There are many tips and tricks for getting a video to “go viral,” and so today, we’ll try to limit the scope of advice to three very basic tips which may have been overlooked in your viral marketing schemes. The theme to extract from the article: Quality; not quantity.
Kudos to Advertising Age, who provided the clips below and a great post. Their full piece is linked below the fold.
Seed smartly. Not all video-sharing sites are created equal in terms of the audiences they appeal to. So put it where you’re most likely to find the right demographic. Is it young males you think will spread your video? Then try Break.com.
Think deep, not wide. Successful campaigns don’t distribute their clips to 50 networks at once. Just because you upload it to a site doesn’t mean everyone will see it; instead select 3 to 5, buy media to support it, reach out to targeted press and users and aim to climb that “most watched” list at a handful of sites.
Don’t spell it all out. From a creative standpoint, you want to leave room for interpretation. Look at Microsoft’s Jerry Seinfeld- and Bill Gates-starring “I’m a PC” campaign or Cadbury’s “Gorilla” ad. Successful online videos keep people guessing — “Is it real?” “Did that really happen?” That helps propagate the content.

The full story at Advertising Age:
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=135629