Making the Individual Viral
April 9th, 2011 § 4 Comments
In most traditional programs you’re free to study and write about decade’s old work and largely the original hypothesis and questions remain relevant. With emerging media and digital humanities, however, timely information makes a world of difference. Digital environments and attitudes change so rapidly that even the slightest lag time can make once eye opening blog pieces seem obvious and common place. When reading “The Secret Strategies of Many ‘Viral’ Videos” this is exactly what I experienced, as it was written in 2007 and I felt the little 90s girl inside of me screaming, “Well, no duh!”
I have talked about the power of viral video before as it pertains to racial representation, but “Secret Strategies” explores the business behind the videos. Dan Ackerman Greenberg discusses how he and his company have been the silent partners behind many popular YouTube videos. They were responsible for increasing a video’s number of views, and ultimately the revenue or interest in whatever or whomever was being depicted. As Ackerman Greenberg directly mentions that his clients included “two top Hollywood movie studios, a major record label, a variety of very well known consumer brands, and a number of different startups, both domestic and international” it doesn’t take a large leap of the imagination to recognize that all of these groups would benefit (economically) from employing this firm’s strategies.
Of course, there’s this sense that YouTube was created and should be maintained as a haven for the amateur, but even this has been manipulated into a marketing technique. So, with my 2011 cap of curiosity (or cynicism) firmly on my head, I wonder if these same strategies can be or already have been used to further the awareness of individuals. As someone that isn’t yet doing the work they desire and is a little unsure of how to effectively enter the arena, having a video résumé that “accidentally” found its way onto the computers and phones of people with power, would be very beneficial. And I am just interested in academia. I can only imagine how valuable of a tool this could be for people that want to be in entertainment—not just the act of having a video, but choosing to let someone or some company, by no acts of random spontaneity, turn their video into a phenomenon.
One area that was not addressed by Ackerman Greenberg, which may just be my own area of interest coming to the surface, is to what extent the above is possible—a video becoming viral—for all individuals or companies. Can something be so marginalized that even with serious strategy could either not attract hoards of viewers, or at least the demographic you’re looking for or has the ability to want your product after the video ends?
applause.
Is your question “Can everyone/anything go viral with the proper handling”? I’d think not, simply because there isn’t enough time for the audience to pay that much attention to anything that comes over the transom. It’s like saying “anyone can get rich in America.” Maybe so, but not everyone can.
I don’t know that there are definite secret ingredients to something going viral but there are obviously some themes that work. Greenberg implied that they have never had to give a refund so I’m guessing it’s pretty easy to get 100,000 views which now seems like not very much—another way the article is dated. I would say with aggressive marketing and a good title, you could get a lot of views but it’s the content that could put it over the top and make it viral. Of course, I’m saying that and I don’t understand how some of those successful YouTubers got so popular.
What about the Long Tail theory of distribution in marketing? The idea that there is a niche market for everything and everything has a niche would suggest that just about anyone could go “viral” as long as they were successful at reaching their particular niche audience. Of the numbers of viewers in a niche audience are naturally going to be much smaller than the the millions present in a mainstream audience. I suppose then the definition of “viral” might need some tweaking.