Virology Series - types of viral content

What happens in a user's head when they click the share button? 

What is going on in social networks when the electric impulse travels like wildfire? 

Social scientists and marketers alike would love to decipher the hidden behaviors and understand the key characteristics of content that generates virality (side note: I know this isn't a term technically, but it needs to be - so it is now).

HECK, I would love to crack the code. I wish this very blog post would immediately overpower you with an overwhelming urge to click the share button (no, but really feel free). Anyone online who says differently is crazy - who doesn't check their Klout.com score every now and then? (read: every five minutes). So I have created this blog series to address this very important topic in digital marketing. This will be the first of many posts that analyzes the science of digital virology - how content spreads the globe. 

Without further ado...

Viral Content Strands (A) and (B)

There are two prominent strands of viral content which can be found online. Each strand type can be easily identified with proper training. Both strand types are very powerful, but each spread the web in a specific recognizable pattern, infecting new viewers at different rates and periods. 

Strand Type A - Single Strand Viruses

Have you ever watched a single video that had over a million views? Most likely that was a single strand virus. They are single strand because in comparison to "type b" they spread from a single, central content piece (video, song, game etc.). This means that they are more likely to have a single url address that spreads through social networks. In their nature, single strand viruses spread more slowly then their "type b" relatives because it takes time for new users to adopt the content, process it (watch it, read it, play it), and repost it. Type A viruses can travel insulated inside certain digital communities and not spread further until they reach a social bridge (an influencer or ordinary person that stretches across several specific social communities). After crossing the bridge it begins to explode again in a new social circle and a new cycle.

These viruses spread more slowly as they rely on sharing-novelty where users believe they are the first adopters of content and first sharers of content in their circle. As this virus travels in cycles with its novelty being reborn from bridge to bridge, it has a longer shelf life. Psy's Gangnam Style is a perfect example of such sustained growth and social bridge usage. The video held remarkably high view rates averaging 9 million views a day. 

At the same time, single strand viruses are also subject to early deaths. If they do not reach their bridges to infect new social circles or if they cross large bridges too early (such as mass-media and television where the novelty value is rendered mostly inert) they die out. 

Can you identify these successful single strand viruses?

Rebecca Black - Friday

Charlie Bit My Finger

Psy - Gangnam Style

Strand Type B - Multiple Strand Viruses

In comparison, multiple strand viruses are born out of a digital habit or behavior - more so than a single, specific identifiable source. As such they can spread quite rapidly with no focal point, as all users across the spectrum in all social circles can embrace the phenomenon at once. These viruses can arise more suddenly and mutate to suit each user's taste, being highly relevant to certain groups. If your own university creates a harlem shake, for example, it is very relevant to you and spreads infectiously within your own university's digital borders. However, the mutated form of the virus cannot travel outside these borders, unless other users adopt the idea - at which point it mutates again. 

Single strand viruses can also become multiple strand as users pick up content and imitate or edit it for their own usage. Just try googling "Rebecca Black Friday Spoof", I'm sure you'll find something. 

The weakness of this strand type is their much shorter shelf life. These viruses catch on fast but burn out quicker. Once you've seen one harlem shake you've seen them all. Novelty is mostly lost. Their short shelf life is also due to their formless nature. They are inherently harder to track and follow, as there is no central point. While you can check to see how many youtube views Psy has, how do you check photobombing? 

 Can you identify these successful multiple strand viruses?

Harlem Shake

Lolcats

Photobombing

Strand A/B Hybrid Super Virus

As far as marketing is concerned, the strongest type of viral content is one that embraces both strategies. Psy's content is hybrid because everyone in the world now knows his dance (and perhaps uploaded a video or two). So marketing agencies should focus on creating content that starts off as a single strand but has a very high potential to mutate into multiple strand. Translation: campaigns should be strong, followable, trackable, centered and they should also  be replicable, user-generatable, spin-off-able, adoptable.  How can you go about doing this? Come back later in the series to find out!!

Next in the Virology Series - The Economics of Viral Content (stay tuned)

The Great MOOC Adventure (part I)

I have decided to take three MOOC's over the next four months and track my experiences and my learning objectives! I have selected a few classes to take and I'm excited to start learning about my new subjects!

For my learning (and to demonstrate this isn't just "for fun"), I have created three main objectives that will designate success

1. Dedicate 5 hours a week per class.
2. Be able to apply concepts outside of class.
3. My own feeling of concept mastery.

I know that number three seems pretty flimsy, as it is very hard to measure. I believe however that a lot of what education gives us is simply the belief and confidence that we are educated. As a marketer I have to argue that there is a lot of added value created that does not come from a classroom or textbook. Whether you learn statistics in Harvard or a community college, it's the same topic, right?

Here are the classes that I have enrolled for:

Ironically, I already had the textbook for this one - I had gotten it for personal use. Thats when I knew I needed this class! 

Couldn't hurt to learn a little bit more about computer languages? I already like languages, so this should be easy - right?

Egyptology and Spanish in the same class - I'm sold!

So the adventure begins!! ...Around October.

Ok, the rest of the story is on the back burner for now, but stay tuned! 

ALSO, feel free to enroll in any of these classes alongside me or any classes that match your interests (links below)

Coursera.org 

Edx.org

Evil Marketing Tactics & Organ Donation

The Dark Side of the Force

Is marketing evil? 

Over the weekend I read an article by Michael Serazio about "Why Marketing has become like Guerrilla Warfare" In the article he talks about how marketing has become more covert and underground. He argues that the line between content and advertisement has been blurred - it is no longer separate (TV Show vs. TV Ad) 

“Much the same is now happening in marketing. Thanks to a confluence of technological change, commercial clutter, and audience habits, the old advertising-media model for campaigns has been falling apart in slow motion. Consumers are more adept than ever at avoiding anything that looks like advertising. And whether or not agencies and corporations want to admit it, the necessary recourse has been to create content that doesn’t look like advertising.”

— Serazio

He talks about the marketing warfare metaphor "conducting marketing campaigns". I have to take pause, as this is a very dangerous argument. I talked about this linguistic phenomenon where certain metaphors are built into languages in a previous blog post.  In my argument I made a connection between the English of "time being money" (spend time, waste time, buy time) and American culture. I however understood the limitations of my argument. The marketing as warfare linguistic metaphor argument raises many questions: Is this metaphor only built into English? Was this metaphor created before guerrilla style tactics existed? Is this metaphor more a symptom of the business as warfare metaphor in English - with marketing being one department?

Serazio also bemoans the ever popular online content curation platforms such as huffpost. Their popularity has come at the cost of the "more trustworthy" hard copy resources, he gives the example of Newsweek going out of business. 

This article left me wondering - is marketing evil? Is guerrilla marketing evil? 

Marketing is Inherently Empty

I think that Serazio makes a couple good points. Marketing has changed - become covert, clever, gone underground. The line between advertisement and content has indeed blurred - look at the new "sponsored" Facebook posts that show up in your newsfeed.  I know that the word "evil" needless boils down or simplifies Serazio's argument - however is this method inherently evil?

At the end of the day, marketing is inherently nothing, zilch, goose eggs. Marketing is simply a vehicle that assumes the traits the the driver, nothing more. It is a medium of communication. 

Here is a great example of how the nature of marketing depends on its subject. 

Organ Donation: Ogilvy Brazil

Problem : Thousands die each year in need of an organ transplant

Behavioral Resource : Brazilian sports fans are known the world over for their fanaticism, dedication and craziness

Solution: Utilize this natural resource to re-ochestrate the discussion on organ donation

Tactics: Guerilla marketing

Outcome: Higher donation rates

Watch the video. 

Confira os resultados da campanha de doação de órgãos. Ação foi criada pela Ogilvy & Mather Brasil.

This campaign is amazing and really demonstrates the potential of marketing - especially in achieving altruistic goals. While not all marketing is so wholesome in the sense that it touches such humanitarian goals, it shows that marketing is inherently empty. However is marketing ethically required to be overt, to let you know of it's existence? I think not. Sometimes in order for marketing to be effective it needs to blur the lines and sneak up on you - it just shouldn't lie to you in the process.

Marketers are in the business of adding value to life, marketing is not about deceiving or hiding the truth - such marketing is unethical. A good ad should not tell you lies and state facts that are otherwise blurred or untrue. Marketing is in the business of finding that little bit of perceived value hiding under your nose and taking the fullest advantage of it.

We would find that in a world without marketers we would all have the same goods, the same relationships and the same amount of money - but we would all be a little bit poorer. True marketing is not black magic - it is a little extra service that benefits us all. 

“Marketers are the bankers of perceived value. We are happy to deposit in your account everyday because we have our own set of economic rules. In the perceived value economy there is no inflation and supply is unlimited. We can print money out of thin air - the sky’s the limit. Demand is only driven by our customer’s imagination and in this economy we can all be prosperous at no extra cost to anybody. ”

— Me

Dumb Ways To Die Video - Viral Safety Campaign

Have you seen this video - it currently has 51 million views on youtube and is the anchor behind a highly effective marketing campaign for Metro Trains in Melbourne Australia. 

Get the new free iPhone / iPad game! Now the lives of those adorably dumb characters are in your hands: https://itunes.apple.com/app/dumb-ways-to-die/id639930688 Download the song: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/dumb-ways-to-die-single/id575962249 or http://soundcloud.com/tangerinekitty/tangerine-kitty-dumb-ways-to Sing along to the official karaoke version: http://youtu.be/5QV2HAYKP7E http://dumbwaystodie.com GIFs!: http://dumbwaystodie.tumblr.com/ © Metro Trains

The marketing campaign included many vital elements and content that really made  the message go viral. Here you can learn more about their campaign and how they managed to win a Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity Grand Prix award. 

Their campaign included a youtube video (50 million views), iTunes song (which reached the itunes charts in over 28 countries), Smartphone interactive game, online safety pledge and large interactive billboards in stations and around metro train tracks. 

The results are equally impressive. A 21% reduction in accidents and deaths on Melbourne's metro. Additionally, this marketing campaign is considered -

the 3rd most viral ad of all time (not too shabby)

Want to learn more about the person behind this amazing campaign? Watch this cool little video and find out more -

King Content brings you exclusive interviews with the keynote speakers from Content Marketing World Sydney 2013. For more insights and advice from the event, download our free eBook http://get.kingcontent.com.au/cmw-sydney/

The sheer success and creativity of this ad campaign is completely inspiring. From their success we can take away a few important things - 

1. The message behind the campaign was sincere and authentic. They weren't trying to sell you something or brainwash you, they simply cared about your safety.  With this altruistic goal (which resonates with people around the world), the campaign enjoyed unparalleled success as users were more eager to adopt, sponsor and spread this message.
2. The campaign embraced many channels and media types while maintaining voice and narrative. The campaign embraced original music, video, mobile apps, books, billboard ads and interactive content. All of these channels focused on the dumb ways to die characters - a very simple reminder of metro safety.
3. The campaign didn't embrace the normal "shock and awe" tactics that safety ads embrace.  Instead the campaign went a different direction - one that people were probably less likely to anticipate. The decision to satirize "dumb deaths" and make them seem cute and cuddly only added to the campaign's quirkiness and allure. It was also a bold decision (and I'm sure hotly debated) whether to make such a serious subject a comedy - it could have failed completely. However I think the character's cuteness and all out ridiculousness sealed the deal. In the end, cuteness is more shareable then shock. 

Who says engagement doesn't translate to sales?

Everyone complains that sometimes engagement isn't enough!

People wan't to see the bottom line increase as well right? - not just the conversation of the brand and its products. Well, I say they are not thinking creatively enough about engagement.

Introducing Hijack - an app designed by a shoe store called Meat Pack in Guatemala. This engagement piece actually gets customers RUNNING to their stores - extremely creative and ingenious! 

But why do people run? 

1. Customers download a Meat Pack mobile app that tracks their location using GPS.
2. When the app senses you have entered a competitior's store (Nike, Adidas etc) a  message pops up.
3. It gives you a challenge - gamification ( a very powerful tactic to drive interaction, turning brand or purchasing activities into games). Customers are given a 100% discount on any product in the Meat Pack shoe store - even though they are still standing in a competitor's store.
4. THE CATCH. this offer is time sensitive - for every second you wait 1% of the discount disappears. This translates into significant customer behavior - people begin running to the nearest Meat Pack to claim their discount before it becomes too low! 

Think that engagement pieces can't translate into sales - think again!

Hijack By Meat Pack