The Egyptian Revolution and Viral Marketing on Social Media

The Egyptian Revolution and Viral Marketing on Social Media

The beginning of 2011 witnessed the end of two of the most corrupt regimes in the world; the Tunisian and the Egyptian. If you happen to be following the news the unrest is still going on in other countries in the middle east following the Tunisian and the Egyptian examples. All the respect to the young revolts who taught us several valuable lessons in life, and in viral marketing as well.

Let's take the Egyptian revolution as an example. The Egyptians tried two times before this successful one to initiate a movement against the corrupt regime. The first one was offline, it's name is translated "the enough movement", and it didn't go well as the president at that time ran for the election and won a fifth term back then. The second attempt was on Facebook and was organized by young girls and boys to call for a general strike across the country. Again it failed to cause any damage because of the lack of an example to follow.

The third attempt was after the Tunisians succeeded in their movement. That gave the Egyptians more courage to carry on to the end. And this is the one I'd like to shed the light on because it helps us as marketers in using social media to give our campaigns the viral potential.There are three factors that the last Egyptian revolution had that gave it the viral potential. These factors are the common enemy, the (Tunisian) example to follow, and the persistence.

1. The Common Enemy: If you look at this factor alone it's enough to push nations in certain directions without any other factors. Governments are using this tactic to bring their people together all the time. In the Egyptian revolutions there were several common enemies that were presented to the Egyptian people to unite against, including the president, the regime, poverty, lack of dignity, lack of safety (thanks to the Egyptian police forces), sectarian violence (again thanks to the Egyptian police), and the waste of the countries resources by the president and his family. These common enemies were good enough to keep people united in their revolution and take it down to the streets.

In viral marketing this common enemy, or the creation of a front, is what gives the campaign the viral potential. When people believe in your cause they are very likely to share your material with their friends and their friends will share it with their friends and the viral chain reaction takes momentum.

2. The Successful Example to Follow: What separates the last movement from the one before it is that it took place within days from the success of another revolution in similar conditions. The success of the Tunisian revolution inspired the Egyptian youth and gave them the hope that they can do it too. This factor is necessary if you have a campaign where they common enemy is something very strong and powerful and is not easy to overcome. Examples are addiction, cancer, and economic crises.

3. Persistence: If you had been following the news you should have seen the Egyptian revolts being shot dead with life ammunition, burnt with "Molotov cocktails", stoned with rocks, crushed with trucks, and many others were detained and tortured until there was no more room in the Egyptian prisons. Only one of the above could be enough to terrorize the revolts and abort the movement, but the Egyptian young people persistence due to the hope they got from the Tunisians and the fear of the future that only promises more corruption and poverty, their persistence is what pushed the regime to give up.

In your campaigns try to target young people and structure them to be as revolutionary as you can. This is what gives the viral momentum and keeps your campaigns spreading without your interfering.

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