In Digital Marketing Today, we prepared students for the various circumstances that rise while managing social media presence. Here, we talked about the perks and risks of "going viral", as well as the research needed to jump into "bandwagons" and on timely events. Finally, we touched on User Generated Content (AKA "User Created Content") and the liberties of submission that certain campaigns give.

1. Virality
Lecture #6: Virality - Why Things Go Viral
UGBA 198 - Fall 2017
Haas School of Business; UC Berkeley
Julian Gamboa-Ramos

2. What Is Virality?

3. The tendency of an image, video, or piece of information to
be circulated rapidly and widely from one internet user to
another.
● AKA: word-of-mouth, creating a buzz, leveraging the
media, or network marketing.
● Many aim for virality, but it can’t be assured.
○ Rule of thumb: Never promise something will go viral.
What Is Virality?

4. Comes in many forms from various
sources.
● Relatable
● Social Currency
● Emotion
● Usefulness
● Spread
● Quantitative Results
● Being Remembered
Patterns Of Success

5. ● Approach with new tactics
○ Think outside the box
● Is it widely relatable?
○ Inside jokes not
● Easily shareable
○ YouTube dominates in viral
content, but posts can as well.
○ Remember Vine?
Making It Viral

6. Thinking Outside The Box
132.3 million views

7. Target audience?
Evan Baby & Me

8. “People don’t buy things, they buy the experience.”
-Thomas Gilovich
● Early consumerism:
○ Good marketing connects your product as a
commodity with human attachment.
● What was Evian able to accomplish in their ad?
● What are companies advertising now? Products or styles?
Storytelling

9. Aiming for virality can be risky.
● What not to do:
○ Jump blindly on bandwagons
○ Don’t advertise (too much)
■ “Quality over quantity”
○ Plan the campaign assuming it will go viral
■ Sponsoring
Avoiding The Risks

10. Bandwagons

11. What Is A Bandwagon?

12. A particular activity or cause that has suddenly become
fashionable or popular.
“Everyone else is watching this, so you should too.”
● Usually has a strong fan-base.
● “Spurr of the moment”
○ “Everyone is in on the joke”
● An event with prior hype
What Is A Bandwagon?

13. Be very careful with the following:
● Research
○ Jumping vs Joining
● Know fanbase
○ Know the lingo (Star Trek: “Frakkin”)
● Be considerate of followers
Jumping On Bandwagons

14. ● Serial
○ Detective show on real life events. Non-fiction podcast.
○ Serial fan base discussed investigation via Twitter.
○ Best Buy got many mentions.
○ Best Buy decided to have a Tweet of their own. (RTs)
Best Buy | #Serial

15. Best Buy | #Serial

16. Best Buy Backlash

17. Admitting Defeat

18. ● Understand what the topic is.
○ Again, research!
● Brainstorm your approach.
○ Discuss with team members on content.
○ Personal detour to understand fanbase.
● How will your brand/product be perceived?
○ Should your brand be linked with this topic?
● Dedicate no more than one post.
○ Move on with into campaigns.
Joining Bandwagons

19. NPR | #Ramona

20. NPR | #Ramona

21. NPR | #Ramona

22. NPR | #Ramona

23. T-Mobile’s “Restricted Hotline Bling”
T-Mobile | Drake

24. DO RESEARCH BEFORE BLINDLY JOINING
(JUMPING)
● Fans and the internet alike are unforgiving.
● Once content is uploaded, it exists forever.
○ Screenshots of tweets
● All fun and laughs. Be creative.
Bandwagon Takeaways

25. Timely Events

26. What Are Timely Events?

27. Utilizing recent pop-culture enthusiasm and connecting the
moment or experience to your brand or product.
● Must be quick, but with research
● Here: Follow culture, not lead it (storytelling)
● Fresh and referenceable content
What Are Timely Events?

28. T-Mobile | “Drop The Balls”; Steve Harvey’s Confusion in January
T-Mobile | On Verizon & Sprint

29. “Damn Daniel” Bandwagon

30. Netflix: “We Make the Terror”

31. Black Mirror: This is Reality

32. Time-Sensitive Tweets

33. Time-Sensitive Tweets

34. “No one will notice if you do not tweet
about 9/11, but everyone will notice if
you do tweet.”
Time-Sensitive Tweets

35. User Generated Content

36. User Generated Content

37. Any form of content such as blogs, posts, tweets, digital
images, video, audio files, ads and other forms of media that
was created by users of an online system or service.
● Fan-art, song covers, hashtag uses
● No control over content, but control over the tone.
○ Phrase campaigns carefully
User Generated Content

38. UGC ~ Your Content

39. Adobe Students UGC Campaign
Adobe Students | “10 Days of UX Design? Done.”

40. 2014, 2015, and 2016 Winners
Doritos: Crash the Super Bowl