If you’re like most marketers, you understand a great video can work wonders for your business. You also know that your ultimate goal is to ensure the video goes viral to achieve the results you want. The question is how?
An unconventional yet surprisingly effective way is to post a video with certain amount of controversy or mystery attached. just look at a recent video posted by Florida resident Melissa Hoffman.
Mysterious Planet Generates Buzz
The video was not apparently posted for any particular marketing purpose (except perhaps to gain attention). Yet the 33-second YouTube clip has currently racked up 795,396 views — and in just three weeks!
So what’s so compelling about Hoffman’s video that it could so overwhelmingly take the Internet by storm? Well, in a nutshell, it’s created a lot of buzz about the end of the world. Take a look at the complete video below.
In the video, Huffman captures what appears to be a mysterious planet-like object hovering above the sun. The video was shot at the Sanibel Causeway, a three-mile bridge on the west coast of Florida.
“Just look at that planet beaming and shining right now. Somebody tell me what it is,” urges Huffman, speaking over her video.
But what seems to have drawn even more attention than the video itself are the comments it provoked from viewers all over the world.
One wrote, “It’s definitely Nibiru. It’s time to freak out, the makers are coming.”
O.K., it’s time for a few explanations here.
Many comments seem to refer to a fringe theory claiming that a previously uncharted body called Planet X or Nibiru, orbits the edge of the solar system.
According to these unsubstantiated theories, Planet X’s gravitational pull could spell doom for humanity by disrupting the flow of energy on Earth.
The implication of some of the comments, and perhaps of Huffman herself, may be that the strange looking object that seems to hover just above the sun in the video could be Planet X. A further implication might be that the appearance perhaps represents some kind of disastrous final approach.
Debunking the Planet X Theory
Fortunately for the inhabitants of Earth, there seems to be no evidence to support this story. And there is perhaps every reason to suspect the video is either capturing something else entirely or is a deliberate hoax.
Many other comments, by comparison, have suggested rational explanations for what appears in the video.
Perhaps just as important, NASA has maintained that claims about the so-called Planet X are simply untrue.
Going Viral
While it’s comforting to know the Earth is safe for now, it’s also worth noting the incredible impact such a piece of content could have over a relatively short span of time.
Imagine if your brand or product were somehow linked to such a message.
Of course, no one is suggesting you create deliberately misleading content or threaten a global apocalypse just to gain attention for your business.
But creating content that stimulates debate and creates discussion and interest should be the goal of any marketer.
For your next video, ask yourself what you could do to provoke a conversation and cause people to willingly want to share your message — short of threatening the end of the world, of course.
Brainstorming on how to create such content might be the single most important step in the process. Be sure your team doesn’t miss it.
Image: Melissa Huffman/YouTube
This article, "Want Your Video to Go Viral? Threaten the End of the World" was first published on Small Business Trends
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