Rachel Mirakova
Professor Graves
ENG 2150
8 May 2019
The closer relationship between consumers and creators that I researched throughout the semester influences all types of media, and shapes the viral culture of this generation. Since consumers have more power within the media, dictating what is popular and what is not, they consequently contribute to the culture of social media and virality. Therefore, modeling the style of viral media or personas is a method that should be taken into consideration when creating a cultural artifact related to this generation’s particular zeitgeist. Based on my research, I have concluded that the consumers have more control over what cultural products receive attention such as news, advertisements, celebrities and influencers, art, and user-generated content. My work suggested that in order to have a relevant cultural artifact that reflects this generation’s zeitgeist of virality, creators should focus on the consumers’ potential reactions since this has a major impact on an artifacts success and importance within present-day society. I also recommend that creators are interactive with the consumers by directly communicating to them and providing a work that consumers can discuss and respond to.
Considering this research, there are many real-life examples in which certain techniques of virality, especially interaction with consumers and aspects of user-generated content, are used to the creator’s advantage. These examples are part of our inspiration behind our viral service; they contribute to how the service will run, how we will work with our clients and what we will advise them, and how the results will be portrayed.
One instance of someone benefiting from viral marketing and using these techniques to increase their level of virality is Kanye West. Firstly, Kanye West, along with many other artists nowadays, tends to directly interact with his fans through social media platforms such as Twitter. Celebrities use these platforms to directly talk to their audience, receive feedback, and even tease their upcoming projects. Particularly, Kanye West will sometimes tweet statements that some may refer to as outlandish. He will communicate controversial viewpoints to his followers which creates conversations, provokes reactions, and generally raises attention to him regardless of whether it is in a positive or negative connotation. In doing so, West is focusing on consumer responses and being interactive, and it seems to be working in his favor for establishing a sense of virality.
Another example of effective viral marketing is popular YouTuber David Dobrik’s use of “clickbait”. Dobrik often titles his videos in all capital letters with vague, cliff-hanger titles that describe shocking events. This attracts attention to his content, and increases its amount of traffic since it encourages the audience to click and see more. Additionally, Dobrik will include shoutouts at the end of his videos in which he quickly advertises a fan’s Twitter account. This tactic increases his engagement both on YouTube and Twitter, and encourages audience interaction.
Another approach that is reflected in viral products or people that has shown to be beneficial is the use of branding and recurring images within a cultural artifact or persona. This can be demonstrated through famous “rappers” Bhad Bhabie and 6ix9ine. Both of these celebrities sparked and maintained their viral position within society by creating a brand for themselves and attempting to make noise on social media. They would constantly interact with their audience through Instagram or Twitter, representing a loud and problematic attitude that instills a reaction similar to West’s tweets. This approach can also be witnessed from rappers and fashion designers such as the A$AP Mob or Tyler, the Creator. These artists consistently wear their clothing lines such as Vlone or Golf Wang. They use this clothing as a part of their personal branding and image, and these logos become recurring images seen throughout their careers. Consequently, it promotes the clothing brands and increases their popularity by raising awareness to them since it becomes noticeable and worn on an influential person. 6ix9ine and David Dobrik also rely on this similar method of branding and recurring images as 6ix9ine is known for his heavy repetition of the phrase “Treyway” and 69 tattoos all over his body, and Dobrik has his own line of merchandise with “clickbait” branding.