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Going viral: How to create popular viral content for your brand
09th March 2011. Posted by Tom Braithwaite. Trackback
Last night saw the first episode of the second series of The Ricky Gervais Show on E4 and I think it’s safe to say the animated series which features the trio of Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington has come a long way from the early days of the podcasts being animated by fans on YouTube.
The cartoon, which was first aired on HBO on 19th February 2010, was created by using the original podcasts and putting animation to the audio track. What began as an Internet fan homage to the podcasts on YouTube, became a pitch for a cartoon on HBO and has added to the popularity of the Gervais brand.
There are many different animated versions of the Ricky Gervais podcasts available online.
A clip from the HBO animated series.
I recently attended #KittenCamp, an event which included a talk about how to make something viral by David Edmundson-Bird, course leader MSc in Digital Marketing Communications at Manchester Met University. It was an interesting insight into the viral community which has led me to pull together some thoughts about how to make viral content a success.
1. Enhance, don’t copy
It sounds obvious but it is so important to do something different with content. Gervais agrees that animating The Ricky Gervais Show has enhanced the audio content saying, "Because Karl goes off on these flights of fancy, these fantastical stories where he personifies chimpanzees, animation lends itself so well. The worst thing would be if the cartoon made it worse — and I think not only does it not do that, but it brings it to life."
2. Target content at the bored
People who have had a slow day at work and want something to distract them from the mundane are a key audience to consider when creating popular viral content. Videos under five minutes in length, posted on YouTube or a similar site, are ideal for people to quickly watch and share with a friend.
Using content that is already recognisable – whether it is a podcast from a popular comedian or an image that has been used in the media recently – will mean that more people are inclined to view your content.
3. Seed content in popular places
Again, it sounds obvious but unless your content is given the opportunity to grow, it will never become popular. Sites such as www.b3ta.com are a hotbed for viral content according to David Edmundson-Bird.
Viral content is a great way to get a brand out to new audiences and can be seen in the success of The Ricky Gervais Show.
However, it seems that not everyone is happy about the show being aired on television.
Pilkington said about the animated series: "I'm a bit worried; I used to be able to talk about my Aunty Nora having wind for five minutes and it wouldn't matter - she wouldn't be listening to the radio - but suddenly it's on the telly, and it's there, with her floating around. There's some things I wouldn't have talked about.”
Too late though Karl, it’s out there now…so to speak.