Cutting through the traditional rules of viral video, there is an emergence of a complete new era, where rules are redefined in an attempt to achieve exciting results. And yes, they are proving successful.  There is certain surge of production houses that are bending the classic rules to cater to the changing demand and create more humor.

 For ex – Red Letter Media review of Star Wars that went insanely popular both on Youtube and Boing Boing. Viral videos have enough scope for creativity, but the rules should be tampered within the safer zone.

So what different did they do?

Emerge from the shackles of ‘ad’ concept: Viral videos are not television commercial. The trick is the prospect of reaching millions without spending millions for airtime or column space. Creating a viral effect is not an easy task. Sadly, most of the videos start and ends with a video posting. A lot depends on how socially evolved a brand is.
Long could be fun: In many cases, extremely short videos cannot encapsulate the motive behind making the videos. A lengthy fun subject that features mockeries, cartoons and special characters are ruling the entertainment media.
Mix and Match: Anyone long enough to stay in the video world, knows the very first rule ‘clear sound’. Many have gone beyond to hire a voice over professional. But now you have the freedom to modify the sound effects. Clear speeches are boring; dabble it to make the video spicy.
Restrain from copyright material: Stringent rules with copyright material have made it a no-no affair. Clever tracking system finds the content and alerts the copyright holder.  However if you look the trend, most of these videos mix up prominent characters or story line from movies or music albums and uses theme of sarcasm or parody. So just from copyright point of view, these trends bend the rules of viral video marketing.
Include the fun element: It is not mandatory to maintain a serious pitch to convey your message. Short jokes, mimicry, can very well serve your purpose.
Be honest: Early viral videos use to hide the affiliation with the brand, which made audience feel tricked! Instead, be upfront about it. Viewers would happy to watch your work and pass along if you are honest with them. For instance – the recent KFC commercial showing a shark attack in Amsterdam canal, was not branded properly and came as a fake rather than entertaining.
Opt for Video Seeding: In addition to the traditional ways of popularizing video content like banner ads or search term ads, try and opt for video seeding. Seeding, places your video in the editorial content of blogs attracting larger audience.

Keep on reviewing the smash hits that can enlighten your way to create a viral video. So, create the right experience for audience, that is entertaining enough to talk about and it can change fortunes for you.