How Does Something Go Viral?
How Does Something Go Viral?
One of the many questions we get asked by our clients is: how do we get our campaign to go viral?
There have been many books, papers, and blog posts written about how does something go viral and others fall flat (in fact there’s even a mathematical function about it). To be honest, there’s no surefire guarantee that your content will go viral. However, there is one thing that can give you the best possible chance: killer content. If you truly want something to go viral, then the content must be interactive, exciting, relatable, and engaging. This may seem pretty easy to do, especially if you have a sexy product like an energy drink or the latest digital accessory, but what if your product or service is not-so-sexy?
That’s the beauty of Experiential Marketing
It can make any product or service leave a lasting impression, because that’s what an experience does, by definition. At the Pineapple Agency, we love to create immersive, unique experiences and activations that create an emotional connection between brand and consumer. Our killer content is the aggregate of videos, pictures, and social engagement that has been captured from our unique activations. This content can be repurposed to create commercials, digital/print advertisements, or full-fledged traditional marketing campaigns utilizing multiple marketing distribution channels. In order to have the best chance of going viral, the content should be:
- Engaging (visuals, audio, etc.)
- Able to attract consumers on as many channels as possible
- Easily shareable
- Personalized and/or relatable on an emotional level
- Meaningful, and helps your audience become more educated and/or helps them solve a problem
Just because your content satisfies these requirements doesn’t necessarily mean that your content will automatically go viral and hit millions of people, but they will give it the best chance to be shared by your most sought after prospects. Even if your content does not reach virality this time around, you are still creating content that your audience desires, as well as continuing to establish your company as a credible authority in your field. Regardless, you want to be educating your prospects so they are more equipped to buy your product/service and want to share your company with as many people as possible.
One of our projects that went viral within the Colorado area was Terminal Kings: a public art project commissioned by Denver International Airport (DIA). Over a ten day period 10,000 people packed Denver’s City Hall event center to watch graffiti artists David Cho, Highraff, and Sam Flores paint three of the largest hand-painted murals that would be displayed in the airport. During what was the most highly attended non-permanent art exhibit in Colorado for that year, The Terminal Kings social platforms saw staggering increases in the number of followers and almost every major news outlet in Colorado picked up on the project, thus creating additional viral buzz for the Denver International Airport, which was already infamous for the large, creepy, and potentially haunted Mustang sculpture displayed along Peña Boulevard. The project was turned into several pieces of content and eventually served as the backbone for the overall marketing campaign for DIA’s Terminal Kings public art project. To find out more about the Terminal Kings project, please see our case study on the project here.
Considering an experiential activation for your company?
Let’s chat.
