How to Take your Sh*t Viral Part IV-Flexible Marketing (and the Thrilling Conclusion to the Eli Stevens Analysis)
By: Richie Cunningham, Staff Writer
In the 1980’s author and social critic Neil Postman predicted our modern era. In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman discounted the possibility of a society whose citizens succumbed to the omnipotent “Big Brother” portrayed in George Orwell’s 1984. Instead, Postman reminded readers of author Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World; a story describing the effects of a world whose citizens could be biologically engineered and take pills to live perfect lives. Postman concluded our culture is more susceptible to the Brave New World society of citizens. Such a society is more addicted to amusement, it’s less a citizenry conscious enough to fight oppression.
In terms of viral popularity, well, the medium is the message. That is, the forum society primarily uses to communicate, ipso-facto, represents its preferred mode of commuication. Medium writer Zander Nethercutt nicely recognized the importance of media commentator Marshall Macluhan’s famous description of using the proper method reach an audience. Quoting Nethercutt quoting MacLuhan:
…societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media with which men communicate than by the content of the communication. All technology has the property of the Midas touch; whenever a society develops an extension of itself, all other functions of that society tend to be transmuted to accommodate that new form; once any new technology penetrates a society, it saturates every institution of that society.”
Nethercutt goes on to apply the above quote to argue how society has become vain, inauthentic, and cosmetic; You can read the story here. We argue Nethercutt’s story only describes the tip of the iceburg. Below the surface lay the big headline:
MODERN AUDIENCES COMMUNICATE USING VISUALS AND SHORT FORM CONTENT
You see, it’s not that your audience is vain (perhaps they are) — rather, it’s your audience is incapable of paying attention to you. As Postman argued, the modern form of communication must be wrapped in entertainment. Want the research to back it up? Read the excerpt below on the left.
Have a short attention span? Ponder whether a (straight) man would be more attracted to top half woman, bottom half fish — or top half fish, bottom half human pictured below.
That’s right, it’s our contention that people would rather discuss which half-human entity they’d rather mate with than read substantive research impacting their lives. There’s a full discussion on reddit if you’re so inclined.
Instagram is popular because it is the preferred medium of modern communication. Instagram will probably survive (unlike Victoria’s Secret, click here to learn more) because it was the first communication system to deliver (largely) picture-only communication in a society that best communicates through short-form entertainment.
Tik Tok, a forum where the vain and superficial can share videos of themselves recently exploded onto the scene. Its rise in popularity, and one of its sensational impresarios, Eli R. Stevens (@elirsteves on the socials), was the focus of Part I of the series: How to Take your Sh*t Viral.
Yet Tik Tok will fail. You may guffaw, but that’s because you didn’t read the long, excerpted story above left. Just know this: People don’t want to pay attention to traditional content anymore. Seth Godin predicted this in 2002’s Purple Cow (note: that’s before smartphones and before 75%+ of all households used the internet).
In Purple Cow, Godin predicted every method of entertainment-based advertising has been tried.
Modernly, something more is required: Your message must be “remarkable.” That is, your message must make its recipient remark “Wow, I can’t believe what I just saw!”
This is the last time we’re going to check in with Eli R. Stevens -sorry longtime readers :(
As you see above, Eli’s Twitter account plateaued in growth (it’s been that way for a few months now). Eli is a TikTok sensation, thus, his Twitter growth doesn’t reflect his core fan base; instead Twitter reflects the limitations of any viral run. Social media stagnation is perfectly natural, users are fortunate to go viral in the first place. Viral content creators will continue to plateau unless they build a platform. Ryan Holiday discusses this issue in his book Perennieal Seller. The section on building a platform is summarized below:
- Locate fans who will follow you across multiple social media platforms. Get their contact information, and email them only content similar to what secured the initial success. No selling here, simply true you.
- Build personal relationships with those people. If you are interacting with those fans who follow you across platforms, those fans will tell others you’re different. You are the content creator who talks back, it’s transactions. You only need to interact with those core few, they’ll spread the word next.
- Be patient — whether your content is about cooking discount burgers, or a Medium article that has 12 reads-someone will spread it if its good, if it’s an authentic version of YOU.
- Continue to spread the word about who you are and what you do, if even 1 person follows you across platforms, you’re off to a good start.
All this matters because Eli R. Steven’s core social platform, TikTok, won’t survive. TikTok will be as popular as Vine in about year (i.e. forgotten). The key is to secure your fanbase. If you do, no matter which social platform you move to, your new content stands a chance to go viral.
Instagram was first on the visual image scene, so it’ll likely survive for awhile. Yet as you now know, your content needs to survive the potential demise of Instagram and any other social platform your content utlizes. One thing will be constant, the quality of those few fans who love your work, and the primary medium for viral content in the 21st century: pictures.
Here is your plan, dear marketer:
- Communicate using images: Visuals are the new medium. Some words are still acceptable, but they won’t be for long. Soon people will communicate using only picutures. See Brave New World, above.
- Communicate remarkably: Excite, but try not to offend, the message recipient. See Purple Cow, above.
- To discover the remarkable, try doing the opposite of conventional, the opposite of what you believe will be most likely to succeed.
Let’s develop point #3 above:
“In many areas of life…the long-term effects of your actions are often the opposite of the short-term effects? Whey then is it so hard to comprehend that marketing effects take place over an extended period of time?” -Ch.10 The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.
For this section of our viral plan, you’ll need the book Alchemy by uber-marketer Rory Sutherland.
In Alchemy, Sutherland contends the actions we believe are logical are actually emotional, subconscious…inexplicable.
Sutherland’s chief example is Red Bull. People in taste tests hated the drink prior to release. After release, we all know what happened. The key takeaway is that not everyone has to like a product of idea. Instead, a group of rabid fans need to love it and talk about. Subsequently, people who might otherwise dislike a product or idea become more open minded to the concept. Testing something that shouldn’t have worked, but did, was Red Bull’s success. Rely on this quote from the book:
“If you never do anything differently, you’ll reduce your chances of enjoying lucky accidents.”
To read Part III of this series, click here.
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This story neither endorses nor rejects any of the products mentioned, but may link to affiliate marketing products for which the author receives a commission.
