Anyway as a marketer, I always get the question of Viral Videos in conversations with friends or co-workers. Much has been said about the "key tips" or "how to" viral videos, but none of the articles I have read are either realistic or does an in-depth analysis of viral videos. Most of the articles ponder the obvious "keep it simple", "be natural", "use SEM" and "play with fantasy and reality", but I believe there is more to this art; yes, I think it is a form of art.
The first thing that I believe a video uploader has to ask himself is "Am I interested in having this video become viral?" Because if the answer is "No", then the majority of the suggestions and recommendations from current articles are true and apply perfectly, but what if the answer is "Yes"? I believe that in that case the person has to create a plan of action that will implement several steps to improve the probability of having the video reach tons of hits in a decent time frame. Let's keep in mind that it's VERY hard to see a video go viral in less than a year; in fact, it is a bit unrealistic, granted there are hundreds if not thousands of exceptions, and an example of this is the video of the sedated daughter in the car after the dentist pulled her wisdom teeth. I really believe nobody in that family hoped that video would become viral, less in the amount of time it did. It was an "accidental success", or in a better context "their 15 minutes of fame."
Being a video game fan, it is natural to see my youtube suggestions display videos about games and similar affiliations. About four years ago one of those suggestions was a video called "Castlevania II Angry Nintendo Nerd Review" (or something like that, the name has changed now ever since). The video was a satiric review of all the odd situations and challenges the game Castlevania II had compared to other games of the same genre. Along with other similar reviews, the video went on to become viral about a year or so after it was uploaded on youtube, and the Angry Nintendo Nerd has now become a famous name in the video game industry, posting more of these rants against games and movies. The bottom line here is that if you look at the first videos, the production values were actually very decent. Note that I don't say high or strong; the videos were done in a way that the message intended to be transmitted was delivered in an effective way. Not simple, not complicated, just right. So since the nature of this video is not accidental, there has to be some thought (make that decent thought) into the production of the video. Questions like "Am I saying the right thing", "am I showing the right angle", or "Is what I want to transmit easy to understand and relate to" are and should be main stars in your production. All Angry Nintendo Nerd videos maintain these standards, and that is why he has achieved viral status with his video. Also, he concentrated on his target market and never deviated from it. This is a case of a video with nature of standards. It is a product that was intended to actually become something. Note that I don't say "it wasn't intended to become successful".
Then we have the easiest videos to go viral (at least in my opinion): songs. Six or eight months ago I was out dining with my friends when one of the who had just been at Brazil for three weeks taking a course for his company, showed us the "most recent and trending song at the moment in Brazil"...Ai se eu te pego. The first thing that surprised me when I watched the video wasn't the amount of gorgeous women on screen, or the catchy lyrics of the song; it was the 80 million (yes EIGHTY MILLION) hits the video had. Definitely the majority of the coming from Brazilians themselves, yet seeing an eight digit views video wasn't something you see every day. While the official video had cemented a strong trend in youtube's universe, which is hard to match... there are alternatives that can be juiced from this product. So what people come up with is simply to create a bunch of slides with the lyrics of the trending song; another variant of this is to post translated lyrics to a convenient world wide spoken language. I'm not really familiar with youtube's policies on this subject, but from my location I am able to browse many videos posted five years ago with this scheme, still current and still counting views. Personally I don't see any harm on this, but that's another subject.
Instructional procedures are another way to market a viral video, and it's actually one of my favorites. It is tough though because of two factors: a) you have to be the first in your area (or compete against existing ones), and b) you have to have decent production values. Again, I emphasize on b).... I didn't say high quality production values; it's just like the Angry Nintendo Nerd: make sure it's clear, the message is well sent, and it's effective. Details like these can make a substantial difference on your "How to make a tie-knot" video against "COol wAy 2 wear A TIe!" video. Again, ask yourself questions like: "do I want to be funny, or effective?" -- "is my message clear and can people understand it?" In this case you have to consider the goal you want to accomplish and the various methods and alternatives available to you. Depending on the instruction, higher production values may have an edge, though it's not quite mandatory: there's a user called patrickJMT who explains math in videos where all he does is film his hand writing on a piece of paper. His drawings aren't exactly artful, but they aren't sloppy either, they're decent/good. His lighting is good and his voice tone is good too. More importantly, the examples he uses are perfect, which makes up for a wonderful product. I mean, 140 thousands hits on a math video of derivatives is a HUGE accomplishment in my world.
The other group of viral videos is the actual segment of people who upload their videos with the core intention of becoming viral. These are the videos I believe follow to the tip each one of the recommendations that are out there circulating across the web. "be yourself", "don't try to force being funny", "SEO, SEM, SE this SE that..." all of these are actual products in my mind. Result of long thought and investment (both time and sometimes even money). There is no real new advise to these, because getting one of these video to become viral is similar to being able to score a pilot for a Sitcom at NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX or TBS. It requires effort and dedication, as well as practice and perseverance.
In all, the marketing of a viral video cannot be summarized into a list of tips because like I stated at the beginning, the user must be able to identify the core competencies of the video. Once this is done, then the path will be clear to let things flow naturally, and see the results happen as time goes by.
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