Is There a Secret to Making Your Video Go Viral?

Who doesn’t want to create a viral video? But making this actually happen is a lot harder than you may think, especially in the B2B (business-to-business) world we all dwell in. Even though Coke is a B2C (business-to-consumer) company, they came pretty close to creating a viral marketing video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEBJmZL8G1E We ca.n take away some valuable nuggets to help us in our quest to create a viral video…

1. Get your customers excited. By holding a contest, Coke was able to get their consumers excited about a simple concept. How can your customers use what you provide in a unique or fun way? If you can get them to think outside the box, you have a great premise for a video.
2. Keep it to 3 minutes or less. A lot happened in the video that Coke promotes, but it still only took 3 minutes to watch. It’s important to keep the viewer’s time in mind. Three minutes – or less – is an ideal length.
3. Brand awareness. In the short 3 minute video, Coke was said, shown, or drank in many frames. You may be hesitant to ‘pitch’ your product or solution too much,, but if you get your customers to do the talking (smart!) and the contest is actually about the solution, your brand and your product’s name will be the highlight of the video…as intended.

I hope these tips will help you on your quest to creating a viral video, but even if unsuccessful, don’t let the hype around ‘going viral’ stop you from creating an important component for your marketing. For more marketing tips, visit http://www.ThePartnerMarketingGroup.com or o,pt into our monthly newsletter by texting the letters TPMG to 22828.

By Bethany Foyt, Marketing Communications Manager at The Partner Marketing Group

About the author

Cheryl Strege, Tips from The Partner Marketing Group

Cheryl Strege started her career in this industry in 1989 at Great Plains. Sixteen years of experience there and with Microsoft in a variety of partner-facing marketing roles was the best “incubator” for a marketing consulting organization. After leaving Microsoft in 2005, she spent 3 years consulting at The Partner Channel before starting her own company called The Partner Marketing Group.