The recipe of viral is a bit of a mystery. Why is some branded content able to ignite viral wildfires? And why do many other attempts at going viral fail miserably? According to some authors, these questions have no answer. Viral in unpredictable, and it occurs accidentally. Which means that a brand cannot build content aimed at going viral in any reasonable way.

However, my study on Viral Stories produced results that are not consistent with this view. In fact, the qualitative analysis of about 40 brand videos which had a formidable viral dynamic leads to a strong hypothesis: behind any viral success there’s a good story. How good? Well, it has to include several of the 38 principles listed in the book’s last chapter as favouring a viral outcome. In other words, the secret of triggering a viral wave lies in the form and structure of a story – which implies that viral and storytelling are strictly connected.

This is not strange, as stories represent the content type that circulates best on the web. Still, to build the right story you have some work to do. Here are a few of the 38 principles that could help your story go viral: be original and innovative; make your story emotional: build it on a double level of meaning (possibly using irony); include surprising, unexpected twists; always tell the story of a transformation; adopt logical or behavioural forms of transgression; play on contrasts; create stories that have cultural resonance.

The best viral stories are extraordinary examples of how these principles (and the remaining ones) can be put to work. Clearly, this is not formal science, and there is room for interpretation. Aiming at viral implies being ready for experimentation and handling complex storytelling equations. But the benefits can be huge, and the process itself is great fun.