Viral Marketing â Science Or Fiction?

‘Going viral.’ In 2015, it’s become an expectation, almost a rite of passage, especially in the marketing and advertising industry.

Whilst no one can guarantee millions of views for your video, or thousands of shares for your social media content, understanding the science behind ‘going viral’ means the chances of your content being shared will increase.

Just a few ads and campaigns reached the dizzy heights of viral status in 2014 – Always’ ‘Like A Girl’ campaign, Sport England’s ‘This Girl Can’ ad and John Lewis’ annual Christmas ad contribution were among the lucky few.

But how can you actually achieve that sought after ‘viral’ status? Last week, I went along to the DMA’s ‘Go Viral While You’re Young’ event in London to find out.

It was conceded early on into the event that, whilst you can plan with the very best intentions to make your content (whether that’s video or social media) go viral, you should always err on the side of caution.

A prime example of this came from one speaker at the event from Cancer Research UK’s social media team. Speaking about the #nomakeupselfie craze of last year, he explained that the trend wasn’t actually started by the organisation. Instead, someone posted on Facebook saying they’d taken their #nomakeupselfie to support Cancer Research UK. A quick meeting was held by the organisation’s social media team, and they quickly realised they needed to piggyback on this opportunity for fundraising.

The day after they started to actively tweet and post about the #nomakeupselfie trend by encouraging donations and actively thanking people, posts peaked, increasing by 18% overnight. The campaign resulted in £8 million worth of donations for Cancer Research UK in one week, and over 180,000 social media mentions for the organisation in tweets mentioning #nomakeupselfie.

One of the other talks given at the event was from the agency behind Crème Egg’s viral ‘Have a fling with a Crème Egg’ campaign. Their top tip? Great creative content teamed with reliable reach will result in storytelling achieved at scale.

And it’s true. The right content is absolutely essential. More than that though, it’s got to provoke a reaction in one form or another – whether it’s funny, emotive or otherwise. It’s the feeling your content evokes that will generate a reaction – hopefully in the form of a like, a tweet, a share or a comment.

The strategy behind the ‘Have a fling with a Crème Egg’ campaign was simple – playing on a series of storylines including seasonal obsession, ‘food porn’ and ‘quickies’ to get across a sense of urgency and the short-term availability of the product.

Once you’ve got that winning content, how are you going to get it seen? That’s where reach comes in. After all, why would you spend thousands on content for a campaign, when no one will see it? Ensuring you have a comprehensive plan in place for getting your content seen – whether that’s online PR, social media advertising or PPC ads – is essential.

For the Crème Egg campaign, creative thought went into every social media post, which was heavily supported by TV, press advertising and POS.

The campaign resulted in a 20% uplift in sales year on year – the only difference being the emphasis they’d placed on social media content.

So, what are the top tips for achieving viral status?

1. Great creative content is essential.

2. Support your content with other forms of media.

3. Provoke some kind of reaction with your content – whether that’s taking an action or stirring an emotion.

4. Don’t rely on going viral – make sure there’s a back-up plan in place just in case it doesn’t happen.

That just leaves one lingering, unanswered question. Is there a science behind the successful execution of viral marketing? The answer is probably ‘no’, but being armed with as much data and research and ensuring that you plan for both success and failure will give you the best possible opportunity of making a splash in the vast sea of digital and social content.