Want to go Viral?

In a time when the word “viral” is associated more with a “web sensation” then a disease, it is important for public relations professionals to be able to take advantage of using the Internet to form connections with unintended consumers. Having a video, game, picture, or some other type of item "go viral" allows for opportunities for those types of connections.

Remember the Dancing
Baby from Ally McBeal
circa 1996?

From a PR perspective (but also true from other perspectives), having an Internet or news item go viral on the web means the reach has surpassed its intended audience and is now being reached by consumers who were not originally targeted thus being viewed by thousands or millions of people in a short time period. If the message is positive, then the company or organization has hit the jackpot.

Designing something specifically to go viral is extremely difficult and predicting what Internet surfers want to spend their time looking at is just as, if not more, difficult. In the past few years, social media/networking websites have allowed things to go viral on the Internet easier and occur everyday.

While designing a viral sensation on the Internet might fall on the shoulders of a marketing department (if it's even visible or possible), public relations professionals should be able to identify opportunities if a positive viral item falls into their lap and then be able to promote it and gain further traction and publicity from it.

Of course, further promoting the viral item would only be a plan of action if it's positive. If the viral item is negative, well, that's a whole other discussion.