To those outside the marketing stratosphere, viral marketing is all about big openings, massive advertising campaigns and a huge amount of exposure. While this may reflect the end result, and it is certainly accurate for a number of large-scale viral campaigns, it almost never reflects the reality of a viral marketing campaign.

Part of this illusion comes down to the public’s view of viral marketing. Instead of viewing the operations of a viral marketing plan from the inside, consumers focus on the external indicators and situations. That means that they never see the small opening, the gradual expansion and snowball effect, and the transition from cult content to viral phenomenon. When all you see is the final effects, your view of the entire event changes.

Then there is the one exception: when a phenomenon from within their subculture makes it into the mainstream. Avid internet users will surely remember Snakes On A Plane, the semi-ridiculous film concept that made it from rejected script to Hollywood movie, all because of viral internet attention. If you have seen that unfold from the start, you have an idea of how things truly go viral, just from a very unplanned and unexpected perspective. Nobody expected that movie to go ahead — but because of that unpredictable buzz, the public ended up with a movie that came into its life like any other Hollywood film.

What this means for content creators is that big is not the beginning; it is only the destination. Viral content flows from subcultures and niches; it is not born in the mainstream. To truly create a viral masterpiece, you need to invest in the attention of a certain subculture or online niche. Create something that everyone in a particular online area will be talking about and you willend up with something that has great potential to spread. Build content that anyone and everyone will be interested in and you will never create the passionate, concentrated conversation that causes things to go viral.

There is a slight fallacy in this, that you need to avoid instant mainstream attention in order to generate massive mainstream attention. It sounds bizarre, but it’s a characteristic that’s common amongst all of the internet’s memes and viral messages. They are all born in a small community, they’re all spread by passionate and dedicated members, and they’re all eventually propelled to big mainstream attention. That attention is not built into the product — it is built into the audience and the discussion.

Your viral video is not going to take off if you just post it on Youtube and expect it to spread, no matter how large its crossover potential is. Even a flawed video will spread with enough discussion and attention. If you want your viral video to spread, you need to focus on tailoring it for a specific audience, building it so that it will translate across to other communities, and create a message that’s simple and repeatable. Then you will get the discussion, the exposure, and eventually, the mainstream success.

Andrea Kalli
Certified Internet and Social Marketing VA

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Tags and Categories: Online Business, Promotion and Marketing, video, viral marketing, virtualassist.net, youtube

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