How to Go Viral

Amanda Maksymiw

August 16, 2010

What do Mullets, Mormon, and Maniacs have in common?

As a marketing analyst on the OpenView Labs team, I have spent some time researching the best practices process for inbound marketing campaigns. Essentially, one of our expansion stage portfolio companies would approach the Labs looking for help on increasing web traffic, getting more inbound leads, increasing trial sign-ups, etc. in a quick, viral way. They were looking for the silver bullet of viral marketing so to speak.

We all know that a silver bullet to any strategy does not exist, but I recently stumbled upon a great presentation that claims to be very close. Last week Erick Schonfeld wrote an article on TechCrunch highlighting a recent presentation on viral marketing from Jonah Peretti, CEO of BuzzFeed.

Peretti shares a well-thought approach to creating something viral. He offers insightful tips on when you should try (and try again) in addition to how you can get started today.

Here are Peretti’s 5 steps to going viral:

  1. Create media for the Bored at Work network: There are millions of people trapped at their desks everyday. Create something that the masses will enjoy consuming and sharing.
  2. Practice the Mullet Strategy:  Just like the infamous hairdo, keep the business up front and the party in the back. This means to maintain a corporate looking appearance while still catering to the fun.
  3. Try Big Seed Marketing: Don’t be afraid to spend some money to get really creative campaigns out there.
  4. Target the Maniacs: “Crazy people run the web.” Capitalize on that.
  5. Be a Mormon, Not a Jew: It is not of the quality of the content that matters. It is the quality of the effort you put into spreading it.

Jonah Peretti Viral Meetup Talk

HubSpot, maker of inbound marketing solutions, has experienced a lot of success with its viral videos. Many of their videos meet most, if not of all Peretti’s tips above. Here is one of my favorite viral videos from HubSpot:

Has your company had any success in viral marketing? What tips can you offer?

Content Marketing Director

<strong>Amanda Maksymiw</strong> worked at OpenView from 2008 until 2012, where she focused on developing marketing and PR strategies for both OpenView and its portfolio companies. Today she is the Content Marketing Director at <a href="https://www.fuze.com/">Fuze</a>.