How the Big Companies Predict the Potential for their Viral Videos

Viral videos are famously impossible to manufacture and, let’s face it, predicting their success isn’t an exact science. Or is it?

When it comes to viral videos, there’s one company the big names are turning to in their hunt for their own version of Dollar Shave Club.

That company is UnRuly Media.

UnRuly ShareRank

UnRuly is a UK company, founded in 2006. Staff at UnRuly have dedicated the last seven years to examining the alchemy of viral videos and have developed their own algorithm, ShareRank, which they boast can predict the success of your video to 80 per cent accuracy.

ShareRank is based on seven years of video sharing data, collected from sources such as UnRuly’s Viral Video Chart. It incorporates data from their own clients, including this hit from Coca-Cola, called the Happiness Machine.

UnRuly stores data from 329 billion video streams, and all this data has been analysed for psychological, social and creative triggers that make a video shareable, or unshareable. This data has been combined with academic research and analysis of consumer questionnaires, to create a ranking system that has over 10,000 data points.

Brands can use this algorithm to evaluate the viral potential of their video content, and calculate the possible return on investment. They can also use it to improve the shareability of their content, compare their videos to those of their competitors, plot a distribution and promotion campaign, and plan future content.

UnRuly’s work is proving so successful that its revenue has tripled over the last twelve months. The company has now opened new offices in Amsterdam, Sydney and New York, home to their new project – the UnRuly Social Video Lab.

UnRuly Social Video Lab

The UnRuly Social Video Lab is a unique venture. Referred to by an UnRuly spokesman as a ‘visual spectacle,’ the lab comprises touchscreens and huge LED monitors, all working to show off UnRuly’s data and best practices – it’s far more effective than a conference call.

There are four main ways UnRuly can help your video marketing strategy. The first is a social video health check to see how your videos compare to those of your main competitors. Lab staff, who are all experts in the field, take you through the emotional triggers and content themes in your industry that make videos a success or failure. This can be used as a basis to plan your marketing strategy, and help you focus on what’s important for your customers.

The content workshop is where you get to see some really cool stuff in action. By running creative testing on the content you’ve assembled, UnRuly can test its emotional intensity and analyse whether it has “shareability” potential. The company’s technology includes eye tracking, where orange dots show where people’s eyes are drawn when watching your content to check the success of brand placement, and facial recognition software, which measures audience reactions and helps to pinpoint the exact moments that generate strong emotional responses.

UnRuly has a global audience reach of 917 million people. Through this, its technology is able to detect influencers and bloggers who can help to create a buzz around your new video. Using its knowledge and contacts, UnRuly can help you develop a marketing strategy to ensure that your video reaches its target audience and maximises its potential.

Finally, UnRuly has some powerful analytics technology at its fingertips, which measures consumers’ pre and post viewing behaviour, and can calculate the brand uplift and purchase intent of viewers. This is also helpful for planning future video content.

Success Stories

UnRuly can boast some impressive success stories to date, including that of Renault’s Va Va Voom marketing campaign. Renault approached UnRuly when it wanted to relaunch the Renault Clio for a new generation. Its campaign was aimed at a male and female audience between the ages of 17 and 30, and Renault wanted to trigger the psychological response of sexual arousal.

The campaign was a resounding success. They released two videos, one aimed at men:

And the other aimed at women:

In total, the two ads were watched 4.1 million times on YouTube, and generated over 125,000 shares. More importantly, viewers of the video were more likely to purchase a Clio, with Renault reporting 103 per cent uplift in purchase intent.

Predicting Viral Videos

As the popularity of video marketing increases, brands are developing a broad understanding of the emotional triggers that make a video shareable. But UnRuly has taken this a stage further. They believe that the potential of a video going viral is no longer down to luck or a best guess – they believe they have it down to a science.

And as their client list and revenue continues to soar, it would appear that the big companies agree with them.

If you’re keen to tap into the true potential of digital video marketing, it may just be worth paying a visit to the UnRuly Social Video Lab.

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/digital-marketing/big-companies-predict-potential-viral-videos-0687068?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=big-companies-predict-potential-viral-videos