Monday Mornings with Madison

Monthly Archives:
March 2012

What Makes A Video Go Viral? – Part 2

Last week, we looked at the psychological drivers and emotional triggers that can cause a video to ‘go viral.’ Specifically, we looked at Kony 2012, a video that had been viewed nearly 80 million times, shared 8+ million times and generated 650,000+ comments (at the time of the writing of the article nearly 10 days ago). In addition to being #1 on the video viral chart for the last two weeks, the same video with Spanish subtitles is also ranked #11 on the Video Viral Chart.

What was interesting about the Kony 2012 video was that it wasn’t selling a product or service. The video’s goal was to raise global awareness about Joseph Kony (who has been indicted by the International Court of Justice for crimes against humanity… particularly against children) and lead to his capture. In that regard, the Kony video was a call to action. From a purely marketing perspective, the video’s message was successful in generating strong emotional responses from viewers, educating viewers on a little-known topic, and aligning itself with a cause to which most people could easily identify and support. These are considered some of the key psychological drivers that cause a video to be widely shared.

One may wonder, though, if brand-generated videos (such as a webisode or a commercial) could possibly generate such strong emotional responses as the Kony 2012 video did. The simple answer is yes. Even brand-generated videos can and do ‘go viral.’ But it doesn’t happen automatically. There are factors that spur the viral effect. Read more to understand why some videos go viral. Continue reading

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What Makes A Video Go Viral?- Part 1

Arguably the biggest challenge that businesses face today is for their brand to be ‘known’ — seen and heard – by clients and potential clients despite the onslaught of marketing noise bombarding our eyes and ears from all directions. Newspapers. Magazines. Television. Radio. Social media websites. Emails. Blogs. Even if someone tries to ‘turn off’ the noise and disconnect from telecommunications, it would still be impossible in the industrialized world to completely avoid marketing messaging. Billboards. Bus benches. Street signs. Unsolicited circulars (a/k/a junk mail). Marketing is everywhere. The challenge for any businesses, then, is to cut through the clatter so that potential customers can receive their specific message.

Yet, some messages are being delivered to millions of people with little cost or effort. That is what happens when a video ‘goes viral’. Case in point. One 30-minute video posted on March 5, 2012, just 13 days ago, has been viewed 77,384, 697. That same video has also been shared on Facebook 8,012,263. Since the average FB user has 120 confirmed friend connections, that means that potentially, in time, 961,471,560 people may end up viewing that video. (Note: Studies also show that people will remain watching a video three times longer when it has been shared by a friend, as opposed to finding it online themselves.) Additionally, that video has been posted on 7,472 blogs and has had 643,616 people post comments about it. Indeed, that video is currently the #1 video online, according to the Video Viral Chart. What causes a video to ‘go viral’ (marketing-speak meaning to spread like a virus)? Opinions abound. But new research provides some real insight on what causes a video to ‘go viral.’ Read on to learn more. Continue reading

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When Business Systems Fail

Systems are a structured way of doing something so that it can be done the same way consistently. Most companies put business systems in place to do the “heavy lifting” in terms of performance and maintenance. Companies without business systems are generally less successful than companies that have such systems in place. No matter how many talented people are on a team, without business systems that work regularly, a business cannot gauge how it is doing in the sea of competition and in which areas of the business it needs to improve. Without business systems in place, a company is doomed to repeat mistakes and customers are forced to tolerate inconsistent quality and service.

Business systems can be a great support in businesses. But, like most things in life, they have to be monitored and nurtured, and sometimes even repaired. Poor performance and frustration within an organization is usually a sign of broken systems or processes. According to a law of physics, all things naturally tend to break down over time. That includes business systems. When they do, the business must repair, improve, or elevate the business system to a higher level of functioning in order to be successful. Continue reading

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Persnickety or Perfectionist?

The best leaders are skilled at knowing the strengths and weaknesses of every person on their team and then assigning work that capitalizes on strengths and avoids weaknesses. But the truth is that there are many traits that can be both a strength and a weakness, depending on how it is channeled and applied to certain jobs or tasks. Over the last few weeks, we’ve looked at a series of such traits. Procrastination. Impatience. Competitiveness. Unreasonableness. At first glance, these may seem like flaws. But when properly channeled or applied in the right situations, each of these so-called ‘flaws’ can also be ‘qualities’.

Is the reverse also true? Can something generally viewed as a quality also be a flaw? The goal with virtually any quality or flaw is to channel and harness it for whatever value is offers without allowing it to become a detriment. Take perfectionism, for example. Many people admit freely to being perfectionists. It’s seen by many as perhaps a ‘desirable flaw’ in that most successful people shamelessly claim to be perfectionists. If one must admit to a flaw, that’s the flaw to have. But is it always good to be a perfectionist and can even that trait become problematic? If so, how can one best manage a perfectionist? Continue reading

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