So, ever since I came back from Vegas, I have had a pretty bad head cold. But, I have been diligently applying my favorite remedy: Watching mindless YouTube videos! Seriously, it makes me feel better. I am not sure why, but I am sticking to it! One thing I have noticed is that the most popular videos have at least one of two things; authentic, original content, or very well polished and produced material. Basically, if the video has authentic, original content then it doesn’t really matter if it’s “put together” well, because the content alone will sell it. However, if you are trying to replicate something someone has already done, then you need to do it better than them, make sure that your presentation is polished and your delivery is spot on.

Which brings us to the video above. Here we see employees at a Microsoft store dancing to Chris Brown’s “Forever”. This is an obvious attempt to ride on the popular Wedding Entrance meme that started this summer. Unfortunately, the content of this video isn’t authentic or original and it was put together pretty poorly. I mean, take a look at those buffoons! Their own customers are trying hard to ignore how awkward they look. This is the type of video I would normally find at failblog. So instead of creating a viral video that helps promote their brand, the only attention they get is snarky bloggers (like me) making fun of them!

This same lesson can be applied outside of viral video. Take for example MySpace and Facebook. For a long time MySpace was the only mainstream social network. Because they had an original concept they didn’t have to worry about having a polished interface and enforcing tight security standards, and they didn’t. As a result, Facebook gained massive popularity over MySpace because they offered everything MySpace did plus a clean interface and a barrage of privacy options.

So, to sum things up: When developing a product or a new idea ask your self, is this original? If the answer is no, then spend as much time on presentation and working out the kinks as possible.

Read the original here:
Cup of Joe: How Not To Go Viral and Look Like an Idiot

Tags: advice, books, dont-read-this, general, legal, marketing-jobs, marketing-pilgrim, pilgrim-s-links, popular-pages, prweb-newswire, reputation, reputation-me, research, search, sem-scholarship, social, video

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