Ah, the viral video!  It’s both a striking media debut and a tool many marketers aspire to, but few achieve. There is no 100% magic success formula that will send a video spiraling across Facebook pages and racking up the “likes” on YouTube, but there are some common themes and characteristics you can aim to hit when crafting your own spot. Here’s what it takes:

Short. A viral video needs to be fit for mass consumptions, and if there’s one thing the masses have in common, it’s a short attention span. Keep the length of your video under a minute.

Weird. Puppets smelling fingers? News reporters flubbing it on air? Shirtless men swan diving out of kitchens? Viral videos all have a touch of the bizarre, and it’s often that impulse to “figure it out” that keeps people viewing and sending it to their friends to weigh in. Aim for the offbeat if you’re looking to go mainstream.

Accessible. Make sure your video is hosted in a place that can support the bandwidth that you’re hoping to achieve. Keeping it on your website is great for company exposure, yes, but if your counter hits the tens of thousands, your site will be down and your video’s 15 minutes will be over before they begin. The tried and true usually works: go with YouTube.

Siging off for now,

Buyer Advertising
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