What makes content go viral?

Most believe this is a question with no answer, but I there are commonalities, so therefore at least an answer in part. Yes, the final ingredient is Luck, but be sure you use some or all of the common ingredients below first, or even luck cant help you. (Like making a great cake, few figure out the best recipe, but all need at least flour, eggs, flavor, etc.:) So common attributes of a viral content...
connection (many can relate to it)
controversy
outrageous
Unique (audience feels their friends have never seen)
Videos, or games type content included, containing the above. (After all viral videos has become synonymous with 'Viral')
Most successful viral video include some or all the above plus in order of most viral videos content type... Humor, Sex, Violence, Uniqueness

Tip: Sometimes viral can be kick started with a good marketing campaign. (Viral within a certain demographic.)

In no particular order, these elements are most often seen in content that takes on a life of itself and spreads for you.

Humor
Sarcasm
Satire
Sex
Controversy
Organization
Brevity
Originality
Immediate practicality
Statistics

The more you effectively combine (without looking like you're trying to hard), and better it typically works.

If you are asking this question, you probably have not read "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell.

Ultimately it's the idea behind the content - the part of that content which makes a large number of consumers say 'wow I really want to share this with others'.

Very difficult to do which is why so little content truly does go viral - and why many 'viral marketing' techniques don't work. True virality is ultimately about the content, not about the tactics used to promote it.

There are many reasons why content goes viral - it can be something funny, something unbelievable, something deeply emotional, something everybody can relate to, something that makes you stop and think, something that makes you smile, or something that you can't simply resist. You can see more of the 'what'.. on this infographic:

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/12/11/infographic-what-makes-content-...

I suggest this great article on going viral:

http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/26/eight-ways-go-viral/

“What makes content go viral?”
Al Shultz hit it on the head by saying that your content needed to be in the right place at the right time, etc.

Even though there is no question in my mind that so much of the “viral-ability” of a given piece is that material resonates with the most people over a very short period of time. Since the window is often a small one (From a time standpoint) being in the right place at the right time is a big factor.

That also, means to me that the content, interest and currency of the content must be viable material that merits the reader’s interest.

Don Fichett offered some ideas that could help to accelerate a video, marketing program or idea to the point of going viral. However, there is still the “luck”, or element of chance that is involved.

The main thing is that whatever idea, video or content that we write or produce has no chance at all of going viral if we don’t post it, print it or promote it.

I once (long before PCs and the Internet) attended a writer’s seminar where the speaker said that a good writer writes for their market but a great writer writes as if he expects millions of folks to read what the writer has written.

Being a writer/freelance writer/publisher, I have never had anything go viral but I keep writing in the hope that one day something that I write will do just that. In the meantime, I keep “working” the World’s busiest street corner — the Internet — with the idea in mind that there’s no better location in the world for my material except, in one of my customer’s hands…

Reading some of the answers to this question, seem to indicate that going viral equates to a digital crapshoot. I prefer to think that my chances of having something go viral become better with each piece that I write or content that I develop. More like the Law of Averages.

You, know ... the concept of knocking on enough doors will produce sales no matter how esoteric your product might be.

Jake Jakubuwski (Pronounced: JAKE-uh-bus-KEY)
http://www.purejake.com

Don't overlook the fact that most virals begin with the under-25 crowd. They are the ones who have the most facebook friends, so the multiplier effect can take hold much more easily.

Aside from the obvious, which is content, interest and trends, the media also plays a very big role in content going viral. Repeating news and stories over and over, will cause the mind to subliminally ache for the hunger cure of seeking that specific content.

In my humble opinion, it's simply about good humor. If it's funny in a way that will make the 18-35 age group laugh out loud and/or catchy enough to recite or sing along to after one listen, it will spread like butter on a hot biscuit.

Use of content curator apps, e.g., pininterest and scoopit. See http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3186-5-Content-Curation-Tools-for-... for good list of tools.

The content that is awesome,unique and very funny or very endearing.Something that can amuse people on large scale.

a WOW affect, something Extraordinary.

I work at a small company. I develop a plan/procedure. I gave it to all my employees. My mistake was e-mailing to a fellow manager. He took the plan and displayed it as his own. This only went viral in our company. But the complications of it reaching the walls and becoming the use of someone else.

Al Shultz essentially said it. These types of questions are not really answerable, although they are intriguing. Look at some of the answers given: It has to be extraordinary. It has to wow. It has to be awesome, unique. Asking what makes a great advertisement is like asking what makes a great painting or song. If it could be formulated, everyone would do it. Another general answer is talent.

Now, this question has been asked extensively from time to time but there's no Definite answer to it. To understand this better, let's break down what 'Go Viral' means. In simple words, content that is universally 'liked' and frequently 'shared' goes Viral.
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So, the main factor is the 'Content' really- what the purpose of the content is and how well the author/maker goes about communicating it really matters.
Eventually, it has to be worth sharing and have a universal message or connect to a certain tribe/community.

The Secondary factors are mainly the platforms used for the promotion of this content, its timing and the outreach. Having content driven to influencers makes a big difference as well.

Something that goes viral is not always about humor but acn be about personal gain such as plagiarism.

It goes with humor, oddity, controversy or something newsworthy. It helps if you'll write posts or updates about a hot topic. Viral content comes from intensive research and from writing a content which anyone can readily understand.

In essence, to become viral, your content should convince people that it's worth sharing.

Viral is such a broad term, so there are a lot of different answers for this.

The descriptors mentioned are certainly excellent contributors for a viral campaign. However, in context of viral or campaign success, you need to consider the strategy behind each effort. What exactly do you want to do and more importantly, how are you going to measure the success of what’s considered viral success? Is it 1 or 2 million hits or 500 hits?

These are questions which are part of a bigger discussion. Again, my success metrics may not be yours; that depends on what the business or personal goals are, but you need to have measurable goals and objectives.

I'm going to make up a ratio but I doubt it's far off: content that goes viral is probably 10% planned and 90% luck. Every company and many individuals want to strike that pot of gold and have their video, blog post or other content hit a million people overnight. Like most long shots, we hear about it the few times it happens, so it seems within everyone's reach, but we don't hear about it the zillions of times it doesn't. It's like the lottery -- if winning were commonplace it wouldn't be news.

In my experience, things that have really exploded tend to have been made without that intention. Look at the history of YouTube sensations and I think you'll find that most of them were done either for the entertainment of their creators, or perhaps to get a response out of a small audience. A very small minority were intentionally made to "explode," and when it comes to business/marketing content, the numbers get even smaller.

Few businesses or agencies are hip, aloof and prescient enough to successfully craft content purely with the intention of going viral. And almost by definition anything that is produced by a business for the purpose of marketing a product is highly unlikely to hit the online jackpot. There have certainly been exceptions (like Burger King's subservient chicken, the "Will It Blend" videos and the Old Spice guy), but for every one of those there are hundreds or thousands of contrived pieces of content that fall flat. It is not unlike the social pitfalls of "trying too hard" -- dressing or acting in a way that you think will make you popular, trying to actually plan and predict and control your relationships, and in general trying to force things that need to happen serendipitously and naturally. Most of the time it doesn't happen that way.

In short, it is fine to have viral marketing on your business wish list, and even to brainstorm specific ideas, but as one of the other commenters said, don't bet the farm on it. It is roulette marketing -- if it hits, take it as a windfall.