Developing the big idea
Creating a viral campaign starts with choosing the right content. It's usually several parts of entertainment to every one part branding. The trick is integrating the brand in a natural, efficient way. While there are lots of companies that can create funny videos that travel around the world, there are few that can successfully and consistently insert a brand into that content without the brand message feeling forced or heavy-handed.
While there are many types of content that go viral, the common theme is either "funny," "unbelievable," or both. The Happy Star video is a good example of "unbelievable": "Was he really hurt when he fell?" Carl's Jr. also worked with Animax to create a different kind of viral video based on comedy called Carl's Jr. Slotcar. Even though the audience knew it was a spoof, they still watched this episodic series because it was funny and the branding was subtle (these eight videos got more than 2 million views at approximately $.07 per view).
Creating viral hooks
Another technique for creating viral videos is inserting hooks into the videos using technology. For example, many of us are familiar with the Elf Yourself campaign that reached 193 million visitors in 2007. Using a simple set of tools, you can insert your picture onto an elf and email it to a loved one each Christmas. Disney also recently used technology to create a viral video where you can dynamically insert your name and it says that the entire park was reserved for you that day.
Something to keep in mind is that viral content is not exclusive to videos. While video content is often the cornerstone of a viral campaign, smart marketers develop viral content across multiple platforms, such as games, email, SMS, and Twitter. Skittles, for example, recently released a site that has links to quirky commercials, Flickr slideshows, a Facebook page, and a Twitter feed.
Seeding the video into the market
You've got great content and tons of viral hooks built in -- now what? Many companies think that they can just put it out there and hope it goes viral. While that may work in some cases, more often than not, it takes a little nudge for a viral campaign to catch on like wildfire.
Keep in mind that YouTube has more than 20 hours of video uploaded every minute, so the competition for eyeballs is fierce. The first step is to make sure that your content is enabled to go viral. This means that if you are serving it on your own website, you should have a video player that allows tagging, embedding, and sharing. There should be links to promote the video on social media sites like Facebook, Delicious, Twitter, and Digg.
In addition, you should make sure that both the site and the video are SEO-friendly. Videos, like web pages, can be optimized to be seen by the major search engines. YouTube has search algorithms that look for keywords in the title, description, and alt tags. Smart brands make sure that their key terms are embedded in the code.
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