One of the biggest advantages to virality online is that the results are immediately obvious and measurable for clients. But achieving this is not so easy.
The digital marketing lexicon is incomplete without ‘virality’ in the mix. We’ve seen the power of virality and its influence on brand bottom lines. ‘Going viral’ is the holy grail of every marketer, and there is no agency better positioned than Retroviral to delve into the art and science of the digital gateway drug to direct sales.
Retroviral is the creative shop that has made more brands ‘go globally viral’ than any other agency in Africa. For us, ‘viral’ is eyeballs X conversions. Awareness, sans action, is purely a vanity metric; true virality converts emotion into a rational sales intent.
The reason viral content is so highly sought after is that it really is a strategy. It starts with a brutal truth. If your content isn’t good enough to make it onto the news (free), then it’s ‘just another ad’, reliant on media spend, to do the heavy lifting to get in front of the right audience.
Many years ago, before my foray into communications, I spent some time in Hollywood and completed a three-month stand-up comedy class that has given me the fundamental grounding for the success we’ve achieved to date.
This comedy class taught me that all relevant content creation stems from a global observation; or in marketing terms: an insight. You need to first find the insight, the cultural truth to spark the idea.
The best lesson from stand-up comedy is that of packaging and delivery: package the insight – get the viewer or audience to buy into the material – so that the punchline hits on delivery.
Tap into the trend…
Streaming provider content is a global water cooler moment, waiting to be news hijacked or parodied. Trending topics on social media platforms give you massive insight. Within these topics exist a zeitgeist of tactical marketing opportunities.
You need to be online, be present, and look for those opportunities, or you’ll miss them. A perfect example is one of our most successful campaigns to date: #MyKreepyTeacher. When the Netflix documentary about a Capetonian befriending an octopus dropped, we decided to hijack the news and remind South Africa about the original, majestic creature of the deep: the Kreepy Krauly. The results were phenomonal (see infographic).
… But read the room
Psychology plays an enormous role here. South Africans are under immense pressure. Socio-economically and politically we operate in a highly stressful consumer space. Humour offers a fine line between acceptance and avoidance. Brands need to read the room and understand their customers – intimately – before they tread on a ‘funny’ or ‘drama’ approach. We’ve seen countless brands miss the mark, globally, when it comes to content creation.
We recently executed our viral strategy with our client Hohm Energy, expertly achieving over 2 million views on TikTok within less than 3 days, earned media coverage on 10+ tier one media channels, and 33,000 plus clicks to the site via qualified leads, raising local awarenss of the brand and the value it can offer a country crippled by rolling blackouts.
We are earned media-obsessed and drive a fierce PR strategy to support our content to get our brands on all relevant lips. Paid media plays a support role as an additional layer for conversion.
We’re known for creating quirky, funny content that has gone viral, but quirkiness is a tactic we use, not the core of the strategy. We unlock quirks in the performance or execution of the design of a campaign. For us, performance is everything in the world of branded content – and this is why using highly skilled actors is non-negotiable. Content lives and dies thanks to the performance of those you feature.
Aligning actors, channels and messaging
Sometimes, the actors we work with are influencers. In terms of influencers, we first need to analyse whether or not they’re strong performers, as they’re our actors with built-in distribution channels. We then research the synergy of the influencer audience with our brand’s target market. If those align, then we’re onto a winner.
Another critical element in our approach is choosing the right social media channels. These are digital dams that house a variety of fish, and it’s imperative to determine the sweet spot of your audience, to know which pond to play in. Figuring out the ‘who’ is a prerequisite for considering ‘how’ you’ll communicate and ‘what’ that’ll look/sound like.
It is safe to assume that TikTok is a frequent addition to this marketing mix. According to statistics published by ByteDance, 11.83 million users aged 18 and above in South Africa are on the site. This equates to a reach of 29.6% of all adults aged 18 and above in the country, and 27.2% of the total internet user base, regardless of age.
Retroviral has tapped into this market, finding a sweet spot with campaigns going viral on TikTok, within days – including 4.7m views for Sixty60 Swindler, 2.3m views for UltraPet #MyBestFriend, and 2m+ views for Nola Man.
Closing the loop
Closing the loop on virality for us means eyeballs X conversions. The success of these campaigns lies in reporting and ensuring that content delivers results.
We use tracking software and proprietary methods to analyse awareness, reach, and value of coverage and overlay our data with client sales data to determine success and opportunities for campaign optimisation.
The Sixty60 Swindler campaign, for example, delivered one of the best days in the application’s history – and a tangible uptick in sales.
One of the biggest advantages to virality online is that the results are immediately obvious and measurable for clients. With digital funnels and ‘data transactions’ – ie app downloads and direct orders in the case of Checkers Sixty60 – or lead generation through sign-up forms for Hohm, the impact is in real-time.
For clients in retail, for example, Lil-Lets, the sales data from stores illustrates our effectiveness, but may require a longer tail of always-on social activity to impact the market state and move the sales needle.
We believe the perfect mix is ‘always-on’ activity, coupled with campaign bursts.
So while you can’t just sit down and come up with a viral idea, you can incorporate a considered ‘virality’ approach to your strategy. You cannot always guarantee that your content will go viral, but with just the right mix of insight, psychology, channels, performance, and PR support, you might just be onto a winner.
Mike Sharman is an award-winning serial entrepreneur: co-founder of award-winning digital communications agency Retroviral; influencer marketing platform webfluential.com; disruptive sports storytelling agency retroactive.digital and athlete ecosystem MatchKit.co. He is also co-founder of the Put Foot Foundation, a charity that has secured 100,000+ school shoes for children across the SADAC region. Sharman is also the author of The Best Dick (2017) and Brandalism (2022). Twitter handle: @mikesharman
