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Viral Powerpoint Slides

by John Tan
14 replies
Hi all,

I've been lurking around in this forum for quite some time... :p

My first post.

Just a short question: Have you all ever thought of making a Viral Powerpoint slides? Those powerpoint slides with pictures, some words or phrases and background music that people forward around in emails? I'm sure some of you guys have receive those kind of emails before... What do you think?

Will it work? What do you all think of this? Any suggestions? Thanks for reading.
#powerpoint #slides #viral
  • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
    Personally, I think it would work with the right content. My wife gets those thingies in her email all the time. (I get a few as well.)

    But here's the deal...none of them I've seen have anything to do with selling anything other than a free feel-good moment while you watch them.

    So for you to get it passed around it would need something unusually good that folks can universally identify with.

    But could it work? Yea, it could.

    ~Bill
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    • Profile picture of the author John Tan
      Originally Posted by Bill Farnham View Post

      Personally, I think it would work with the right content. My wife gets those thingies in her email all the time. (I get a few as well.)

      But here's the deal...none of them I've seen have anything to do with selling anything other than a free feel-good moment while you watch them.

      So for you to get it passed around it would need something unusually good that folks can universally identify with.

      But could it work? Yea, it could.

      ~Bill
      I'm not planning to sell anything. Just hope that they'll visit my site which is for non-profit. Perhaps just add a credit link in the last slide. If they ever finish viewing the slides, i'm sure they are interested and will perhaps pay a visit to my site. Thanks Bill for the suggestion about having something unusually good.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vincenzo Oliva
    Great idea, then go share them on slide sharing sites like slideshare, authorstream. Then make a slide show, add some music and post to the video sites. Great "viral" idea.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Tan
      Originally Posted by Vincenzo Oliva View Post

      Great idea, then go share them on slide sharing sites like slideshare, authorstream. Then make a slide show, add some music and post to the video sites. Great "viral" idea.
      Thanks for the reply and suggestions! It's a great idea!
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    Most of the Powerpoints that seem to get passed around today are the ones full of images of weird or wonderful things. No doubt all the images being used are copyright and should probably not be used.

    If you're planning on doing the same thing and putting a link to your website in it, be very careful. People don't like it when you use their content to advertise yourself. And you never know who is going to see that Powerpoint.

    As the above poster said, usually no one really knows who created the Powerpoint because they are never trying to push a product or a website. If you have your website in it though guess who is the first person they will be coming after when they find their copyright image or music being used in the Powerpoint.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Tan
      Originally Posted by WillR View Post

      Most of the Powerpoints that seem to get passed around today are the ones full of images of weird or wonderful things. No doubt all the images being used are copyright and should probably not be used.

      If you're planning on doing the same thing and putting a link to your website in it, be very careful. People don't like it when you use their content to advertise yourself. And you never know who is going to see that Powerpoint.

      As the above poster said, usually no one really knows who created the Powerpoint because they are never trying to push a product or a website. If you have your website in it though guess who is the first person they will be coming after when they find their copyright image or music being used in the Powerpoint.
      Thanks for the reply. I'll probably buy royalty free images and music for this purpose to prevent that from happening.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Tan
    Hoping for more replies with ideas and suggestions. anyone?
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    What are the images going to be of though that would make people pass the Powerpoint around? Standard stock images will not be very viral in nature. The things that seem to work best are real photos of accidents, nude celebrities, weird things, etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author Hoodyy
      Originally Posted by WillR View Post

      What are the images going to be of though that would make people pass the Powerpoint around? Standard stock images will not be very viral in nature. The things that seem to work best are real photos of accidents, nude celebrities, weird things, etc.
      If you created a hilarious and/or shocking e-mail it could easily go viral. My dad spends a lot of time just sending joke e-mails he receives around. Whack a link in there and it could be good.

      People will remove the link.

      Ahhhh.... Powerpoints I think you're onto a winner here!
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    I find a lot of the people that pass these Powerpoints around are the older generation. My dad does the same as well but i know whenever he sends them to me or my brothers, we never can be bothered opening them. A lot of the older generation don't know how to use Youtube or Facebook or things like that - their main form of computer use is emailing one another. This crowd would be very unlikely to buy anything online, in my opinion.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
      Okay, I have no idea what they look like, or how to make them.

      Can someone please explain? If it is what I think it is, I think I have a marketing idea that would fit with my audience.
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      "We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice."

      Dr. Samuel Johnson (Presiding at the sale of Thrales brewery, London, 1781)
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      • Profile picture of the author KevinTorrence
        Yeah, like others have already said ... then tend to involved bizzarre & cute things, urban legends, or moments of inspiration (usually pretty cheesy too). And I could imagine it getting pretty watered down & losing the link early in the process. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't work with the right crowd. That could be a pretty cool experiment. (Getting it viral in the first place could be a real challenge too...)
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      • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
        Originally Posted by Kirk Ward View Post

        Okay, I have no idea what they look like, or how to make them.

        Can someone please explain? If it is what I think it is, I think I have a marketing idea that would fit with my audience.
        Kirk, I believe John is speaking about those slideshows that get passed around in e-mails. Personally I avoid them like the plague and all my friends know better than to send me one, but they certainly appeal to a lot of people - my Mom loves them for example.

        They are easily created with PowerPoint and could likely be done with Open Office as well.

        Mr Farnham hit the nail on the head though (not that I'm surprised) - all of the popular ones are warm and fuzzy "feel good" presentations that make you smile or laugh.

        I doubt that any one of these with a marketing tone to it would ever go viral. But as John is interested in promoting a non-profit it may work.

        Interesting idea...

        Bill
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        • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
          Originally Posted by mywebwork View Post

          They are easily created with PowerPoint and could likely be done with Open Office as well.
          So all I do is create a PowerPoint in OpenOffice, export it as SWF and insert it into or attach it to the zero day email?
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          "We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice."

          Dr. Samuel Johnson (Presiding at the sale of Thrales brewery, London, 1781)
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