Feb 06, 2012 By Jamie Grenney

Facebook going public, Pinterest blowing up; what does it take to go viral?

in Featured, Online Marketing, Social Media, Video Strategy

If you've got a piece of content or a new product, how do you get people talking about it and sharing it with friends?

This question has confounded entrepreneurs, product managers, and marketers since the beginning of time.

With he dramatic rise of social sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, gaining an understanding of what makes things go viral is more important than ever.

The Formula

I describe the formula by equating it to how the flu spreads. This helps to grasp the principals, but I would also recommend downloading the spreadsheet and modeling your assumptions. This will give you a much better sense what you need to do to get a viral coefficient greater than 1.

Best Practices

Below we've expanded upon seven the best practices introduced in the video. If you'd like to see us go into even more dept on a given topic, leave a comment below.

1. Answers a question or evokes an emotional response

A viral video starts with great content - how potent is your message?
Watch these examples; useful, interesting, awe, anxiety, humor

2. Addresses a hot topic

If you're goal is to generate lots of views, you've got to find topics that lots of people care about
What is the one question that you'd put on the homepage of your website? What one question is going to be talked about at industry events this year?
What is the search volume? Is there an event or a trend which is going to spike traffic?

3. Title, description and video thumbnail are compelling & generate clicks

In the example below, the image stands out and the title clearly articulates the question this video answeres
A good clean description helps generate clicks, but it is also the default text that people see when the video is posted to facebook and other sites
You'll also notice that the length of the video and the number of views might also influences the click through rate

4. Video is short and sweet ideally 2 minutes or less

Viral videos are most successful when you can catch people who are board at work - think of it as a digital snack
You're also more likely to share content if it is short because your friends aren't going to watch a 10 minute video
Even with a 2 minute video, you want to find your hook within the first 15 seconds or else you might see significant drop off
If you've got long form content, you can surface the golden nuggets by annotating the video and posting deep links to soundbites

5. Get off to a strong start propelled by paid, owned, and earned media

You want to invest as much time promoting the video as you do creating it
Even if it is great content it is important to give it initial momentum
A video looks more interesting if it's received 1,500 views after 2 days
Get it on the content calendar to publish it through channels you own
Find highly-trafficked pages on your website and 3rd party blogs to embed your video
Consider using paid advertising to give it a boost and drive down your fixed costs
A good marketing plan takes into account a big launch, the first 3 days, and the ongoing drum beat

6. People feel compelled to share for 4 reasons

Think about the different reasons people share and consider why they might want to share your content
People share content to source information & spark discussions
People share content that others might find valuable
People share content because it aligns with their identity and how they want to be percieved
People share content to maintain and grow relationships

7. Eliminate things that would make people reluctant to share

If sharing is hard or unfamiliar people will be reluctant to share
If it has heavy corporate branding or messaging, people don't want to feel like sell-outs

Products

Let’s take a look at how these same concepts apply to products. It is the number of invites or notifications sent, the number of people they touch, the friction to sign up, and how long it takes for them to start inviting others. Companies like Facebook, Zynga, Groupon, Pinterest, Do.com, and others have used tactics like those listed below to grow their communities.