Pass it on
Predicting how viral a piece of content will become is enormously difficult, some say impossible, but research shows that if a brand bothers to aim the message at its target audience the content is much more likely to be passed on.
Getting the most amount of views is not necessarily the benchmark of success of a viral, according to a study by Goviral. Its research indicates that finance and business-to-business have the most success with virals. They are hardly the most sexy sectors, but the relevance of their virals to their highly targeted audience, rather than a mass audience, makes it more likely that viewers will pass their message on.
Electronics is one of the most successful sectors globally. I’ve seen endless virals for cars and fashion but I can’t say I’ve seen lots of electronics virals. But apparently Philips, LG and Sony all do well in this sector.
Getting people to pass a message on is surely one of the most effective ways of marketing. And at least this study gives marketers an idea of what makes people view and encourages them to forward a message, because when I’ve spoken to marketers about virals it all seems to be very experimental.
Nick Roveta, Goviral product director, has some advice for those thinking about putting together a viral video. He says asking people to do something rather than being a passive viewer will make it more likely to make someone spread the word: “I would advocate bringing in the brand message, not just at the punchline at the end. Encouraging users to share content with Facebook or to win something if they respond will really help.” I thought a good viral was about bringing some light-hearted relief to a busy day. But apparently it’s a lot more complicated than that.
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