This morning I was sent a link to participate in a new hip, cool Facebook game called the Number Game. I didn’t bother getting to the end of the game’s rules but needless to say it was complicated and irritating. Something about codes in status updates that tell your friends what you really think…..urgh.
The thing that did catch my eye was the picture alongside the game page, which said “let’s go viral” as if to plead with users to help it become an Internet smash hit, like that sneezing panda or all those porn sites.
It reminded me of when I was 17 and some equally geeky friends and I randomly decided to ditch class for the day some time near the end of the year. We had a crappy car, somehow we got hold of a crate of beers and we went to a park far enough away from teachers. It was a glorious hot day, we had fun and we even met some real life girls. It was just one of those perfect days where everything went right. The next day one of our friends, who’d been too chicken to ditch, was green with envy. We regaled him with the random brilliant day and he decided to try and plan another ‘random’ day so as to not miss out on more fun. He even set a date when he knew he could get out of class safely. He just didn’t get it.
It’s the same with social media fads – you can’t force it. Attempting to make stuff ‘go viral’ is like our friend trying to recreate that perfect day we had. There are innumerable ‘viral marketing’ guides out there showing you how to "make it viral", probably made by that friend of mine and others like him who are desperate to recreate something.
Viral happens because it’s well placed, because it hits the spot, because it’s funny, because it’s shocking, because it's original or simply because it’s cool. You can get the word out as much as you want but unless it’s an original and intelligent PR stunt then no one is going to click on it, no matter how well you plan or plead.
No comments:
Post a Comment