Can You Make This Go Viral?

Content is everywhere. We are constantly being bombarded with all kinds of content, infographics, ads, podcasts etc. Generally with a clear message: “Buy our product! Sign up for our mailing list! Read our article!” But what makes content successful? The formula couldn’t be more simple: Appeal to the largest audience possible with a clear message and an explicit call to action. Right?

Wrong. Often the most successful and exciting content deviates from the formula. Here are a few pointers from the latest and greatest in viral content.

1.  Be innovative and disruptive. Often the most successful content breaks from the traditional norms and wisdoms of what advertising and content has to be. Explicit branding and messaging is not always necessary to move viewers to action.
   • Example: Wren’s ““FIRST KISS
2. Successful content segments and targets a narrow audience. Having a narrow focus is key to ensuring the success of content. It is much easier and far more strategic to tailor content to a targeted audience than it is to try and please all the people. What was it that Abraham Lincoln said? “You can’t please all of the people all of the time. But you can blow the minds of some of the people and let them tell all of the people.”
   • Example: and   “The Dress”“Chewbacca Mom”
3. Identify the audience, platform, and metrics. Do your research! By identifying a small segment of the population to target you can examine the characteristics of that audience and learn what types of content and which platforms have worked in the past and what has completely failed.  Preparation is setting yourself up for success.
   • Example: #ForTheLoveOf

Fashion label Wren’s viral video “FIRST KISS” shows that you should not be afraid to be innovative and disruptive. This ad defied all traditional knowledge about advertising, and yet that is precisely what made it a success.

The 2014 video takes place in a photography studio, as strangers are instructed to kiss for the first time. The video captures their awkward, tender, and ultimately heart-warming interactions. It’s easy to see why the touching video went viral.

What many viewers did not realize was that this video was actually a fashion campaign for Wren. The Wren logo appears at the beginning of the video, in the corner of the screen for only a few seconds with no other indication that the video is an advertisement or even related to fashion.

Yet when the video went viral, traffic to Wren’s website increased 14,000%, Business Insider reported. The video was so interesting and moving that audience members sought to find the creator on their own, without provocation or direction to do so. The success of this video belies traditional wisdom that audiences need an explicit call to action to act.

The success of “The Dress” and “Chewbacca Mom,” on the other hand, show that successful content segments and targets a small audience very well. Many content producers today believe that success comes from trying to reach broad audiences. In reality, it’s much more strategic to make content that will appeal to a targeted audience. In many cases, content made for a smaller audience can then become popular enough to reach a wider audience.

In the case of “The Dress,” a couple was simply hoping to solve a debate they’d been having with the aid of family and friends. “Chewbacca Mom” was just trying to make her friends laugh. Yet, in both cases the content was so successful with just their small group of friends and family that it spread and drew attention from a wider audience.

The biggest lesson these unintentional successes highlight for content creators is that creators must identify the audience, platform, and success metrics at the outset of the campaign. By doing so, content producers can conduct streamlined research that narrows their focus and helps identify the specific types of content that have appealed to that audience in the past.

In the case of Micah Challenge’s campaign, #ForTheLoveOf, the short documentary sought to start a conversation with American Evangelical Christian millennials about their role in stopping climate change. By narrowing the focus beyond “millennials,” content creators were able to make more informed decisions about what moved this audience. Research showed that long form social media videos had proven a successful tactic for campaigns targeted at this demographic in the past.

The tone of the film is positive, asking different Evangelical musicians to talk about the things that they love, and the type of world they would love to live in. Combine that with the fact that there isn’t a call to action until the very end of the 22 minute documentary and you have a piece of content that is a relief for ad-wary millennials, who often associate climate change campaigns with an alarmist, negative call to action and heavy, depressing content. The consistently positive tone throughout puts a new spin on the simple role that individuals can have in stopping climate change, rather than making participation seem insurmountable.

The video also became popular with people across the Catholic, Protestant, and Non-Denominational traditions, and even appealed to non-religious viewers. The campaign was so successful in appealing to Evangelical Christians that it was able to reach a wider audience.

The campaign, which consisted of four pieces of video content shared via Facebook, reached over 1 million people. At the outset Micah Challenge intended to reach around 500,000 Evangelical Christian millennials and double the number of followers of their Facebook page. Because the campaign spoke so clearly and authentically to its target audience it reached more than double the amount of people it intended establishing Micah Challenge as the leading expert in Christian Climate Change Advocacy, and during the course of the 3 month campaign grew the Facebook audience by 83% Micah Challenge . This campaign was able to blow its initial metrics out of the water not by accident but because from the very beginning it was clear on who it was targeting, how they were going to get their attention and how they were going to measure success.

As content creators we can get so caught up in wanting to “go viral” that we lose sight of what makes something viral in the first place. Someone has to love it and more than anything people love authenticity. It’s hard to authentically connect these days and because of it there’s a lot of noise out there but here’s how you cut through: 1. Be innovative and disruptive; 2. Segment and Target a narrow audience and 3. Identify not only the audience but the platform and metrics from the outset.

Can’t wait to see what viral genius you content creators of the world give us next!