This studies makes contributions to the field of viral marketing in three ways:
firstly, it focuses on a relatively new and little researched medium in the form of Youtube; secondly, it introduces new constructs that play a role in making messages go viral; thirdly, it combines these constructs and already established factors into a new comprehensive model.
The findings of this study are important, in my opinion, because they establish some basic concepts that are vital to a part of marketing research that is not yet very well understood – the quality of video content that people tend to share. While some concepts have been touched on in prior studies, like the importance of emotional impact, this paper not only adds new concepts that can help increase the appeal of video content, but it also unifies these distinct factors into one model.
Some factors, like simplicity and visual stimulus, were not or could not be evaluated in prior studies which investigated sharing of emails or newspaper articles when websites like Youtube were not as well-known. Furthermore, the concept of importance or social significance of a message that was only briefly mentioned in prior studies has now been more deeply analyzed as staying power is partly based on the perceived importance of the video.
The concept of user involvement is something that has been overlooked in past studies about viral sharing. Marketers have long known that user involvement can
increase user interest or brand image, but it has not been discussed how this concept can be incorporated in video messages implicitly. This study mentions cases of videos that achieved different levels of user involvement and the data analysis shows that user involvement is a significant factor in determining whether a video entices the viewer to share it or talk about it. At this point it is also worth noting that the regression analysis showed that the emotion of “Inspiration” was by far the most significant factor among all the emotions when determining user involvement and provocative power. Based on this observation it may be reasonable to say that inspiration leads to the viewer taking action, not necessarily in the form of sharing the original video, but also by using individuated ways of spreading the message or by adopting a new mentality. The emotion of inspiration could manifest in the creation of new content or new ideas that are shared by the viewer. This study cannot definitively answer whether the process really works as smoothly as the theory suggests, but this may be a point of interests for future research.
One managerial implication this study raises is that companies should start investing time and capital to understand how to reach customers who primarily use the internet or video streaming websites as entertainment instead of television.
Business executives have to take social media marketing or Youtube marketing in particular very serious, even if it might not be a marketing tool of their generation.
Furthermore, since executives are often reluctant to invest in things they cannot measure, this study may be a cornerstone on the way to establish more reliable measurements to predict whether a campaign or a video in particular have potential to touch large audiences. Of course, researchers and marketers will still have to analyze the environment that will help spread or even shape a potent message, but having more information on what makes a message potent will also be of value. The model I
have conceptualized defines a third of the model illustrated in Figure 1-2 on page 9 in this study and is thus a big step from counting on luck to knowing how to make people watch and share.
After the positives I also have to mention that there are several limitations to this study. Although this research tries to analyze video content and not focus on outside factors, with the measurement of the factors of the IVP Model relying on participants’
subjective perceptions, there cannot be a completely objective measurement or evaluation of the factors involved. Furthermore, even with absolute precision in assessing a video’s innate virality potential, outside factors like audience demographics, additional marketing mix strategies and brand image are still very important and add uncertainty. Therefore the IVP model cannot be relied on exclusively in creating viral content, but should always be adjusted and used in concordance with the outside factors of a changing environment. Provocative Power alone does not lead to sharing but is just one of several factors (see Figure 5-1 on the next page). More comprehensive research on the outside circumstances (such as Seth Godin’s e-book) is mentioned in chapters 1 and 2 of this study.
Figure 5-1: Provocative Power, outside factors and sharing
Another limitation associated with the survey design is that, since the emotion of surprise and a person’s need for individuation are such important factors in determining a person’s desire to spread a message, and since the videos used in this study are to some extent well-known and not brand new, the participants’ scores regarding emotion and desire to share may not reflect the true potential that the videos had when they were still unknown. For instance, since almost everyone already knows Gangnam Style, they are unlikely to give the video high ratings in terms of surprise factor, funniness, or in regard to desire of sharing. Sharing a video that everyone already knows would not be a desirable action as one would seem boring and redundant and diminish their individuation.
Secondly, the sample size is relatively small when compared to the population.
The survey involved participants from many different countries and the sample
groups, albeit diverse, may not accurately represent larger parts of the population.
Furthermore, this study only looked at successful viral videos, which means that there is no control group of unsuccessful videos to compare them to. This is one of the bigger regrets I have about this study. However, a limitation of resources did not permit a study of such large scope and scale. Hence, my suggestion for future research is to use this model to analyze viral marketing videos or campaigns that failed. Future research may also look at detrimental factors that are negatively correlated to desire of sharing.
Lastly, I want to say that I do not believe that the model I proposed is complete or absolute, but that it is rather an approximation toward an ideal model of innate virality potential. For this reason, I think that future research should add to or subtract from this model to make contributions to this relatively new field of research.
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