How did Rebecca Black get so viral?

4chan made her viral

There's a bit of a difference between a person and their song going viral and trying to get a health supplement product to go viral...

You're talking about apples and oranges here.

... because her video was so horrendously bad, that it was good.

You may not want to follow the 'Rebecca Black Path,' unless your dad's health product is equally "horrendously bad."

It's not whether it's good or bad; it's whether it strikes a nerve, and if it does . . . you're home and dry.

Her parents are incredibly wealthy. I'm sure you can work out the rest.

If you want to know how to spread things, you need to read "Buzzmarketing" by Mark Hughes. You will then understand.

In a nutshell, things go viral because they strike an emotion in the person watching it. "Friday" is a great case study because what it did was make people realize that the song showed everything that is wrong with the music industry. Because it was so outrageous (whether intentional or not) it triggered a feeling in people of "I MUST SHARE THIS".

Whether it's to make fun or comment it still got spread. If you are trying to figure out how to make a supplement company content go viral you need to tap into that motivation. You need to somehow push buttons and MAKE people WANT to spread it.

Because her mother did the smartest thing in the world:

Gave a good chunk of cash to a good internet marketer....

And the rest is history

Because she is annoying as hell.


Things that go viral tend to be either funny, annoying or vicious.

For example:

Funny - Two girls, one cup. Yes it was disgusting and sickening to watch but deep down you really did want to laugh a bit.

Annoying - Annoying orange or Rebecca Black

Vicious - That video of the asian kid getting attacked by a group of boys. That went viral stupidly quick because of the rage it brought to everybody. Just goes to show when something bad happens the world can really stick together.

People spread her video making fun of her. It had nothing to do with good marketing.

But...in the sense you want a video that could go viral for a health supplement...

A video of outrageous physical feats, or stunts, parkour, or world records comes to mind...like this for instance:


People interested by fitness will be attracted to it, and the product is more targeted...

(or others involving sports by people who might try the product)

People are making good points here, going viral is, by definition, something that cannot be reliably planned. And the previous comments are also correct, that creating a viral music video is a lot different than a viral ad for a health supplement. And also a big portion of Rebecca Black's popularity was people laughing at her. Might seem mean to laugh at someone's video, but she got a contract out of it.

You can use a similar model for your ads. If you (or your dad) don't take yourself too seriously, and have a sense of humor, you can do something in a similar style. Make an ad that "so bad it's good". You could do a parody of an old late night commercial from the 80s. You could even do a terrible music video.

Going viral isn't something you can plan, but it's something you can try for, and the same model that made Rebecca Black can be adapted for other uses.

Good luck!