Introduction
According to research, at least 60% of businesses, today use video content marketing as a way of promoting their products. Most video marketing through social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Consequently, to make sales and get the best out of video marketing, one needs to create videos that sell and that can be shared among individuals. The concept of the viral video, in which videos are shared by a multitude of individuals throughout social media is hence important for a marketer that seeks to use the platform for marketing. Through virality, people have passed messages across platforms and made their ideas reach the global audience. While virality of videos is an important aspect in spreading these messages, certain aspects of the video must be considered if it is to get viral enough to spread the idea or message intended.
Viral Based Business
With virality, people have been able to get messages and information to a vast number of people and even reach the global audience. Virality is the tendency of a piece of information, image or a video to be rapidly shared among users of the internet by person to person circulation without the quality being affected Virality (Tucker, 286). The quality of being viral is, therefore, the bases of virality as a given item or piece of information requires to be popularized by progressive sharing through the internet and especially in social media. Accordingly, viral bases businesses are those that depend on the virality of their content to make sales. This is a clever way of marketing that utilizes by digital marketers that often does not have cost implications. Such famous social media giants such as Logan Paul and David Brook utilizes virality and the acceptability of their content by the huge fan base to sell merchandise (Wortham, 1). This idea has also attracted large companies who aim to achieve virality in such advertisements as signs and commercials. By capitalizing on virality, some youtube personalities have made thriving businesses that rake in money.
Making a Viral Video
The ability of viral videos to rapidly gather traction and be shared widely multiple times is the bases of the viral video business. A viral video is one that can be picked up from a multitude of others by users of social media and start spreading. To achieve this, the video must have certain qualities that prompt users to share it. According to Tucker, (282) most viral videos come from a lot of work combined with timing and a little sprinkle of luck. Just like in making a dish, the recipe to the best one lies in trial and error. However, there are some characteristics that increase the possibility of a video to go viral on the internet.
Viral videos are short
Just like the social media platforms where they are shared, viral videos are often interruptive. According to Jaber (184), the attention span of people has been on a downward spiral as it reduces to that of a goldfish. Accordingly, they may not stay long enough to get the message of a video if it is too long. Moreover, People do not go to facebook or youtube to such for videos that are viral. Instead, these videos interrupt the real activity in social media and have to break the noise to get the attention of users. The video must hence be short enough to attract and retain attention till the end and allow the delivery of the entire message to users of social media.
Capture peoples Interest
As noted, while viral videos are not the reason why people visit social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. Instead, they interrupt the normal browsing and using the platform and people often have the option of bypassing them (Botha, 164). Consequently, they ought to be interesting enough not only to capture the attention of the user but also make them give time enough to see what is within. Interesting videos can break through all the noise of social media and attract the attention of the user to watch them in full or the most part. On the other hand, if a viral video is boring, people may not only decline to watch and share it, they may complain of the interruption. For example, boring interruptive videos on YouTube will receive dislikes and negative comments by users. People may opt to stop seeing a video on YouTube due to excess interruption. One way that a video can capture the interest of people is by including a celebrity Southgate et al., (349). Consequently, this should be considered while making a video with the intent of going viral.
Focus on a single message and give value
The attention a video gets is useless if viewers do not get the message intended by the maker. A message that is simple clear and succinct works great for viral videos. Just like in a blog post where the attraction of attention requires sharable content, the message in the video must be understandable by different types of persons using the social media platform. The maker should hence first focus on getting their message across as clearly as possible to ensure it is easy to associate with. Also, for a video to go viral, it must create value for people targeted. For a video to go value, it must be intrinsically useful to the intended audience. Consequently, whether the video is informative, educative or entertaining to the audience, it must have some form of help to them. Funk, (15) emphasize on thinking from the audience’s perspective including their needs and interests.
Capture emotions
Different factors determine the decision by individuals to watch, like and share content on YouTube and other social media sites. In investigating the role emotions play in viral video sharing, Botha and Mignon (170) found a link between the level of emotions content in a video and the number shares and likes it gets on Facebook. Accordingly, emotions are a powerful tool for creating content for viral video. People have a strong tendency to share emotional feelings. Consequently, content that triggers more emotions is likely to be shared than that which does not elicit emotions. However, while it is useful to use emotions, the choice of emotions one chooses for their viral video is also important. According to RFE, the most primed content for viral sharing is that which creates positive emotional experiences. While negative emotions have been praised for catching the attention of users of the internet and social media, research shows that positive emotions are more likely to be shared than undesirable ones. Among top ten most desired emotions that prompt the necessity for sharing among users of social media include amusement, interest, surprise, happiness, joy, hope, delight, pleasure, affection and excitement (Funk, 23). This explains the virality of the video, Chewbacca Mom which holds the record of being the most shared on Facebook.
Another characteristic of emotions that affects the virality of a video is paring of contrasting emotions. According to Funk (9), while people are inclined to share positive experiences, complex emotions derive additional sharing. Contrasting emotions are important in improving the impact of responses including likes, comments and shares. Contrasting negative and positive emotions is specifically useful in increasing the number of shares video gets. This blend of experiences keeps the audience sharing a video and makes it viral.
Element of Surprise
The element of surprise is an important component of a viral video as it is what grabs the attention of the audience. The surprise is the emotional component that appeals most in images. Audiences are increasingly likely to share content that contains something unexpected novel or counterintuitive (Funk, 13). The surprise is constantly alluring and increases the chances of people enjoying a given artifact. Showing something in a new way, adding a unique angle or giving an interesting topic raises the likelihood of a video going viral. One video that went viral by incorporating the element of surprise is the Instagram campaign dubbed, ‘Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll’. This was a surprise video that captured the attention of Instagram community by showing the role of drugs in concert festivals. Through this simple surprise, the video made a break in the platform and even spilled on Facebook.
Predicting the Ability of a Video to go viral
While creative attributes of a video increase its ability to derive virality, it may not automatically result in expected results. Measures should then be taken to predict the possibility of a video to go viral. Southgate et al., (349) proposes for pretesting measures for videos before posting them online to determine whether they will generate flow. Such measures as the level of enjoyment are important from determining whether people will share the given video or just let it flow through without a response. Moreover, there are tools that can be used to measure the viral potential of a video meant for marketing if it is to go viral. One tool that can be used by video makers to determine the potential to go viral is Millward Brown LinkTM solution. This tool has been used for a time by leading advertisers to measure the possibility of their videos to go viral. By providing for a measure to determine the potential for virality, marketers can effectively create a platform for ensuring the video does and there are potential consumers and spreaders of the concept in the social media platform they wish to use.
Risks Associated with viral video business
While the use of viral videos as the bases of business has the benefits of reaching many people within a limited time without using many resources, it also has some negative aspects and risks. One risks that come with this procedure of business dealings is the possibility of association with infamous people and groups. As the bases of viral video are the transfer of the message from one individual or group to another, it may reach people that one does not wish to be associated with. Sharing content by such people may devalue the business as people tend to associate the video with parties involved in sharing (Vijaykumar, 657). This may not only cause challenges with the video but also the brand promoted therein.
Another important factor is the ethical concern that comes with sharing with people who disinterested in viral videos. Today, people are concerned with their privacy and the possibility of attracting spa through the sharing of viral videos. For example, on Facebook, sharing one video by a given company often result in the company dumping all their ads on once account. This discourages people from sharing and also attracts a penalty from privacy violation. Viral video businesses have to be vigilant of privacy violation as it can bring about the downfall of an entire business (Vijaykumar, 667). There is also a loss of control of a viral video by the creators especially once it has been released and shared by people on social media. This is dangerous if there are issues with the video. Moreover, the video is prone to editing and incorporation of possibly offensive content that can affect the brand.
In conclusion, the use of viral video is a brilliant new method of conducting business in the 21st century. It involves creating videos from normal daily encounters and incorporating certain characteristics that would not only make people view but also share them. Viral videos are used by marketers to attract customers and sell their products. However, to acquire virality, one needs to create a video with certain characteristics. Viral videos must first be short and interesting in order to stand out from the noise in social media and attract the necessary attention of users of these platforms. After capturing people’s emotions, viral videos should also have the capacity to give value. Emotions are important to a video’s ability to be shared among viewers. Positive emotions and a blend of emotions are the most significant predictors of virality of videos. Apart from ensuring the characteristics of video can enhance virality, one should also use tools such as to predict virality. Finally, viral video based businesses should look out for possible risks such as spamming and privacy issues related to virality.