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'?
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?
I guess its not really any one thing that can make a video or a website or anything for that matter go viral. Its a combination of things... just my opinion its got to be original but something everyone can connect to. today there are so many things on the internet and lots of them are funny so funny is not enough for something to go viral... for example cat videos are funny, even popular but not viral... for something to go viral it has to strike a chord touch upon some emotion that people can share and connect to. There was this one blog post written by this south Indian girl who was actually just ranting but in that process she ended up saying a lot of things about north Indian men in general and that post was seen by millions of people and lots of them.. it was not funny but defiantly went viral. So don't know what makes things go viral guess its an X factor.
ReplyDeleteI agree... comedy is what people think make a video go viral.. but it's not always true... like you said.. there are many such videos which people watch and just share... and they are not always comic!! I guess in a world with billions of people, its easy to find some audience for anything and everything! From a marketing POV, just make sure you've nailed the right audience! ;)
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