We are all looking for insight on how to create powerful, viral messages to leverage social media exposure.  So what makes your message viral?

 

I have a houseful of guests for the holiday weekend, which is the perfect way to study behavior (entertainment guaranteed).  I thought I would listen to the conversations, and see how many stories were shared, where the original source was mentioned or quoted.  I can say with certainty many stories, commentaries, and opinions were shared.  A majority of our conversations included celebrities and money.   And, as you might expect with a diverse group, we compared differences in how specific events have impacted us in different ways.  Some stories--not worthy of a Tweet.  However, some discussions were worthy, and I am confident if a link to video clip was available to enhance the discussion, it would certainly increase the intensity of the conversation.  In our group, Money + Celebrity + Social Behavior made a nice formula that identified the discussions that originated from other sources, and were hot topics.   

 

Dan Zarella,  a well-known social, search, and viral marketing scientist, recently shared the results of his analysis of ReTweets, in an effort to understand what makes a tweet viral.  Check out the results in his article, the Linquistics of ReTweet. You have to read it carefully to properly interpret the graphs.  Then, check out the most popular ReTweets at dailyRT.  By the way, at this very moment, Lance Armstrong is the hot RT with a tweet about Jimmy Buffet--double celebrity!

 

Well, don't expect to see new ACT! advertising or packaging with a celebrity smiling at you from behind a box of ACT! by Sage.  But, I will be exploring new ideas and testing the waters using this research.  I am interested in your feedback on how useful you found this information.