Viral marketing is sending out a message, usually via email, that encourages others to pass it on to all those they know. Often this is a humorous photo or joke or in this case I’m talking about a video.

5 must haves for a successful viral video campaign

1. Come up with an idea or short clip that is unique, clever and often humorous
2. Not blatantly an ad
3. Encourages people to pass it on to everyone they know
4. Include your website URL in the video itself, if you hope to generate website traffic
5. Optimize your videos description and tags so it is easy to find in the search engines for your target keywords

Your aim of course is to have it seen by as many people as possible so it is viewed on YouTube, shared on other video sharing and social networking sites and blogged about over and over again.

Take comedian Judson Laippley’s video Evolution of Dance it is one of the top two most viewed clips on YouTube ever with over 127 million views or the home video Charlie bit my finger which has had more than 85.8 million views.

Possible formats for your video

• Commercial or Commedy sketch

  A commercial that is controversial or “banned” is sure to catch attention as is something funny.

  Eg. The simple T Mobile Dance was posted on YouTube on January 16, 2009 and has already been viewed more than 6 million times not to mention the other sites that have posted the video including more than 1800 blog posts and 11600 comments.
  Cadbury Eyebrows was posted on Dailymotion on January 23, 2009 it is only a minute long but very clever! It has had more than 5 million views, 1200 blog posts 13000 comments and 18 duplicate videos.

• Music video

  Singer, song writer, Oren Laview put his music video Her Morning Elegance on YouTube on January 21, 2009 and it has been viewed more than 4.3 million times.

• Interview

  An interview is a great way to get a message across or promote a film or celebrity.

  Eg. Matt Harding of Where the Hell is Matt fame or Justin Timerlake.

• Demonstration or how to

  Go toYouTube or Google and search for ‘how to make an omlette’ or just about anything(!) and you will see there is a video ‘how-to’ available

• Short film or trailer

  Eg. The short film Sign is about communication. It has had more than 569,000 views

Recent Australian examples include wokinabox and Baron’s Brewing Save the Males competition.

So brainstorm some ideas and grab your video camera to take advantage of viral video marketing for your online business.

Remember your clip needs to be unique and catchy but not end up on the 10 most annoying online viral marketing campaigns of all time list!

This article from the New York Times is worth a read.