Creating Great Content: The Viral Marketing Virus

Key Takeaways

• Focus on Quality, Not Virality: The article emphasizes that while going viral can be a benefit of great content, it should not be the primary goal. Instead, marketers should prioritize creating high-quality, emotionally resonant content that tells a story and engages the audience meaningfully.
• Embrace Purposeful Content Creation: In today’s crowded media landscape, content should be purposeful and relevant. Marketers need to think strategically about their audience, distribution plans, and the cultural context to ensure their content stands out and resonates with viewers.
• Understand the Role of Storytelling: Effective storytelling is essential for content creation. Whether planned or spontaneous, successful content often strikes an emotional chord with its audience. Marketers are encouraged to craft unique narratives that integrate their brand naturally, rather than forcing the product into the spotlight.

Listen up: Going viral is a benefit to creating great content, not the goal.

But if you’re really committed to creating great content, a viral marketing campaign:

Creating viral content is this easy.
And this difficult.
Here’s my fool-proof 3-step process.

1. Create content that strikes an emotional cord (funny, sad, inspirational) and is distinctly unique and you’re one step closer to viral.
2. Create content that tells a story, not a tagline, and you’re one step closer to going viral. 
3. If you’re branding it, make the product part of the story, not THE story.

Not all that helpful, right? Truly the devil is in the details. Storytelling. More art than science. That’s why there is no Einstein-esque formula for viral. If only “viral” were as simple as math. It takes time to create and make a story. Songwriters, ad professionals, photographers, marketers, movie makers, writers, videographers, graphic designers.  Storytellers. And once in a while, a storyteller also gets lucky. And viral happens. Think of all the stories out there today. Not too many go viral, but does that make them not worth making? Of course not.

Update 2024:

Today we’re reaching into the archives to update a post I authored in 2008. 

Looking through this article (full text below), which originally appeared in 2002, I was struck by how much has changed and how much hasn’t. 

Going viral has changed a bit, and it happens faster than ever, thanks to platforms like TikTok, which we couldn’t even conceive of in 2010. 

On the other hand, content serves us differently now, and we have a lot more at our disposal. 

It’s interesting to look back through the time machine and compare content then vs. now. 

What’s changed?

We have more channels of distraction than ever. 

More isn’t always better, and that’s where we are today.Today, everyone is a creator—from influencers to publicists and marketers, even your neighbor next door. We have more channels competing for our time and attention. A lot has changed since the halcyon days of social media. The competition for eyeballs is great. It’s better to niche down and create content for a very specific audience, but don’t even try to please everyone. Of course, that’s not a license to be offensive, which brings me to my next point.

It means that creating great content must be purposeful and relevant. More than ever, you must think like a movie studio; if you’re going to spend the effort to create great content, what’s the distribution plan? What’s the marketing plan? Is there something newsworthy about it?

Cancel Culture Thrives on Viral Viruses

In today’s world, a very real question brands have to ask themselves: is viral content worth the risk? We live in a very divided time, and often, what strikes a cord is something that’s divisive to others (see: Budlight Controversy) . It’s easy for brands, be they purpose-driven or otherwise, to respond to the cancel culture with bland content to avoid a PR crisis.

Creating great content that goes viral in the best way, without offending a person or a group really requires diversity of perspectives at the content creation table.

We’re All Just Living in This Moment Together

Remember that moment during the COVID pandemic when we were all doing the exact same thing? There was a second there when the world felt very united. We had a common enemy: the virus. A common enemy is a great storytelling level, and lots of brands jumped to be part of the most important cultural moment of our lifetimes. That moment has passed, and it seems we’ve gone from one crisis to another for years now.

Even as I write this, in an election year, there are still things that unite us–your customers. Animals, from dogs and cats to sheep and donkeys, unite us. Rollercoasters (people love them or hate them) are divisive, but they still unite us. Simple pleasures like swimming in a lake or taking a nap under the dappled sun of a big shade tree are a shared experience. Nostalgia is a great uniter.

It’s more important than ever to tap into the zeitgeist of the time, know your audience very well, and be alongside them on their journey. It’s often a surprise when a beautifully created, well-crafted, branded, but bland video doesn’t go viral. I’m often left wondering—what would make it go viral? What planning went behind the distribution of the video? Was there something a viewer could really get emotional about? What was the plan to get people to view it?

So what’s stayed the same?

Create the best, most memorable content you can create.

Today: decide on your overall content strategy, put the time and effort into greatness, think like a movie studio, and create a plan.

Original Post: 2010

So, in honor of The Story, let me tell you one. About 4 years ago, I talked with Judson Laipply, whose own viral video in 2006, “Evolution of Dance,” received 70 million views in under 8 months. At the time, it was the #1 most viewed video of all time on YouTube (way before Gangnam Style). Judson’s performance tells a great story in an entertaining, unique way. When I asked him about his own viral video, he said that he put it up on YouTube as a fluke and that, in fact, someone in the audience recorded it and sent it to him. Judson was as surprised as anyone at the response; he wasn’t already famous (like some other viral video creators) Â, and he didn’t have a huge social media following at the time.  Since then, he’s done several follow-ups but none so successful as the original. Today, Judson is a working motivational speaker. The point is completely of the moment. Yep. Complete accident? Yep. Repeatable? Probably not. With all due respect to Judson, we’ve all been there and done that.

It’s pretty rare that branded material go viral. If you look at the most popular YouTube videos of all time (YouTube Charts), not a single one is a branded video. Almost all of them are music videos (YouTube being to this generation what MTV was to mine). Coincidence? No.  Does that mean that branded content can’t still be powerful? No. Check out the videos in particular categories. The all-time #1 video in the auto & vehicles segment is a COMMERCIAL. The Volkswagen/Darth Vadar commercial originally aired during the Superbowl 2011 (you don’t even have to go find it, do you? You remember it). Notably, none of the other Superbowl ads from that year or this year can claim the number one spot in any category. There were some great branded viral videos in 2012; my personal favorite was the Dollar Shave Club, which appears deceptively simple, but once you break it down, you realize it’s the product of a lot of talent and planning.

There is a theme here: either viral is completely planned, thought out, and scripted, or it’s completely of the moment, off-the-cuff. One is time-consuming, expensive, and lucky, and one is JUST lucky.  Which are you?

So go forth, my marketing compadres. Create amazing content in whatever medium you wish. Please. But create amazing content because it’s the right thing to do if you’re going to create content at all. By creating content, you’re saying something about your brand, whether 1,000 people see it or 1 billion people see it. Create the best, most memorable content you can create. And move on. And remember, sometimes it’s about quality over quantity.