Godin Reviews Four Viral Events
Marketing maven Seth Godin has reviewed four recent viral ‘phenoms’ … suggesting what can be learned from each.
One of them is the Kony video, presented by Invisible Children, currently at about 72 million views. Here’s what he says about that one, making explicit points about fundraising and nonprofits:
“The most important takeaway is that this overwhelming pop is unlikely to ever happen this way again. A video this long, on this complex (and previously little known) a topic, for a non-profit–no, this is the exception that proves a bunch of rules. I have no doubt that the success of the video (seen by more people than any single TV show this week) will lead many organizations astray in the naive belief that they can emulate this one. If a non-profit board decides to spend precious resources on a video hoping it will change the world in three days, I think they’re misguided.
I don’t have the stats of time watched, but my confident guess is that the vast majority of viewers only lasted a few minutes. It’s also worth noting that 60,000,000 or more views led to significantly less than a dime donated (on average) per viewer, and that unlike Dollar Shave Club, there was no well-rehearsed method to turn a viewer into a fan into a donor into a repeat donor.
I’m hopeful that good causes and complicated ideas benefit from rapid viral spread among strangers moving forward. My fear is that this looks like an easy shortcut, and it’s not.
One thing we can learn, I think, is that production values are rising. For an idea to spread, it’s more important than ever that the sneezer (the one spreading the idea) feels comfortable enough to send it along. In the case of the Olive Garden, the sneering tweeter could do so feeling comfortably superior. In the Kony video, the production values were a clue that the story was safe to share.”
Mashable has pushed more critical comments — with critics using terms like ‘scam’ and promoting ‘slacktivism’.
What do you think?
Tom
P.S. Seth’s comments about the other three events are also worth considering.
2 responses to “Godin Reviews Four Viral Events”
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For organizations the promise of content going viral is totally unrealistic and represents a misplaced goal. Unfortunately Seth Godin’s post just reinforces those unreachable expectations. Consider the fact that fewer than 10% of videos on You Tube get more than 1,500 views and only 3% of videos get more than 25,000 views. Organizations should be concentrated on video that is targeted and strategic
A moment after I pressed submit on my comment I received my weekly email from Tom Fishburne who with one picture sums up the misplaced promise of viral video. Have a look at http://tomfishburne.com/2012/03/go-viral.html