14 December 2011

Helping create

brands for the

future _

| All content copyright

Viral content marketing

by Jyotika Malhotra

What is virality?

_

^‘Gone viral’ means a piece of content has been well received and

widely shared

^When word of mouth turns to word of mouse

^Examples

^‘Why this Kolaveri Di’

^Growth of Hotmail.com (fastest in the world)

^ Vodafone ZooZoo ads and more…

2

Source – http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/magazine/viral-marketing

Understanding

virality _

^Leads to formation of communities and interconnections between

them; groups can talk with each other and within allowing for

exponential growth . For the mathematically inclined the details are

here: http://bit.ly/reedslaw

3

Reed’s Law: Network supports formation of groups

^Consumer + Producer =

Prosumer

^As even consumers can

produce, share and create

content

The math of

viral _

^In the old days of media buying, Value = Cost

^Viral marketing attempts to get value far and beyond cost

^While cost is still constant, value grows exponentially

^Post critical mass crossover/ Tipping point, the network starts paying

^The fundamental flaw underlying both Metcalfe's and Reed's laws is in

the assignment of equal value to all connections or all groups

4

Source – http://www.noahbrier.com/archives/2007/06/the_math_of_viral/

Types of viral

content _

Articles and blog posts

Interactive content (quizzes, contest, widgets)

Video/audio (also vlogs, podcasts)

Infographics

5

Types of viral

content _

6

Source – http://www.movieviral.com/2011/10/19/in-time-twitter-contest-win-

tickets-to-the-world-premiere/

^For the movie ‘In Time’, a Twitter contest to win tickets went viral

^#intimepremiere carried a virtual map with the location of the ticket

giveaways

^Five people were located in the Los Angeles area secretly handing out

tickets to the event

^As the amount of tweets increased, the closer one became to

discovering the secret giveaway locations

‘In Time’ viral contest

Why should

people share it?

_

Is it hilarious?– mood elevator

Is it incredible or unbelievable?– seek similar reaction from friends

Is it emotional?– positive or negative connect

Is it agrees with our world view?– backs up our values

Is it makes us stop and think?– makes us ponder at big questions in life

Is it not covered by the mainstream media?

Is it dramatic?

Is it embarrassing?– guilty pleasure

Is it provocative (but SFW)?– adds spice to life, yet can be openly shared

7

Characteristics

Kolaveri Di

video_

8

Why did ‘Why this Kolaveri Di’ go viral?

^Catchy and foot tapping

^English with Tamil accent

^Subtitles – karaoke approach

^Personalised video with real emotions

^Song can speak more than a trailer

Source – http://www.soravjain.com/why-this-kolaveri-di-%E2%80%93-social-media-

sensation-%E2%80%93-movie-marketing-case-study

9

Top trending #

Nucleus

Seed Velocity

Topic

Mass

Spread (few from

many)

Dense (many from few)

Niche Topicalit

y Resonance

Hashtag

generic

topical

contextual

Influencers

Speed Credibility

Timing

of day Other trends

Trending

Ingredients of a

trending topic _

Source – www.blogworks.in

Characteristics

Viral content

design _

10

Information Design

Interestingness

•Relevant

•Meaningful

•New

Function

•Easiness

•Usefulness

•Usability

•Fit

Form

•Beauty

•Structure

•Appearance

Integrity

•Truth

•Consistency

•Honesty

•Accuracy

Result Interestingness Function Form Integrity

Experiment P P

Sketch P P

Eye-candy P P

Proof of concept P P

Ugly P P P

Rubbish P P P

Boring P P P

Useless P P P

Success information

design P P P P

Source – mashable.com

Integrated viral

execution _

11

Old Spice example

^In July 2010, Old Spice launched their video campaign (was the

fastest growing online viral video campaign ever)

^Created a bathroom set and had their brand endorser (A TV star)

reply to online comments and questions from Facebook, Twitter,

Youtube

^The campaign ran for three days

Thank you_