The secret to being truly viral

Be interesting.

Is that too simple for you?  Maybe, but those two words sum up the essence of what makes a successful word of mouth campaign, online program, direct mail piece, podcast, blog, vodcast, Second life presence or any other new intiative you may be working on.  Don't believe me?   Read any of Seth Godin's books and you'll find that when you distill them down, that simple message is mainly what he's trying to say (along with "respect people").

Look at this clip which has been bouncing around the blog universe:

To-date, that clip has had over 1.6 milion views, equivalent to the viewership of FOX News Channel.

Now what a lot of folks don't know is that this incredible production was made in response to a much more mundane, much less interesting piece:

Which has had only 71,000 views.  Most likely, those have come from the link back from the response video, above.

The trick in being viral is doing something unexpected, telling a story, evoking emotion, saying something tangible.

Comments

[Ishwar]

In addition - I think the concept of "cool" is integral to any viral campaign. What you forward or talk about affects your image and what better than a forward that makes one 'Cooler'

[lrmtrainer]

great post. It really helps get a bigger picture.thanks