The Power of Viral Videos
The world is becoming more digitized — this shouldn’t be news to anyone. But I’ve noticed that as people talk about digitization, they talk about the birth of an era, which is naturally followed by conversations about the death of another era. It’s true that innovation pushes out the old. Atlases were replaced by GPS systems, home telephones were replaced by mobile phones, physical movies were replaced by streaming services like Netflix (I could go on), but not every new digital component kills off its predecessor. Sometimes, the two go hand in hand.
As viral videos become increasingly more popular, people talk about its evolution as a result of declining viewership for television and traditional media. But I disagree. People still get hooked on groundbreaking movies and shows, even building entire communities around them. Incredibly, even bad media can attract a cult following of fans (ever heard of The Room?). Clips and stills from movies or shows often go viral, quickly traveling through the internet and turning into a snowball effect of memes and videos. If you’re active online, you’ve seen your fair share of memes from The Office, The Walking Dead, and even Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
Viral videos are a little different, as they gain attention at neck-breaking speed but are often short-lived. These videos gain so much traction so quickly because they are funny, relevant, and personable. Today, users are accustomed to absorbing a mass amount of text, pictures, and videos every single day. When they see something that stands out to them, they want to share it with the rest of the internet. Seth Godin calls these videos “purple cows.” When you’re used to seeing brown cows all the time, do you really find it necessary to talk about them? No, because it’s nothing to get excited about. But when you see a purple cow, that’s something to talk about. That traction is what creates viral sensations.
What many people don’t realize is that viral videos initially began through email — more specifically, work email. Remember the cha-chaing animated baby from the 90s? That is one of the first viral videos people can vividly remember. I also had my own experience with a video that went viral through email. The first thing Trey Parker and Matt Stone ever created with me was a short Christmas-themed clip called The Spirit of Christmas that I sent out to my fellow colleagues at a previous job. People started literally scrambling for copies of the clip, which is when I realized that we were on to something. If The Spirit of Christmas never sparked that level of attention, we might not have South Park today.
It just goes to show you how powerful viral videos can be. Back then, I just wanted to send around a funny, spirited short clip as a thank you to my team for the holidays. Now, viral marketing is integrated into many businesses’ marketing campaigns. These viral videos create a sense of community, they can transform someone’s career, and can even have an impact on your company’s bottom line. Going viral is just further proof that you have made something that people not only want to see, but something that people want to actually interact with. And that’s powerful.