As the age of the Internet and Social Media continues to evolve and become almost a necessity in the day to day lives of the modern lifestyle, many companies and their marketing divisions are creating advert campaigns that have the aim of going ‘viral’ to reach as many people as possible. However, just posting a video on one website on the Internet is like putting up a poster in a town hall and hoping to appeal to the whole county; ineffective at best, a waste of money at worst (Gabriel, 2013).

The aim of a viral advertising campaign is to connect with a target audience whom will find the advert engaging enough to feel they should share it with others, best described as a snowball effect (Oden & Larsson, 2011). Content is posted on various social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and other online sources such as email, blogs and web services. Consumers choosing to share content through these channels contribute to what is known as the word-of-mouth phenomena, increasing the popularity of the advert by creating a wider audience for the company.

The toughest task for a firm is deciphering what content is required for the advert to go viral and through what channels should it be distributed. According to the CEO of Sharethrough, Dan Greenberg (2010), three key characteristics exist that all videos that are created with the purpose of going viral must have to be successful. The first is a psychological motivation to share, consisting of emotions, self-expression, identity and engaging information. The second is the ease with which the user can share the video, connecting to the focus of this blog –  how a video campaign should be distributed, the easier it is to share the more effective the campaign is likely to be. Finally, the strategy should be data-driven, allowing the video to become viral.

To reach the mass audience the viral advert is targeting, a smart distribution strategy must exist behind the brand content, otherwise it will be completely ineffective and fail (Beardsell, 2009). Important distribution choices include:

• ‘Seeding and Nurturing your Content’ – i.e. deciding which social media channel to post your video on, and nurturing the activity around it e.g. teaser trailers. In terms of recent success stories, Rockstar Games used this method incredibly well when promoting their video game ‘Grand Theft Auto V’. They produced two teaser trailers released prior to releasing the game on 13 Septmber 2013, the first on the 2 November 2011. These aided the company selling 12 million copies of the game on the first day it was on sale. The trailer can be viewed below.
• ‘Content Partners Network’ – i.e. If working with a video blogger, using their strategy to reach fans.
• ‘Search and Video Search’ – i.e. every brand content should have a search strategy behind it, to increase discoverability. Search Engine Optimisation makes content easier to find, allowing campaigns to be posted higher on search engine results.

For a full overview of Beardsell’s distribution strategies, please Click here to view them, as the above is just a brief overview of a few distribution strategies she discusses.

Once having chosen the social media channels you want to distribute on, the campaign must then be uploaded online. A time consuming process, however there are other companies that have a solution for this problem. Tubemogal and Blip.tv are examples that Tim Frick (2010) makes reference to, removing the time-consuming process involved with uploading your video to different sharing sites. For a more comprehensive insight into video distribution methods view Return on Engagement : Content, Strategy, and Design Techniques for Digital Marketing.

References

Beardsell, C. (2009) Strategies for Distributing Online Video Content. ClickZ. 10 February 2009 [Online] <http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1707591/strategies-distributing-online-video-content> [accessed 13 April 2015]

Frick, T. (2010)  Return on Engagement : Content, Strategy, and Design Techniques for Digital Marketing. Burlington: Elsevier

Greenberg, D. (2010) 3 Thing Any Video Needs To Go Viral. Mashable. 19 October 2010 [Online] <http://mashable.com/2010/10/19/viral-video-science/> [accessed 12 April 2015]

Gabriel, C. (2013) A Viral Audience Can Only Happen With the Right Marketing Bait. Adweek. 30 September 2013 [Online] <http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/viral-audience-can-only-happen-right-marketing-bait-152755> [accessed 12 April 2015]

Oden, N. & Larsson, R. (2011) What makes a marketing campaign a viral success? A descriptive model exploring the mechanisms of viral marketing. [Online] Vol 1 (Issue 1) Available at <http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:433110/FULLTEXT01.pdf> [accessed 12 April 2015]