This week one of the assignments was to read chapter 8 in David Scott’s The New Rules of Marketing & PR. Chapter 8 centered around viral marketing and highlighted why certain videos gain millions of views so rapidly.
In my opinion, viral marketing is one of the most fun, interesting and entertaining marketing and PR tactics being used in the profession today. Scott identified one reason why viral marketing is the latest craze when he wrote, “for marketers, one of the coolest things about the Web is that when an idea takes off, it can propel a brand or company to fame and fortune for free.". Viral marketing gives companies the opportunity to creatively and effectively reach their target audience or consumers without spending a dime. Scott also pointed out that typically, the most successful viral videos incorporate comedy. People want to watch videos that can make them laugh, which leads me to my next point. Some of the most popular videos are not tied to a company or organization at all, they are videos are of people doing funny things.
Take the YouTube sensation Keenan Cahill for example. Keenan Cahill is a boy who lip syncs popular songs and adds his own quirky dance moves. People find his remakes to be hilarious (myself included). His video featuring the hit "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry had over 34 million views. The success he experienced on YouTube led to attention from the media, musicians and organizations. In fact, multiple celebrities, such as Katy Perry, recorded short video clips wishing Keenan a happy 16th birthday.
Talk shows such as Tosh.0 and Ellen DeGeneres have incorporated portions of their shows directed toward talking about videos that have gone viral. These hosts pick out their favorite YouTube videos, show them while on air then talk about what they like or dislike about them. This in turn, is helping videos go viral and demonstrates how successful videos can be.
Learning more about the viral marketing has been my favorite part of the class so far. Viral marketing is relatively new but has proven the power to influence large numbers of people. Scott’s last paragraph in chapter 8 stuck with me and I think it is a great quote to use to end my post.
“Viral marketing – having others tell your story for you – is one of the most exciting and powerful ways to reach your audiences. It’s not easy to harness the power, but with careful preparation when you are sitting on the news with clever ideas for what has the potential to create interest, any organization has the power to become famous on the Web."
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