Marc Maley, CEO of social media analysis firm Fuel Intelligence, believes that a more measured, level-headed approach is key. “Campaigns that try to start as viral often fail,” he says. “Much social content is disposable, and staying in someone’s feed is very challenging. Social needs to be one factor of a larger marketing campaign across multiple marketing channels to gain the most traction.”
There’s also the thorny problem of assessing the effect of a viral and working out whether it had any tangible effect on your business – after all, most of us know of the Ice Bucket Challenge, but how many can remember which charities it was done in aid of?