Understanding the various elements that drive shareability of online video campaigns is fundamental to achieving 'valuable virality'. Here are five steps to success.

Find your brand's voice

While there are hundreds of factors that contribute to shareability of online video, the top two are psychological responses and social motivations to share. Finding your brand's voice involves selecting the psychological responses and social motivations that best communicate your brand's key messages and achieve your campaign goals.

A psychological response is, in the words of Daniel Kahneman, a System 1 response: it is automatic. Psychological responses can be split into four different types, each of which has a unique impact on shareability: emotional responses (amazement, exhilaration, happiness, hilarity, inspiration, pride, nostalgia, sadness and warmth); primal responses (anger, arousal and fear); cognitive responses (knowledge, shock and surprise); and non-empathetic negative responses (confusion, contempt and disgust).

Emotional responses have a very strong correlation with shareability. If a brand can evoke one, or a combination, of these responses among a large proportion of its audience, then it is highly likely to have a very shareable video. Intensity is key here: brands should seek to make their emotional responses as intense as possible to maximise their chance of success.

Primal responses have a strong impact on shareability, but commercial brands should use these with care. While it's possible to generate lots of sharing by, for example, angering viewers, such a response may not be brand-appropriate. Governments with public service messages and charities, on the other hand, can use these responses very effectively.

Cognitive responses have a mild impact on shareability. While they are not key drivers of sharing in themselves, they can amplify emotional responses that do drive shareability. So, for example, if viewers are intensely surprised by the central premise of an ad, then they are more likely to feel the intense emotional responses with which that surprise was combined (e.g. warmth, nostalgia, pride).

Non-empathetic negative responses are the enemy of sharing. If, for example, a viewer is confused by an ad, then they will be very unlikely to feel the intense emotional responses that the brand had intended them to feel. Contempt is even worse than confusion, as this indicates an active dislike of the video. Disgust is also to be avoided, as viewers are very unlikely to want to disgust a friend or family member by sharing a disgusting video with them.

Unlike psychological responses, social motivations are a System 2 response, requiring a thought process. They involve the viewer thinking 'I would share this video because…'.

While there tends to be consensus around psychological responses, social motivations tend to be more personal. So, the same video can work in different ways for different people. We can take an example of a video for a puppy rescue centre, featuring puppies waiting to be rehomed. Lots of viewers will see the puppies and feel intense warmth (thinking 'aah, they're so cute'), but different members of the audience will share for different, and more personal, reasons. One viewer may be a dog lover, and may wish to share with other people whom he knows to also love dogs (Shared Passion). Another may want to try to do a good thing and help the puppies get rehomed (Social Good). Yet another may want to ask his friends' opinions about why the puppies find themselves in this horrible situation (Opinion Seeking). The best social videos tend to offer up a 'menu' of social motivations from which viewers can choose, so the ads work in different ways for different members of the audience.

Finding your brand's voice requires you to select the correct psychological responses for your brand and your campaign. Think about the psychological responses that best convey your brand's message and personality, and then choose creative devices that evoke these responses as intensely as possible among your target audience. Additionally, offer up a menu of social motivations that are appropriate for your campaign. If you're targeting tech-savvy youth, then include Kudos: Authority. If your goal is to tell viewers about the great work you have done in developing countries, focus on Social Good. But if you're simply trying to sell more product, then be sure to include Social Utility.

A great example of a video that combines intense emotional responses with social motivations is from the Always 'Like A Girl' campaign. The young female target audience felt warmth towards the protagonists, proud to be girls, and inspired to rewrite the rules. They shared the video to inspire others (Social Good), to say that they believe the negative use of the 'like a girl' moniker is wrong (Self Expression), and to ask others' opinions about the thought-provoking central premise (Opinion Seeking).

Source: Warc, Ian Forrester