Viral hoaxes and what we can learn from them as marketers

Last week a social viral networking message swept Facebook.

Change your profile picture to one of your favorite (sic) childhood cartoon characters and ask your friends to do the same. The point of the game? To have no human faces on Facebook only childhood memories by Monday to fight child abuse. Copy and paste to spread the word!

It was effective in its simplicity, and hour by hour whole networks changed their Facebook profile picture to a cartoon character, along with hotly debated favourite characters, as well as blistering comments from non-cartoonified social networkers that the campaign was not an effective means to raise awareness for its stated cause.

A follow up warning the next day that the whole campaign was a scam started by paedophiles only added fuel to the fire, and this blogger was involved with some fairly passionate discussions over whether promoting a donation to a children’s advocacy group might be a more worthwhile use of one’s time and efforts.

Regardless of whether any of these statements were true or not, the whole issue got me thinking as a marketer. Over several days, a single statement spread like wildfire and harnessed people into action, whether it was a simple image and Facebook status update change, a deeper debate over whether these are merely a nuisance, or the most coveted marketer’s dream of actually inspiring a small percentage to donate to worthy causes.

So I looked into what makes the most popular viral campaigns so effective. Were there commonalities? A quick poll of my network on their primary motivating force behind joining in, provided the following principles:

1. we like to have fun
2. we like to be good “Net”izens (ie: warning our friends and family about something dangerous)
3. we are led to act by emotionally charged messages
4. the action can’t be too demanding
5. we need to feel this action is voluntary, whether we want to feel good, clever, or belong to a group
6. we don’t like being told what to do

So my next question is whether these principles can be applied to actual marketing campaigns that deliver outcomes. Let’s take a look at each principle and see whether it is possible.

We like to have fun
This seems an easy one to accomplish, but in practice it’s a little more difficult. Watching The Gruen Transfer demonstrates that much of the PR, advertising and marketing world struggles with this. However, it’s a proven fact that the more fun, or funny a message is, the more likely it will resonate with its audience.

Thinking tangentially is the key here. Try an improvisation workshop to understand how to create interesting storylines, ask a comedian to deliver your message, or put yourself into the shoes of a child.

Example: The recent Facebook campaign for child abuse

Being a good Netizen

Feeling useful, or clever or “in the know” is a key element to many of these campaigns. It appeals to our basic human need for acceptance and recognition.

Example: Every version of “be careful in XYZ car park, police have warned of several attacks on women”, or the classic “waking up in a bath full of ice with your kidneys gone” messages.

Emotionally charged messages

Facts don’t sell, emotionally engaging your audience will. It doesn’t have to be dramatic, as in the case of child abuse or linking it to a dearly held childhood memory of cartoons, but there does need to be some kind of emotional engagement with the audience.

Example: Old Spice YouTube ads, asking ladies whether they want their man to be like the Alpha male presenting the message!

Undemanding actions

Social media campaigns that make the barriers to participate too high are doomed to stall. Making too much of a demand on your audience will lose their interest quickly. Keep it simple by providing as few links as possible, pre-filled forms and giving them canned messages that can be shared on other social media forums with a simple mouseclick.

Example: The recent GetUp campaign to raise money for an advertisement in the New York Times to campaign on behalf of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. The donations page provided the donor with a pre-written Facebook and Twitter message, which got the message out in hours, and achieved its aim of $250,000 for the full-page advertisement.

I did it voluntarily

Research has shown that 80% of business purchasers felt they found the supplier. It works in a similar vein for social networking, as a group we need to feel like we belong to a herd, but that we are all “individuals”.

The solution is to cultivate relationships with influencers within the demographic you are aiming for. This could be a celebrity, or simply a highly networked individual within your existing circles.

Example: any kind of subculture that crops up, sparking an instant “fad”.

Don’t tell me what to do

This is perhaps the trickiest part of creating a viral sensation for a corporate marketing campaign. In this way, you will need an individual to deliver your message, not appearing to derive from a corporate “brand” itself. However, the other side of this coin is that punters also don’t like feeling like they have been duped, so transparency is important. Furthermore, we have grown very marketing-conscious, so this part is a very delicate balancing act.

Having a message or a “cause” that appeals to the audience’s sense of justice is a way of overcoming this barrier. However, if you are simply flogging products or services in the absence of a “cause” it’s probably best to stick to traditional marketing channels!

Examples: GetUp, fundraising efforts by individuals, Pet Rescue Campaign