For earned media, the ultimate goal is that something goes viral, something that people pass around on their own. However, most people think that making something viral can’t be influenced from the outside, so creative types merely try to make great content alone.

“But there’s a problem with this assumption. It’s absolutely true that great content is a key to getting attention,” said Bob Knorpp. “It has to be funny or intriguing or somehow intensely interesting first and foremost. Without that, there’s no reason to spread the link to all of your friends. But the nature of viral is that it’s ongoing, and great content alone won’t achieve that. So what is the difference?”

“One theory is that for something to truly be viral it has to be a relevant performance that keeps going so that the meme remains alive. However, fan interaction is also clearly key in making something more than a flash in the pan, keeping people interacting with it and adding something to the overall narrative.”

“For instance, we say that Volkswagen had a viral success with the pre-release of its Darth Vader ad before this year’s Super Bowl. But it really wasn’t viral. It was a well-timed promotion that blew up really quickly and then went away just as quickly. It was great content and it spread like wildfire because of that. But it had no legs because it had no further story other than the follow-up PR about how great it was that it chose to release the ad in this way, writes Knorpp. Now look at Rebecca Black or ‘Will It Blend ‘ or even the infamous ‘Two Girls, One Cup.’ Each of these videos is wrapped in an ongoing meta-narrative that transcends the original content. Rebecca Black’s continued odd behavior and the fan videos give a reason to keep coming back to the original source, because the story is continually evolving. ‘Will It Blend ‘ a marketing effort by BlendTec, continues to thrive because whenever a new device is released, fans know that there will be a blending video from the company. And one can say that reaction videos in response to ‘Two Girls, One Cup’ were just as horrifically compelling as the original content itself.”

“The point of all this is that when we are creating content that is intended to be spreadable, we can’t just do it on the premise that if we build something great, people will come. We need to show people a richer story. We need to show them why they should be compelled to come back again and again and why they should share it with their friends. We need to think less like a movie and more like an episodic sitcom — an unfolding story that is greater than the story of each individual episode. This is the secret sauce of going viral,” concludes Knorpp.

Source: AdAge