Why No One Will Watch Bad "Viral" Video

On Fast Company (@FastCompany), Scott Stratten (@unmarketing), president of UnMarketing.com, says, “You can't make something go viral. You don't decide, I don't decide, the audience does.”

If you're hoping for your latest content to go viral, it has to do one thing: evoke strong emotion. Key word there is “strong.” If someone lightly laughs at something, or is slightly inspired, that doesn’t make them jump to the “share” button. It has to be to the level of awesome. Awesomely funny, upsetting, uplifting, offensive, whatever the emotion is – it has to hit it hard.

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Over on Ad Age (@adage), marketing pundit Bob Garfield (@Bobosphere) writes:

Though evidence is accumulating that brandedness suppresses passalong, that doesn't mean brands shouldn't be both creating and curating content for their various constituencies. In fact, as we edge ever further into the Relationship Era, in which trust is the most valuable asset, providing compelling and relevant content through multiple channels is an ever-more important way to sustain connections. For instance, Betty Crocker's cake videos, pure how-to content sought out by moms wishing to bake birthday cakes shaped like dinosaurs and princesses, have been clicked on 70 million times.

And, as I've mentioned before, there is a huge, untapped opportunity for a brand to pass along found video to its various circles, much in the way any friend would.

Finally, brands can be part of larger movements, when those enterprises reside in the common ground shared by the brand and its customers

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Also see our previous blogposts, “The 3 Qualities That Make A YouTube Video Go Viral” and "Forget Product Positioning: This is the Dawn of the Relationship Era."

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you effectively communicate your brand message through strategic and creative video.

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