Working on this You Tube campaign with filmmaker Patrick Stark for his documentary One Lifetime: No Regrets has got me thinking about viral videos. What is a viral video and what makes a video “go viral”?

First, the word viral is the most overused word. Having said that there are some serious viral phenomenons online that have seen insurmountable success. Success equaling, of course, millions of views online.

So what’s the formula? What makes a video go viral?

I certainly have a theory and some examples of people who have done it right. Some video cost millions to produce. Some cost next to nothing. And everything in between. But there are, in my opinion, key components of what propelled interest in that particular video.

The most important is the video itself. You have to ask yourself: Is this video any good? Would you send it to a million of your friends? Are you laughing uncontrollably or crying like a baby watching it? Is it evoking any kind of emotion out of you? It has to be some seriously compelling stuff to lure their interest and to encourage viewers to share it.

Everyone by now has seen the Best Wedding Entrance Ever which has seen over 2.7 million views since it was posted on July 25, 2009. Now Jill and Kevin can call their video viral phenomenons. All it took was for one mention on CNN and the rest was history. There are 2 other wedding videos posted in 2006 and 2007 of similar themes that are now at 8.7 million views and just under 10 and a half million. There isn’t anything fancy about them. No flashy film work. Just great content for people who care. In this instance obviously alot of people interested in wedding dances cared and shared.

Here’s the one that claims to be the original video. I’m sure being on Good Morning America beefed up the video play numbers.

In 2006 I wrote a blog post promoting the Free Hug phenomenon. When I wrote the post the original Free Hug video had just over 4 and a half million views. Today it is at 51,840,864 views! There is no question when you watch it, even many times over, that it makes an impression. It makes an impact.

Once you have established that your video is undeniably interesting then your PR strategy can take place. Blog posts, press releases, Twitter links and Facebook updates to try and push the spread of it and up the viewing counts. Certainly better PR experts can get the “link” in front of the right eyes. Who’s going to care the most about spreading this link? Who, other than your friends and family, are going to want to watch this video?

Of course there are some other elements that can enhance the viral affect. Flash mobs are a great example. Oprah most recently wowed us all for her live show when the Black Eyed Peas staged a massive flash mob in the streets of Chicago. Even the behind the scenes of the flash mob is an interesting video. Still, I like the T-Mobile flash mob video the best so far.

You can spend tons of money on production like the Honda folks did so eloquently with their Honda Insight/ Let It Shine Campaign. Also, the making of video is as compelling.

You can even try getting tons of people to coordinate one continuous shot to make it interesting like the Philippine inmates did for their Thriller viral phenomenon or that random kid who made up and shot Bike Hero in one take.

One last example would be among one of my favorites as well. The Extreme LED Sheep Art  video is exceptionally captivating and the making of video is amazing as well.

The lesson here is that it’s all about the video. You could have an incredible video and no PR strategy and it could “go viral”. You could have the best PR minds working for you but if you don’t have that compelling content they are useless to you.