How Can You Make a Video Go Viral?

Pretty cool. I could see it being used by other SEO companies trying to explain the insignificance of the Yellow Pages to their own clients. About going viral, I dunno really... hard to tell. It's cute for sure, but I think it lacks the shock/humor viral videos are known to have.

To add some variety and humor to the predictable pattern of the video, I would have interjected this with (for example) a scene in an office where you and your partner are trying to convince a client (grouchy, tight-wad, widget-selling character) to spend some money on SEO and have the client make some outrageously incorrect rebuttals, like "Everyone uses the Yellow Pages!" or "The Yellow Pages got me through the depression and I know they work!" Or "Why should I spend money on something I cant even look at?" etc..

PS> I like your on camera skills and the editing was quite good in this video.

Thanks for the feedback guys... some great tips for our next one.

Also, I actually forgot to ask, if there's any chance you can give it a 5 stars on youtube, twitter it, facebook it, digg it, or whatever... that'd be much apprecaited.

Hell, if you have a blog, or any other way to promote it, or something, I'll even paypal you some $ if you help promote it. (just PM me)

Thanks again.

hey dude,
most videos that go viral have something shocking/amazing/unbelievable in them, but they also usually have some sort of emotional tugging also.

Think of the hail/floods down the CBD. I watched those videos because they were amazing/bizarre and forwarded them onto friends because I used to live in Melbourne (emotional tugging).

While the SEO video is informational and well put together, it is not really that emotionally appealling. Sometimes it can be hard to step back and personally criticize your own work, because you've invested so much time/energy into it, but you have to be your own best critic.

Why would some 15 year old kid forward them on to his mates?

My 2 cents

The only videos I have eve seen go viral are ones that have something extremely shocking in them...

Here's an excerpt from Viral Videos Ads: No Marketing Panacea:
Viral ads need LEGS, a convenient acronym that means viral ads have to have a Laugh out loud quality, Edgy content, must Grip your attention and most often have some Sexual content. Given that few campaigns (viral or otherwise) have LEGS, few will be able to create a successful viral campaign as Dove did with Evolution, and in most cases the reach is low. It comes back to the bottom line a question of opportunity, cost, and return on investment.
Lastly,The Secret Strategies Behind Many "Viral" Videos has some interesting pointers in it. Here's an excerpt from The Secret Strategies Behind Many "Viral" Videos:
So how do we get the first 50,000 views we need to get our videos onto the Most Viewed list? * Blogs: We reach out to individuals who run relevant blogs and actually pay them to post our embedded videos. Sounds a little bit like cheating/Pay Per Post, but it's effective and it's not against any rules.
Forums: We start new threads and embed our videos. Sometimes, this means kick starting the conversations by setting up multiple accounts on each forum and posting back and forth between a few different users. Yes, it's tedious and time-consuming, but if we get enough people working on it, it can have a tremendous effect.
* MySpace: Plenty of users allow you to embed YouTube videos right in the comments section of their My Space pages. We take advantage of this.
Face book: Share, share, share. We've taken Dave McClure's advice and built a sizable presence on Face book, so sharing a video with our entire friends list can have a real impact. Other ideas include creating an event that announces the video launch and inviting friends, writing a note and tagging friends, or posting the video on Face book Video with a link back to the original You Tube video.

Very cool video

I like the idea behind it.

If you would like anything to go viral... the answer lies in syndicating your content.

Make it as widely spread as possible. This will give it the greatest chance of going viral. Because the more people that view it and like it - the more likely it's going to get passed along and recommended to others.

The key is having great content + mass distribution.

Cool

Like the script and editing BUT 2 issues:

First: As kevin said, you need to "normalize" the sounds. Do it in post production, select all voices (hopefully in one track) and normalize it.

Second: Brand all video - otherwise it will be cloned in hours and branded by other people.

Overall, great work. Really good.

It is well done, great quality and effort, but it will never ever go viral. Its too straight. There is nothing in it that is quirky or weird that would make me or anyone else send it on to a general audience.

Now if you had played it straight on the video but been dressed as a gorilla or the pink panther, then that would give it a quirk that could make it viral.

Pretty cool video bro. From the videos I've seen that go viral are ones that have humor involved.

Good idea.

I liked the shots and you kept it doing with short clips back and forth. I thought it did get long when you asked what "SEO was"? You got the point accross clearly and still kept going, shorten the responses. You would get the same point done in a short time.

I think this video will get hit home and do well for someone who is looking for exactly what you are selling, people intersted in getting SEO.

I dont see much of a viral impact on it. Like said before shocking, reason to pass it on to your friends. I am a fan personally of position videos so when people look for you, you will be easily found, timless videos. I think this video does that well, not sure on the viral aspect.

I like how you ended the video, the music, branding, using googles super bowl ad.

I have given you a 5 star on it, best of luck.

Cheers,
Mukul

I cannot think of any video selling stuff that went viral
without a big laugh factor.

People love to share stuff that's funny... and to a lesser
extent things which are cute (baby animals), inspirational
(guy with no arms and legs), gross, or stupid-funny ("Jackass").

Agree that humour is one of the keys for viral vids. People enjoy seeing something that is both unusual and funny- if you can capture that and link it to your product- you could be onto a winner.

There's an idea there but it's not going anywhere. Would be so much better if it were funny. Like this one from The Chaser boys -

Hi buddy, the content is interesting and well filmed. However, your goal remained unmet. As you said the goal is "showing how great SEO is". The clip did not do that in any effective way. It only features people's comments. To emphasize your goal you need to state it loud and clear, e.g. seo is great because it does.....list out each and every benefit so the readers get it. Marketing needs not be intrusive but the messages certainly need to direct, not implicit. Anyway, I like it. Cheers.