Entrepreneurs: Going Viral
by Miki SaxonAsk an entrepreneur how they are going to move their product and they’ll tell you that they are doing something “really cool” that will “go viral” and sometimes it actually does.
But why?
Why does one cat video garner a million views, while hundreds of others have only a few dozen?
Is there a silver bullet that assures your video will go viral?
Or at least a way to hedge your bets?
No to the first, but yes to the second.
A new book helps; it’s Jonah Berger’s ‘Contagious’: Why Things Catch On and I recommend it to anybody working to be heard through the noise.
Berger talks about six key steps that drive people to talk and share that are listed and explained.
I especially like the story of George Wright, a new marketing hire, who saw the potential in his CEO’s obsessive efforts to break the companies product.
But there’s a great example of a company, Blendtec, that actually made a blender video that’s gotten more than 10 million views…. They have a series of videos called “Will it blend?” — which has over 150 million views — where they stick all types of different things in a blender.
Not bad for what you have to admit is a pretty bland product.
This may be one of those times when the book is actually worth buying.
YouTube credit: KnowledgeAtWharton
August 21st, 2013 at 1:15 am
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