Can we “create” a viral marketing campaign?

I hear it all the time “in order to reach consumers we created a viral marketing campaign””to introduce their new product they created a viral marketing campaign” “lets make a viral marketing campaign”.

Are these people creating a viral marketing campaign? No

It may be their idea, they might have created the campaign, they hope that it’ll go viral. But in the end, its the public that decides what is viral and what is not. If they created the same campaign and it flopped, would you still call it a viral marketing campaign? No, you wouldn’t.

If the “dumb ways to die” campaign had received no views, no downloads, and no media attention, you wouldn’t classify it as viral. A company might create a hilarious video or competition that they are sure is going to spread through the web like wildfire, but if no one cares and no one shares, you can’t call that a viral campaign.

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Can you create a viral marketing campaign?

nup

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Your campaign is not viral, its the response that is viral – Todd

How quick do we have to be?

It was interesting to hear in our lecture last week that no one should again mention the ALS ice bucket challenge as a topic, as if this global trend which had become popular the week prior was already dead, done, and no longer worth talking about.

And that is completely right! If I see one more article or video posted about it on Facebook I’m likely to drown my phone and laptop in a bucket of ice.

But it got me thinking; how quick does digital media have to be today? How long before the moment has passed? If your organisation engages in social media and digital advertising, and I recommend that it does, how can you make the most of it without it getting old?

Social media and viral marketing is valuable in that it creates conversation and engagement between the brand and the consumer. It is this engagement that is essential to a viral marketing campaign, without it the campaign will die. In my opinion, marketers need to take advantage of the speed and versatility of the digital world and move on when the time has come. Stay ahead of the game or at least play along with it.

What do you think, is the digital world moving faster and faster? Is it possible to create a viral campaign? Or is it up to the public to decide what will go viral and for how long?

Hmm, that might be a topic for next week

– Todd