Jennifer Aniston Not So Sex Tape

March 9, 2011February 21, 2020 Matthew O'Brien

As content marketers, we all want to know what makes a video go viral. If we could only crack that code, we would all be on the fat and happy road to Shangri-La. There are of course no hard and fast rules, but, in a new web video by Smart Water featuring Jennifer Aniston, they have managed to create a viral video–by talking about how to make a video go viral. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they teased it with “Jennifer Aniston Sex Tape” either 😉 So what were the viral video “rules” that were explored?

Rule 1: Animals are huge online

People love to watch videos about animals. Think skateboarding dog, or Husky saying “I love you” and you know what I’m talking about.

Rule 2: Dancing babies are cute

The dancing baby or baby cha-cha as it is sometimes called was one of the first viral videos in the mid to late 90’s. The baby really hit the big time when it was used on the then hit show “Ally McBeal”.

Rule 3: Double Rainbow guy.

Yosemite Bear. This dude LOVES rainbows!! His video of a reaction to a double rainbow has garnered him 25 million-plus hits! Lesson? Passion wins every time.

Rule 4: Kicking a guy in the testicles.

Nuff said 😉

Rule 5: Hot chicks doing hot things

Well, this pretty much speaks for itself too. There are countless million-plus hit videos with good lookin’ ladies so I won’t belabor the point here. Just know that this can be a quality of a viral video.

Lesson 6: Compelling Title

This is not the official title of the video, but all press releases and write-ups I have seen have “Jen Aniston Sex Tape” as the title promoting the vid–and that’s how they refer to in the video itself.

So did this work?? Well, it has been 48 hours. Hits: Just shy of 2.5 million.

Result? Hits don’t lie.

Matthew O'Brien

With over 20 years of experience in the digital media world, Matthew has worked for and with Fortune 500 businesses and has built companies from the start-up stage to exit strategy. He recently helped develop a data insight engine to bridge the gap between search, social, and mobile marketing to maximize the visibility, relevancy, and predictive success of online businesses. Matthew is the founder of MINT Social, an award-winning digital marketing company that accelerates online marketing results to help businesses get found and thrive online. Matthew has developed an educational curriculum for Universities on social media for businesses, is a founding board member of the Arizona Innovation Marketing Association (AZIMA), a board member of HeroZona Foundation and on the advisory board (Vinnies) for St. Vincent de Paul - Phoenix. Matthew is a mentor with ASU Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group, a speaker on social media and digital marketing, and is a subject matter expert with many online portals.