james porter_viral marketing lesson every marketer should know

Viral marketing lessons every marketer should know

James Porter

What a viral co-efficient isDefinition and Introduction

How to affect viralityIf we understand it, we can affect it

Why should you care?

Launched 4 months ago 491 Linking Root Domains.

Concert Hotels 100 Years of Rock

Social Shares

Covered By:

Concert Hotels 100 Years of Rock

271k unique visitors to the site from this content

Grow your link profile

Raise brand awareness

Coverage with major publishers

More visitors to your site

Viral Content

The Viral Co-efficient(how we understand viral content)

The Viral Co-efficient (K)

K = I * P * C(Primary Variables)

http://frac.tl/the-viral-growth-enigma-how-math-can-quantify-online-sharing/

Shares per viewerNumber of people that see then share (affect through strength of creative)

Shared AudienceNumber of people exposed to content for each share (impact through audience and influencer targeting)

Conversion rate% of audience that are exposed to the content and then click on it (influence through optimising titles and social meta data)

K = I * P * C(Secondary Variables)

Organic Views number of people that see your content not through social media (affect this through seeding and outreach)

K = I * P * CViral Co-efficient >1 = viralityViral Co-efficient <1 = not viral

Reality is that on that basis virtually no content is viral

Our findings suggested that 90% of viewers don’t share, even for highly viral content

Viral Marketing: The Science of Sharing

Dr Karen Field

New viral content definition“Any sort of content where the viewership grows rapidly as a result of sharing”

Affecting the viral co-efficient

Affecting shares per viewer (I)

Affecting shared audience (P)

Affecting conversion rate (C)

Affecting organic views (vi)

Affecting (P): Shared AudienceShared audience is the number of people exposed to our content for each share

(history of dance music)

158k social shares. 700 Linking Root Domains

Thomson: How Music Travels

Affecting (P): Shared AudienceNiche Audience vs Broad Audience

Affecting (P): Shared AudienceNiche appeal content

More viral. Shared values, interests and ideals of a niche

Affecting (P): Shared AudienceBroad appeal content

Less viral. Opportunity to operate at a much larger scale

Affecting (P): Shared AudienceTarget A Broad Niche

Broad Niche Get the benefits of the concentrated sharing of the niche. That then stimulates interest of the larger market

www.thomson.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/infographic/interactive-music-map/index.html

Affecting (P): Shared AudienceTarget A Broad Niche

Passionate Dance Music Fans > Dance Music Fans > Music Lovers

www.thomson.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/infographic/interactive-music-map/index.html

Affecting (P): Shared Audience

Why people born between the late 70’s and 90’s are so unhappy

Affecting (P): Shared AudienceCertain Audiences are more likely to share

Target Demographic segments e.g. generation x

Or specific Interest groups e.g. tech, marketing

Target content to highly active sharing groups

Affecting (P): Shared AudienceInfluencer Targeting

Use Klout and Followerwonk to identify influencers

Build relationships in advance of launch

Each share our content receives from influencers will have more impact

Affecting (P): Shared AudienceSummary

Target high sharing audiences

Be aware of niche and broad audience opportunities when targeting

Target influencers

Affecting (C):Conversion Rate

% of the audience that see our content and then choose to click on it

Affecting (C): Conversion RateFrame every aspect of social copy, titles and images

If you don’t, you’re missing an opportunity to increase virality

http://www.slideshare.net/Upworthy/how-to-make-that-one-thing-go-viral-just-kidding

Affecting (C): Conversion RateSocial Titles

1. Focus on the curiosity gap. Intrigue people. 2. Don’t over-sell

http://www.slideshare.net/Upworthy/how-to-make-that-one-thing-go-viral-just-kidding

Affecting (C): Conversion RateOptimise for Facebook Open Graph and Twitter V

Allow you to control the text and image that are displayed each time something is shared

Affecting (C): Conversion RateDon’t set and forget

Test Title, social copy and images pre and post launch

Conversion Rate: Summary

Frame and optimise everything you can.

Test Pre and Post Launch.

Affecting (C): Conversion Rate

Affecting Organic Views (vi)

Organic views are traffic not from sharing

Launch Powerfully- 25% of shares occur first 3 days

Co-ordinate outreach at early stages to maximise impact

Source: Viral Video Chart

Affecting Organic Views (vi)Big Seed

Seed viral content with the most sizeable and active sharing group

This ‘buys you into’ someone else’s community to leverage

Affecting Organic Views (vi)Big Seed – issues

Increasingly difficult to get publishers to drive traffic away from their site (due to pageview business model)

Create assets that allow almost full functionality on their site

Affecting Organic Views (vi)Big Seed – issues

Problem: All value flows to publisher

Solution: Focus the canonical asset on your site

Affecting Organic Views (vi)Placement on FastCoDesign

Affecting Organic Views (vi)Reach = More Reach

The more people that see your content, the more people will subsequently see your content.

Maximise this any way you can cost effectively.

Leverage owned, earned and paid media

www.slideshare.net/wilreynolds/the-10000-paid-content-paid-linking-test-that-is-100-google-safe

Affecting (vi): Organic ViewsOrganic Views: Summary

Big seed approach

Focus on powerful launch to maximise impact

Maximise reach any way you can

Affecting Shares Per Viewer (i)

% of people that see your content and share

Get people talking about our content!

Affecting Shares Per Viewer (i)Two Viral Content Options

Create an emotional reaction

Create a practical resource

Viewed 7m times. Shared 223k times.

Practical resources – why viral?

People love to post and share useful information

Good people and we want to help others

Playing it forward -We share useful content with people in the expectation that they will one day help us

This story had 3x the sharing of any other article in a 6 month period.

Emotional content – why viral?

Emotional experiences are amplified through sharing.

When we experience a strong emotional reaction, we want to share it

Emotional content

Level of arousal created by the content is fundamental. Not the emotion itself.

Positive emotions typically perform better than negative

A stronger level of emotional arousal means greater stimulation to share

http://frac.tl/viral-emotions-study/

The level of emotional arousal stimulated is key

Emotional content

PRO Tip When you’re showing people your content, don’t necessarily ask people’s opinions, watch their reactions. If you can see one, you’re onto something

http://frac.tl/viral-emotions-study/

How can we leverage emotions in our content?

Leverage emotion- Stimulate emotion fast.

Clarity and simplicity of idea (so people immediately get what they are seeing)

Use visual content. This allows for almost immediate comprehension, which is why visual content is so viral

Leverage emotion – existing emotions

Link content with things that people are ALREADY passionate and emotional about

Sites like Upworthy play off existing emotional issues e.g. LGBT, Parenting, Guns and Crime

http://www.concerthotels.com/ipod-visualized-as-vinyl

Creating Social Value Choices of what we share reflect our identity.

Will I look good sharing this?Remarkability (new, unusual, different, extraordinary)

http://jonahberger.com/books/contagious/

New design styles and functionality are highly shareable

Design Quality

New design styles and web technologies give the opportunity to present existing information in a new and creative way

This can be a key USP of your content versus what the rest of the web is creating

Affecting Shares Per Viewer (i)Test - social buttons to see what works

Can be difference between contents success and failure

Shares per viewer: Summary

Practical or Emotional content

Create social value

Great design

Test social buttons

Affecting (i): Shares Per Viewer

Conclusion

Characteristics of Viral Content

Visual, Interactive or Personalised (often win)

Quick to understand

New, surprising or different

Quick to understand

Strong emotional hook (or practical)

Quick to understand

Strong design

Quick to understand

Strong design

Social optimisation

Quick to understand

Strong design

Social optimisation

Evidence of past virality in the topic

Even Then You Might Fail

Involves a lot of time and effort

Involves financial risk

There will be failure

You have the opportunity to revolutionise your business through viral content

Thanks.Any Questions?

James Porter

james.porter@distilled.net @jamesporter_co

james porter_viral marketing lesson every marketer should know

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