The secret to ‘viral video’ success? Quality.

Posted by Jaan on October 20th, 2008 | 1 comment

“Can you make me a viral video?”

Everyone still wants a ‘viral video’. Unfortunately. I’m no video guru, but I know that successful videos can’t just be ordered up, just like you can’t tell a musician to write an international #1 chart topper, or tell an entrepreneur to have the biggest IPO of all time.

There are a number of talented agencies that know how to creating compelling video content that connects with viewers. But they bring more to the table than just the videos themselves. Some of these companies are great at seeding their clients’ videos. And some of the vids go viral thanks to a combination of the seeding, the supporting ad campaigns, and above all the quality of the idea and the execution of the idea.

Despite what anyone might tell you, manufactured virals (as opposed to baby and pet videos on YouTube) always start with quality. Quality as in a great story, skillful storytelling and brilliant execution.

That’s the truth. Unfortunately not everyone wants to hear that truth, not on the client side and not on the agency side.

So what should you do as a client if you want to work with video?

Ask your agency to tell a great engaging story that connects, entertains, inspires or moves people. Make sure the agency understands how the video fits in to your other marketing activities and that they can work with them either directly or through your other partners. Maybe the result is a ‘viral video’, maybe it isn’t. If you focus on quality, you at least have a shot at it.

And if you’re on the (web) agency side?

The same as above, but from your point of view. Work with the client to understand the value of great and compelling stories. Talk to the client about what seeding means, help them understand how videos rarely become successful on their own. If the client still wants you to make a video, and want it to be a huge success, you either take the money and hope for the best (bad) or respectfully decline (good but unfortunate), or offer to run a smaller demo project at a reduced cost, so that you and the client together can test the ‘viral video’ waters (best option). Shoot a vid on a budget, get it out, add some customer research on the back of it. Sometimes this “let me show you instead” approach works wonders and you might even get a bigger commission out of it.