What Makes a Video Viral?

What makes content go viral must be today's multi-million dollar question. I have read several articles about best practices on this field. The most popular recommendations are the following:

• Keep it short.
• It must be dually interesting.
• Dramatic or shocking content.

In addition, there are a number of studies that suggest that people are more likely to share positive content, rather than those that are sad or negative. But we know that there are a lot of positive content on Internet, and most online content does not go viral.

Rosanna E. Guadagno published an study about the analysis of emotional contagion and Internet memes. It is an interesting perspective from the standpoint of social psychology.

So, what are we missing? I would like to reflect about it, while inviting you to watch some videos that have gone viral recently:

Emma Watson talks about gender inequality as UN Women's Goodwill Ambassador. This is a very moving and personal speech. Although it takes 12 minutes, the video went viral.

Zach Sobiech is a 17 year old diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. With only months to live, Zach turned to music to say goodbye. Zack left this world, but he made sure to leave a mark on everyone who sees this video and knows his story.

This video captured the moment when a guy dropped the first iPhone6 sold during an interview. The circumstances speaks for themselves.

After watching these and other viral videos, there is an undeniable truth present in viral content. And it goes beyond making a fun short video. The content has to collect all these 3 characteristics:

• Momentum, which increases the impact.
• Spontaneity or authenticity.
• Positive or uplifting message.

These 3 characteristics are very difficult to have in one single video. That's why most of the videos made by organizations with the specific purpose of becoming viral are doomed to failure. 

Yes, organizations might achieve an important number of viewers, but this doesn't mean that it should be considered viral. According to Karine Nahon "The elements to determine virality is the speed of the rate it's seen, the amount it's shared and the reach and also the diversity of people who become connected to the content."

Today's audience is very demanding in terms of these 3  characteristics. That's the beauty of Social Media: you never know what to expect. You can't control it, but hopefully you will learn something from it.

What are your most impactful childhood memories?

This is my first post! And I’m really excited, but I’m also curious… Yes, I have always been curious about how other people feel, what types of life events define people? What make us who we are? According to an article from the www.psychologytoday.com “learning to recognize your own self-defining memories can help you gain important insights about your identity.”

I would like to start asking you about those 3 moments in your childhood that caused the most impact on you. I have them very clear:

When I actually understood how to play piano was something really amazing. I was 7 years old, and I had been taking piano lessons for at least 2 months. Suddenly, I was walking down the stairs at my school, and then, a spark! My brain simply understood how to do it. That afternoon my piano teacher didn’t have to explain me anything. It goes without saying that I participated in the piano closing recital at my school of that year.

My second most impactful moment was when I showed my mom that I could swim. Of course she didn’t believe me, (even when she was paying for swimming lessons). She was really surprised, and I felt really good to show what I was able to do. It meant a sense of independence to me: I don’t need kick boards anymore!

My third memory, I have to admit, it is not a childhood memory. Perhaps, this is not a memory either. This is actually an experience. Anyways, it is important because it helped me decide to study marketing… By that moment, I wanted to be a lawyer.

This is what happened: a group of friends and I decided to run for high school student election. I must say that we were not popular at all. In addition, I thought it would be "cool" to use a “hippie guy” image as our party’s logo.

- I asked my brother to search the logo. I know I have it somewhere, but he couldn’t find it. Please, use your imagination. Our logo was a hippie guy drawing, colorful, doing the peace sign. -

At my school, each student party was identified by a specific number. We were party number 2.

The peace sign transformed into our personal brand. All kids loved it! They were all around doing the peace sign. And we won the election. Of course, no senior student voted for us, I’m sure of that. But we achieved something incredible. We went from being a complete unknown group of people to winning the election with more 80% of support.

In that moment, I realized that I wanted to study something that gives me space to be creative. Being a lawyer would not have provided this flexibility.

I would like to use this quote to explain my final point:

"Art is the ability to change people with your work, to see things as they are and then create stories, images and interactions that change the marketplace." 
 Seth Godin

Marketing is a different way of art. And Interactive Marketing is exactly about creating stories, images and interactions based on memories, experiences and affiliations of your customers. My point is that when you are doing interactive marketing, the most important thing is to understand your customers. Sometimes, you can find this answer in your memories without much effort.

I would love to know more about my readers! Please feel free to comment and share with me your opinion.

Thanks for reading,

Marthacab