Revolution Forum: six pillars of viral video success

by Andrew McCormick, revolutionmagazine.com 02-Jul-09, 14:48

LONDON - Richard Spalding, founder of Diffusion Media Group and Kontraband.com, today outlined six key factors in making videos go viral.

Speaking at the Revolution Forum, Spalding, who recently worked on a viral campaign for NHS Leicester on a budget of £7,000, said that advertisers with budgets large and small are testing out viral video marketing, but warned that success is not guaranteed.

"Success rates for viral videos is about 10 per cent and the best you can hope for is something people can engage with," said Spalding.

Spalding's six pillars of viral video:

1. Don't create conventional TV type ads

2. The creative must pull an audience, not be pushed on to them

3. Don't create content which is static

4. Understand your objective first instead of just doing it because it's cheap and trendy

5. Viral does not drive click-throughs

6. You don't have to be funny, shocking or rude; just engaging

Spalding added that metrics are improving for measuring the success of video content and that it's no longer just about video views. Spalding was speaking at the Revolution Forum for digital marketers in Bournemouth today.

Comments

Steve Winters - 02/07/2009

I would suggest anyone trying to understand what makes a successful viral reads this instead http://digicynic.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/no-one-knows-anything/

jim mcniven - 02/07/2009

Quick addendum to rule number 5: Viral video does not drive click throughs. Viral games on the other hand vary between 10% and 25% CTR

Oli Christie - 03/07/2009

So viral videos offer low engagement, you'll only watch it once or maybe twice at best and there's no click-throughs. Viral games totally immerse you in a brand, you have fun, they engage you for between 5 to 30 minutes and have click-through rates that dwarf any other form of online activity. Plus, they're generally cheaper to produce. Do the maths. See www.postitgame.co.uk as an example of engaging content with a 26% click-through rate.

Victor Guillen - 03/07/2009

I think these kind of videos are a tool for below the line marketing in order to catch consumers' attention.Maybe someday "below the line" becomes "above the line" like TV or cable ads.