In the past 5 years the explosion of social media has opened countless doors for brands to reach millions in a simple post. One of the big trends that this has given birth to is the “Viral Video”, often they’re just videos of friends doing stupid stunts, although increasingly corporations are using them as a marketing tool. And very effectively. The effective use of Twitter and Facebook means these videos can reach the news feed of anyone in the world in just a matter of hours or minutes.

Take for example the “Kony 2012” video. It was launched by the non-profit group Invisible Children Inc on a Monday and by Friday it had over 70 million views, 200 clips associated with it and more than 500,000 comments, according to Visible Measures. This video really set the standard as the worlds fastest moving viral video and opened the eyes of marketers as the the value these videos have.

Redbull are another Viral Video giant and below is one of my personal favorite viral videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0jmSsQ5ptw#t=38

Filmed in four hours with a camera mounted on a Mercedes SUV and 40 GoPro cameras, it took a 23 person crew consisting of NASA aeronautical engineers, mechanical engineers, and former Disney Imagineers working with the athletes to devise the device.

No doubt Invisible Children Inc and Redbull shelled out a mini fortune to make these videos, and it really has to be something to go “Viral”. Although they pay nothing for reaching millions within a week or two of the initial posting. This is surely much cheaper than any other type of advertising when you consider the cost to number of views ratio.

Viral Videos are still young and expect in the next 10 to 20 years that companies are going to make it or break it depending their rapid spread.