You can’t get away from it. It’s everywhere. Last weekend people I follow on Twitter were tweeting about, and yesterday the CEO of Google celebrating Google’s 14^th birthday Gangnam Style.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I can only assume one or all of three things: 1) you live under a rock, 2) you are more out of touch with social media than you are willing to admit, 3) you don’t really care about the latest trends and crazes. Gangnam Style is the epitome of content gone viral, 300 million plus views and counting in just over two months. It has already broken world records for the amount of likes it has received. And if you haven’t seen the video, now is your chance…

How can I become the next Gangnam Style?

We all want to be the magical “IT” thing that spreads like a wildfire in a draught-stricken forest. We all want to have the content that receives millions of hits in a matter of days, only to accumulate hundreds of millions of hits within a few months. The success and popularity of Gangnam Style got me thinking about the idea of viral content and a way to guarantee that my video/blog post/meme/etc. goes viral.

Sadly, the decision I came to is that there is not. There is no way to predict, determine, or guarantee whether something will go viral, but I wanted to dig deeper into the concept of viral anyway to see if maybe there was a way to increase my odds. So where to begin? Etymology.

Something that is shared online in a rapid fashion is deemed “viral” because it mimics the process of a pandemic. The content spreads like a biological virus spreading from person to person until the whole population is affected. Just in writing this blog, I am doing my part to help spread the Gangnam Style virus. And other people have done theirs. There have already been countless parodies and covers that have received their respective millions of views.

So if we call something that spreads quickly online, viral, surely there are certain conditions that facilitate the process. By Google, wouldn’t you know it, there are! A quick search led me to the Wikipedia page for Transmission Risks and Rates, whereby there are only three conditions necessary for the spread of a virus:

• An infectious individual
• A susceptible individual
• An effective contact between them

That doesn’t sound too complicated, but what does it all mean? Well, you’ll have to check back next week later when we dive into examining how we can try to supply the conditions necessary for going viral. In the meantime, if you have any comments or ideas on what these three conditions mean to you in terms of online marketing, please feel free to start the discussion in the comments below.

If you think you’ve got a handle on the concepts of viral marketing, then we would love for you to sign up for your Kbuuk account today and start selling your book like crazy. Op…Op, op, op, op…Oppa, Gangnam Style. And if you want to help make Kbuuk the best online publishing platform, ever, we’d like to invite you to take this survey. Have a great weekend everyone!