Why videos go viral

It’s the Holy Grail for marketers: understanding what makes a video ad go viral. But exactly what motivates a person to tell others about a video?
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Image: Khala Goda Arts Festival

Viral videos have four things in common that inspire us to share and drive up those YouTube views.

The first is self-intensification. This is an instinctual tendency people have to build and maintain their self-esteem.

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Brent Coker
About the Author
Dr Brent Coker is lecturer in Marketing at the University of Melbourne and the author of Going Viral (​Pearson UK).