So, you were wondering, how did that video get viral in less than 48 hours? Here’s how I think it happened (Disclaimer: I am making this up as I go. Ok, not really. I’m quickly researching things as I type.)

Here it goes… someone found this video somewhere, digitized it and uploaded it to Youtube (around October 15, 2009).

However, at that time, not much people knew what it was. It was also posted on Youtube swimming on a pool of millions of other videos. How can this be viral? Nope. Not yet. There are still some ingredients missing.

One day when another person whose name is probably Nadim Kobeissi (from Montréal, QC, Canada) found it. He thought it to be worthy of giving the video a name. Trololo… maybe a few more lo’s there to make it even more catchy.

Then Nadim thought “Ok… I got a name for it. Let’s see if the domain name is available. *checks* Shoot! It’s taken! Let’s see if I add more lo’s to it… *checks* BOOM! Got one that’s available.” It’s  trololololololololololo.com.

He then registers the domain name, probably got hosting at SliceHost, and then created a simple one pager, embedded the video, uploaded and it’s up. Done! Now what?

Wonder how did he promote it when virtually all new websites out there are invisible? Let’s see… I’d bet he started sending emails to family and friends. Then he decided to post it on Facebook until somebody picked it up and tweeted:

This kind of tweet makes people curious. It’s something like “Wonder what that website is…” *click*. Watched it, then the song got stuck to his head.

But he didn’t want anything like awesome as this to hit a dead end on his watch. Heck no! So he tweeted it too and then another one re-tweeted it and another one posted it on facebook and sends it to all his friends and all his friends sent it to their friends and so on and so forth. Whew!

Then it naturally became one of the most forwarded links on the Interwebs in the past 2 days. See the below charts?

Cool isn’t it?

What does all these means? Well first off, it probably means nothing for some people. But you see, the real catalyst here is 1) the acquisition of the domain name, 2) the creation of a simple page and 3) its promotion online thru social media.

Now that’s only a simple fun video.

Let’s talk about your business. Do you have a domain name? Do you have a website? If you do, do you engage in social media? If you answered “Yes” on all of those, Bravo! You can close this page and give yourself a pat in the back. That’s how it’s done.

But if you don’t, think of all the potentials a business website can make.

I think I made my point. Now before I start my weekend, let me leave some tips on your next viral video or your new website:

1) We all know that social media is all about people. It is when and how people distribute and talk about it on the web that makes it special. Get people involved.

2) Fun is in. Boring is out.

3) Engage, hang out and participate. Use social media as your tool to get it out. Keep sharing. Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook and Google Buzz are just some places where you can engage your shared stuff. They’re your friends.

4) Monitor and track your social media engagement and use popular tools to analyze your traffic. Google Analytics, Bit.ly, Social Bookmarking are just some few examples tools for you.

5) Finally, let people know you are behind it.

Yes Nadim. We know.

And before I end this post, I’ll leave this short version of TROLOLO for you. (it’s 18 secs of pure fun.)

Hope you have a great weekend.

//aj

This entry was posted by AJ Batac on Friday, March 5th, 2010 at 4:12 pm and is filed under Random Musings, Tools, Tips and Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.