the likelihood of them sharing your advertising significantly increases. Forums, photo contents, Twitter contests, Facebook likes, and blogs just like this are superb examples that will engage your audience and send your advertising to the top, or, well, pretty close.

So next time you or your company wants to create the next best viral thing on the internet, try this recipe and pray to the marketing gods and maybe, just maybe, you'll be among the few to achieve internet marketing greatness.