Rosa Jin

A fellow student in my faculty, Kelsey Ingham, published a blogpost on discussing the common, thus ‘necessary’ components of a viral video, on her website. According to Kelsey, there are five factors which increase the odds of “[landing] your brand a viral video”: the promotion by and association with Tastemakers, the opportunity for expansion by the audience via Participation, unexpected Originality, having Optimal Shareability to allow for the most views and greatest distribution, and having Minimal Branding.

It is interesting then, to consider the ways in which the websites responsible for promoting said viral videos (such as those mentioned in her post, “Nyan Cat,” “Girl Catches on Fire While Twerking,” etc.) market themselves. This extends to marketing firms as a whole industry, but established marketing companies are able to use previous ads or productions as examples of their abilities. How to virtual “marketing” sites (that market these viral videos) or blogs expand or gain popularity as a source of these trends, if what they are promoting is not a result of their own work?

In many ways, Kelsey’s five key ingredients for a viral video also work in symmetry, in the marketing of a virtual “marketing firm” …

Tastemakers: Uploading viral videos or general content featuring popular, relevant celebrities or internet sensations, means that the more the story or event is searched for online, the more your site will be used to access this hot-off-the-press news. Obviously, featuring the recent activity of Miley Cyrus is bound to bring your site closer to the top of search results.

Participation and Optimal Shareability: Having a section for comments and posing questions, in the body of the summarization of the viral video/story, that stimulate responses, as well as having an recognizable domain or name that can be easily remembered and searched, is sure to be effective in the growth in popularity, especially by word-of-mouth (“I saw the video of Sharkeisha on XYZ.com“)

Unexpectedness: Having an original view or analysis of a scandal, or maybe even providing an unexpected remix of a viral video, is bound to catch the eye of viewers that have seen dozens of similar accounts of the same scenario. Perez Hilton, during the peak of his website’s success, clearly gained attention from the blunt and often vulgar summarization of the latest entertainment news.

Minimal Branding: No one wants to hear the name of a site at the start of every remix, or have their view of the video obstructed by a site’s watermark at the start of the video, much like many graduating seniors dislike having to cough up enough cash to obtain cap and gown photos without the “PROOF” label slashed across their faces.

Marketing the world of marketing. Marketing marketing. Marketing squared. Who knew it would be be so symmetrical?