Viral marketing is one of the most interesting new developments in the world of advertising, and it’s a great way to build your brand. In the past, advertisements were expected to be straightforward and informative in order to tell the customers everything they need to know about your business. Viral videos work on a different principle. They’re edgy, unpredictable, and often mysterious, yet they work remarkably well. Follow these 5 tips to help your brand video go viral.
- Hook the Audience
In order to capture the attention of your target market with a viral video, you’ll need to show them something they’ve never seen before. Give your viewers something intriguing, something that they’ll want to talk about with their friends. This is a great way to make a personal connection with your audience, because a viral video is as much entertainment as it is marketing. Think about your target audience and try to connect with their interests to encourage the spread of your video through multiple social circles. - Work Viral Triggers
When you create and promote a viral video, you have to consider what makes your audience tick, as well as what makes them share. Consider this: what would make you share a video? Common viral video triggers are things such as funny, sexy or surprising content. Socially relevant topics and current events are other common triggers. These are the things that turn a passive viewer into a viral marketing channel. Building your brand video around viral triggers such as these is a great way to encourage active sharing among your viewers. - Encourage Sharing
It will do you no good to put the burden of sharing on your audience. In fact, this will do nothing but hamper your brand video’s viral potential. Use things like downloads, embedded links, and shortened URLs to make sure that your video is easy to share once it hits the net. Twitter friendly links and embed codes for internet forums are two of your greatest assets in viral marketing. Allowing for downloads puts your video in the hands of the audience, encouraging reworkings, re-imaginings, and reinterpretations. This will help turn your video into a pop culture icon, making sure that it will have long-lasting relevance. - Grow Through Multiple Channels
Creating a video and uploading it to YouTube is not the end of your work in viral marketing. Try using services like TubeMogul to get your video uploaded to multiple video websites at once, and send your clip to well-known bloggers who may find it relevant to their content. If you have the funding available, you may even want to pay for seeding services that can help quickly disseminate your video through other popular channels. - Promote Through Social Media
Finally, once your video is uploaded to the web, promote nonstop. Social media networks are the best places to easily generate more exposure and traffic for your viral video. Don’t worry about unnatural links harming your SEO–this is viral marketing. Promote actively on every social media network that you use. Every hit could mean dozens or hundreds of possible shares. This is how viral videos grow and gain popularity. They spread like viruses.