Understanding Viral Videos!

I've been racking my brains to try and figure out how I can help people using social media. The answer has always been right in front of me - people power. But it wasn't until recently that I realised the true potential of it! When a few months back, the song 'Why This Kolaveri Di' went viral, I realised the real power of social media. But I still need to understand what makes something 'go viral'. What's that one thing that made over a million people around the world watch a video of a song in a language many would not even have understood? And then why did they share it? Forget the rest of the world, why did I share it?

People may wonder, being a digital marketing student, how can I be saying that I don't understand what makes a video go viral! Well the fact is, if anyone knew the secret to make every video go viral, then there would be no questions! But fact is, the same formula seldom works twice! Despite using 'recommended' tactics to promote NGOs and non-profit organizations, they don't gain the popularity that some accidentally viral videos do! This is the point I want to understand! Why is it that 44 million people watch this video, but not half of them will watch or share videos about missing dogs or animals being rescued, etc?



I myself showed at least 3-4 people the video, many of them showed it to 3-4 people and so I helps spread the word. So how is it that the same effect is not seen when people share information about animal rescue or any other social cause?

The questions have been ticking in my mind like the timer of a time bomb!! I still have no answer. I guess some of us liked the use of the south Indian accent. But was that the only reason people watched it so many times and made so many versions of it? No, it's not possible. Trying to understand what makes a video go viral, made me think of another video which had gone viral ages ago. Some of you might remember it, 'The Badger Song'?

Can you imagine the number of views on this video? Around 13 million when I embedded it here! But how? If anyone can solve the riddle of 'why' videos go viral, he/she could call himself the viral guru! One might say 'comedy', 'interactiveness of the video', etc. Fact is, it could be all of these plus more! The 'more' here is the mystery!

At present I'm experimenting with using the power of social media and viral videos to  promote awareness so that people will take responsibility of helping animals around them. Whether it is for helping animals or helping people, or any other purpose, understanding what makes videos go viral will make sure we can easily spread the word on important issues!

So tell me, why would you share (or have your shared) these videos? 

Wroom Wroom...

I am loving my projects at Hult... Last module the project I loved the most was Dentsu's GreenTomatoCars Campaign... This time, I'm quite sure it's going to be the one with Porsche... Amazing!! I just love the fact that what we work with such companies. In fact, we work with so many amazing companies -- some of whom are start-ups, some non-profits, some big well-known names in the industry!

Whichever company we work with, we are treated exactly like (or at least more or less exactly like) real consultants! The most fascinating aspect of our projects is that we know that in many cases, some of our ideas will actually be used, so we're not just being graded on things!

  

A new series, and a new episode!

So I created another web-series for the Network. This video is about animals planning to help us, cause they think we are just to messed up to do it for ourselves!

The series is titled 'The Takeover', since it is about the way animals will be taking over our lives. But this is no ordinary 'takeover'! The only reason the animals are trying to takeover is because they feel that during this troublesome time (recession et al), we need help in surviving. Since they have survived for decades without any worries, they are now going to help us, mankind, survive! But will they be able to? Don't we humans tend to put them down generally?

Last week I also released the second episode of 'Every Little Bit Helps'.

Chris makes the pitch to his boss with the presentation, but what do you do when you have a boss who is just not willing to see anything beyond numbers?! The boss has given him a challenge! From here on, the story will go the way people want it! If he has enough supporters for his cause, he will go ahead with it, if not...

Since the series in meant to show people the kind of problems that people trying to help animals face, it is best to get people to direct the story!! I have thought of keeping it simple: If you support Chris, like the video! If by the time the time runs out, Chris does not have 50 likes on his video, then he has not won the challenge! Simple, isn't it?

The Bong Connection

Before coming to London, I thought I should try and get back in touch with the 'Bong' side of me.

Having been brough up in Delhi, I hardly kept much connection with either the bong side or the konkan side of me! It's not like people living in another city lose connection with their roots. It's just that since your peers are from that area, you tend to find a midde ground!

Just celebrating the same festivals is not really understanding a way of life! festivals and occasions are just a minor section of it! To understand they way people live, you need to 'live' the life they live!!

Just before coming to London, I thought of going and spending time getting reconnected to my bong side. (For those of you who don't know what 'bong' means, it's basically a slang for Bengali)

I wanted to go to Kolkatta to say bye to my relatives before coming to London. It might surprise most people that the way life is in Bengal is different from the way life is in Delhi! However, I was in Cal for only 2 weeks. I was happy that I finally got some time to understand their way of life. What I never thought of, was connecting with the modern Bengali way of life. That too, I did not learn this in India; I learnt this in London!

Many of you might be aware of the traditional culture in Bengal, but how many of you know about their real way of living? Bengali music is for instance always associated to Rabindranath Tagore. Not like that's a bad thing, but that's like associating English literature only with Shakespeare!! While traditional songs are a part of Bengali music's history, it is not the only Bengali music! People hardly know about the upbeat bengali songs! All this, I learnt after coming to London! In fact to be honest, I have never interacted with so many Bengalis in my life (other than my family)

Some Bengali movies, are so much better than Hindi ones I've watched!! But sadly, only Hindi movies seem to portray 'Indian' movies to most of the world (other than film buffs who would know of other films too)! It's true with Marathi movies too, and I suppose with movies of other languages too.

I must say, I'm looking forward to going back and discovering the Konkani side of me next!!

So I made my first web-series a few days ago. I know last time I wrote about starting a travel blog, and I have, though I have not gone public with it just yet!

The video above is my first shot at seeing how I can use webisodes for marketing purposes. Since I am a student, I do not have the liberty of splurging money around. That is why I have started using YouTube's Video Creator Apps. The best thing about it is that I am just getting to know the app. I love the fact that there are different kinds of videos that can be created using the apps.

Some provide animated characters like the ones I used above. However, there are also other kinds of videos which are more useful for people who want to make video presentations.

Fact is that while doing my report for my digital channel, I had to explore the world of webisodes and mobisodes. That was when I realised it. A picture says a thousand words, then a movie?

Every Little Bit Helps is a series about young adults who are trying to change the way people around them think. This episode starts showing the hostility and attitude a large number of people have to the very concept of CSR.

As of now, this video was released on 31st January, 2012 and has received 73 views. I realise that the number may not be extraordinarily high, but nonetheless, at least it reached that many without any advertising (apart from the few tweets and facebook posts). I have till now, not spent a penny on my NOAH campaign. But have managed to get around 205 followers (of which I only worked at getting the first 120 or so)!

If NOAH does well, I will definitely be on cloud no 9! I just need to put in a bit more effort!