Some accidental viral campaigns that boosted brands to new heights!
Digital platforms are as unpredictable as the weather of Mumbai. It keeps content creators and marketers on their toes. One never knows what will go viral. The lastest unexpected trend was the Zomato delivery guy smiling. It was on every alternate post while scrolling through your news feed.
For content creators now constantly follow #trendingformat to synergize it with their brands. Every creator and brand hopes that their post goes viral and sometimes out of the blue the most unexpected ones go viral. Here are a few of them:
- “The Dress Illusion”: Remember back in 2015 our biggest confusion was whether a certain dress was white and gold or blue and black? The internet lost its mind over that debate. Popular brands like Dunkin’ Donuts, Oreo Cookies, Tide and Lego jumped on the debate bandwagon and used the trend for their products. The original post had 10 million retweets.
- Spotify Wraps: Spotify came up with The Wrapped Campaign which is a way for users to look back at their listening trends from the past year and the decade as a whole. It started in 2019 and continued this year as well.
- Dollar Shave Club: Hands down one of the funniest commercials I have watched! Nothing connects with people like humor does, especially dark humor. Needless to say, the commercial went viral. No celebrities or extravagance, just plain good content.
- Ice Bucket Challenge: Any list of viral marketing campaigns is incomplete without mentioning the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It received the kind of success very few campaigns gain. This campaign was created to spread awareness about Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, where you had to pour ice-cold water on your body and nominate your friends to do the same. A lot of celebrities also participated.
Tips on how to do the same for your brand:
- Get your target audience right: Identify your target audience and know how you can connect with them. This will get you really far and is honestly very easy.
- Be alert about the timing: Timing is extremely important when it comes to sharing viral content. Do thorough research on when is the right time to share what kind of content.
- Engagement on the right social media platforms: Your content should force your audience to engage and be posted on the correct platforms. There is no point on posting on Twitter if your audience is on Instagram.
Quality over quantity always: Your content should always leave an impact on your audience. No matter if it is just one post on Instagram or a blog in a week. It should leave a mark of our brand in the minds of your audience.