This presentation focuses on case studies from the education and not-for-profit sectors to provide practical advice on how to successfully plan, produce and monitor viral content. Learn about the psychological motivators that encourage people to share content; be inspired to create infographics that share your institution's mission with a wider audience; and implement a new approach to content strategy that empowers all levels of your organisation. Presented at 2014 EducatePlus International Conference in Melbourne

1. GOING
VIRAL
How to develop content your
stakeholders want to share
EDUCATEPLUS
CONFERENCE
2014 #educate_plus
CAMERON PEGG
GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
c.pegg@griffith.edu.au

2. CAMERON PEGG
@ghostwhowrites | au.linkedin.com/in/cameronpegg/
• #highered communications, publications
and alumni engagement specialist
• Lecturer and course coordinator –
journalism, creative writing and
professional communication
• Feature writer and reviewer –
The Australian
• Contributor – CASE Blog and
CURRENTS magazine

3. MOST OF THE DIGITAL CONTENT THAT UNIVERSITIES CREATE
IS NOT SHARED BY A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF PEOPLE. WHY?
We need to move from a STATIC “BANNER” approach to embrace
modular content which is interactive, shareable and mobile.

4. EMBRACE THE NEW
RULES OF CONTENT
 The empowered consumer will bypass or ignore
communications that aren’t relevant and don’t
add value to their lives
 Content MUST provide entertainment, education
or utility
 Apply this rule to all content that you create from
now on. Does it pass the test?

5. WHY DO PEOPLE
SHARE CONTENT IN
THE FIRST PLACE?
Berger and Milkman (University of
Pennsylvania) describe the
“emotional communion” facilitated
by content sharing.
The traits of viral content
 Surprising
 Interesting
 Intense
 Positive
 Actionable

6. SHARING
“We anticipated that people would
share articles with practical
information about health or
gadgets, and they did, but they
also sent articles about
paleontology and cosmology.
You’d see articles shooting up
the list were about the optics of
deer vision”– study researchers

7. ONE TRAIT STOOD OUT IN
BERGER AND MILKMAN’S
RESEARCH

8. AWE
It’s time to consider awe
as your core business

9. This does not inspire awe:....
University X improves
in world rankings

10. This does not inspire awe either:...
You should give to
our Annual Appeal

11. AWE IN
ACTION
Watch how Stanford generated
two million YouTube views in less than
48 hours

12. UNDERSTANDING
AWE
“If I’ve just read this story that
changes the way I understand
the world and myself, I want to
talk to others about what it
means. I want to proselytize
and share the feeling of awe.
If you read the article and feel
the same emotion, it will bring
us closer together” – viral content
researcher Jonah Berger

13. CREATING
EMOTIONAL
COMMUNION
If a bank can create an emotional
connection between customers, a
school or university certainly can!

14. CREATING
EMOTIONAL
COMMUNION
If a bank can create an emotional
connection between customers, a
school or university certainly can!
CAMERON PEGG
GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
“The essential difference between
emotion and reason is that
emotion leads to action while
reason leads to conclusion”
– Donald Caine

15. HARNESSING
THE POWER OF
SURPRISE
How did the Central Institute of
Technology in Perth generate more
than three million views of its
campaign ad?

16. A RECRUITMENT
VIDEO WITH A
TWIST
John Paul College ad
featuring Gotye.

17. DEALING
WITH THE
CYNICS

18. CUTTING THROUGH IN
THE AGE OF DISTRACTION
What do the rise of these sites reveal about audience behaviour?

19. A SIGN OF
THE TIMES
Spotted at
my local gym

20. INCONVENIENT
TRUTH
People are too busy to notice
anything, let alone share it,
unless it moves them, teaches
them something new, or
entertains them…
THE

21. LEARNING FROM THE
OATMEAL

22. YOUR
GOAL
Make your message
worth their time

23. GAMIFICATION AND
VIRAL CONTENT
FREERICE

24. Freerice is an online game that was
created in 2007 by a developer, and
donated to the UN World Food
Programme in 2009.
In 2010, an updated version was
launched to encourage social media
sharing among users.
Players answer multiple-choice
questions. For every correct answer,
10 grains of rice are donated to the
world Food Programme.
CASE STUDY
FREERICE

25. 101, 415, 929, 916
grains of rice have been donated
since the game was launched

26. ARE YOU
USING
REDDIT?

27. REDDIT AS AN
INCUBATOR
OF VIRAL CONTENT
Reddit is a collection of themed discussion
forums that is often referred to as “the front
page of the Internet”.
Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions allow users
to post questions, with the “OP” (operator)
choosing which ones to answer.
The content generated is then voted on using
reddit’s “up/down” rankings system. The more
upvotes, the higher the score, meaning your
post is seen by more users.

28. This is what happened when a group
of astronomy graduate students from
Cornell held a reddit AMA in 2013
Not terribly surprising – people are ENGAGED by
astrophysics. Think of the disciplines at your school that
could encourage a conversation like this and activate them.

29. ARE YOU USING
INFOGRAPHICS?
University research represents
untapped infographic gold...
Pair your writers and designers to create
infographics that extend media releases and
make complex, esoteric research more tangible.

30. SMITH
COLLEGE
GRADUATE
DESTINATIONS

31. GREAT
INFOGRAPHICS
ENCOURAGE ENGAGEMENT
Smith alumni were inspired to comment
on the infographic on Facebook and
share their own success stories.

32. COLLEGE
MASCOT
INFOGRAPHIC
1100 mascots mapped

33. WHILE WE’RE
ON THE TOPIC
OF COLLEGE
MASCOTS
Can you image this as your homepage?

34. WHILE WE’RE
ON THE TOPIC
OF COLLEGE
MASCOTS
Can you image this as your homepage?
Oberlin College in Ohio took over its
homepage on April Fools Day in 2012
with a cheeky animated homage to their
unofficial campus mascot, an albino
squirrel (the design referenced a viral
Japanese video from 2011). The longer
you watched the squirrel, the more
points you received. Visitors were able
to share their “score” via Twitter, with
the page receiving a 700% increase in
daily views, mostly from new visitors.

35. BECAUSE
I AM A
GIRL
CAMERON PEGG
GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY

36. WORLD
WILDLIFE
FUND

37. MCMASTER
UNIVERSITY
(CANADA)

38. A CHALLENGE
FOR THOSE IN THE
AUDIENCE
HOW MIGHT YOU VISUALISE DATA TO:
• Celebrate fundraising goals
• Encourage people to give
• Connect with alumni
• Generate media attention for your institution

39. THE ART OF
NEWSJACKING
“The act of redirecting the momentum from
breaking news into your company’s favour
by injecting a fresh perspective in real time”

40. THE CSIRO
NEWSJACKS
STAR WARS DAY

41. In 2013, the CSIRO planned a media
campaign around their robotics
research lab to coincide with the annual
“May the Fourth Be With You” day,
otherwise known as Star Wars Day.
Media releases, blog posts, images and
video were created to capitalise on the
media interest in the day. More than
430,000 impressions were generated by
165 tweets promoting CSIRO’s robotics
work. Major news orgs and prominent
journalists helped seed this activity.

42. OREO’S DAILY TWIST
CAMPAIGN
How can your institution extend the SOCIAL
CONVERSATIONS that are already taking place?

43. THE BEST
NEWSJACK
OF THEM ALL…
Oreo conceived and tweeted this image when the
power momentarily went out at the 2013 Superbowl.

44. CAN
DOGS
REALLY DRIVE?

45. DRIVING
D GS
CAMPAIGN
The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (SPCA) in New Zealand collaborated
with MINI to teach three shelter dogs how to
drive a modified MINI Cooper S. The goal
was to get people to think differently about
shelter animals and to consider adopting
them as pets.
• More than 10 million views of the original
YouTube video
• Estimated total audience/media reach was
230,540,469 people
• Every SPCA dog was adopted

46. CREATING A VIRAL CONTENT
CULTURE AT YOUR SCHOOL
COLLABORATE
Break down existing
staff silos and
encourage everyone
to contribute ideas
VISUALS FIRST
Think visually at all times
METRICS
Update your metrics and
increase “viral literacy”
among decision makers
RE-ENGINEER
YOUR HOMEPAGE
Ditch the corporate
messages and
promote what is
trending
EXPAND YOUR
REACH
Include prominent
bloggers and potential
brand ambassadors in
your media lists

47. A QUICK RECAP
C
A
M
E
R
O
N
P
E
G
G
GR
IFF
ITH
UN
IVE
RSI
TY

48. A QUICK RECAP
SURPRISING
ENTERTAINING
INFORMATIVE
USEFUL
(AWE) INSPIRING

49. YOUR NEW JOB

50. QUESTIONS?
c.pegg@griffith.edu.au