Locations
In catching up on my RSS feeds over the weekend, I found myself staring at a short New York Times article that suggested a long story left unwritten. How does anyone build a viral campaign that succeeds out of any force other than blind luck?
Believe it or not, there is an equation for just that purpose:
[Be Amazing] + [Act Amazing] = [Get Amazing]
Viral is really that simple – just be worth talking about and do something worth talking about. The only catch is you have to have both to succeed. Notice also that I’ve not mentioned timing anywhere. There is a reason for this: Great campaigns always make their own timing.
To succeed in the first part, Being, it isn’t enough to just have something amazing or sell something amazing; you actually have to be it. People might mention a cool feature, but they get involved in a cool idea.
To succeed with the second part, Acting, the payoff isn’t in creating individual components, but in actively doing something with individual engagement. Giving people an object or idea to use will never be as powerful as giving them a reason to pass an object or idea along.
Once you’ve met the prerequisites, there is no limit to your options. The strength of a viral campaign is by now the stuff of marketing legend – a shoestring budget and a big idea have been known to best Super Bowl ads. The key to being counted among these success stories is simple – just do the math.