The fundamental shift in marketing is that of moving from "throwing matches to pouring gasoline."
It's about finding the few, the passionate, the Raving Fans, and cultivating them so that they will go out and, as a raging inferno, spread the word about you to their networks.
Now, HOW you get something to spread through a network is part art and part science. As a result, it's not always easy to predict what will work and what won't.
I've often said, "you can't make a viral video, but you can make a video and hope that it goes viral."
In this fantastic article, "Why do things go viral?", you'll see a great analysis (imho) that will back up the premise of "you just never know."
What's more, the author touches on one of my favorite concepts, "the attention economy," how it is a currency and how, with each communique, your personal brand/reputation/whatever ticks up or down like a stock on a day traders board (at least pre-crash, since now everything goes down, right?)
And then, he connects the dots between attention and virality (a point I hadn't seen before).
Basically, if you can't keep someone's attention (in a genuine, not gimmicky way), there is NO chance for your idea to go viral for the simple reason that, at a certain point, people will not want to burn their currency of attention with their networks.
And your idea will die on the vine.
Lesson: If you really want an idea to spread, the filter you must pass is: will the value of my network be significantly increased if they pass this along to their networks?
Technorati Tags: marketing, viral, attentino
