It starts off with some guy dancing by himself. By the looks of it, most of the people view him as a slight oddity, and ignore him. Then, he’s joined by a second person, and a third… and very soon, well… just watch the amazing video below, and then we’ll discuss the importance of this video to whenever you’re planning something big.

Now, here’s what you, as a marketer (or party planner, or social creature) need to know about this…

• The guy, by himself, was probably considered an “oddity” by some – and others who perhaps wanted to dance weren’t brave enough to do so.
• However, when he was joined by the second person, it suddenly gave “permission” for others to join as well.
• The third person added “social proof” by turning it into a group – and since there was now a small group dancing, more individuals could comfortably join without taking quite as much of a “social risk”, as it were.
• And so more people – the braver souls – were willing to join, and did so.
• This quickly growing group was now the center of attention, because of the speed at which it was taking place, prompting yet more people to join.
• At some point, the group size reaches a “critical mass” where it’s now cool to be part, and the majority actually become part of it.
• The guy who started it off now looks “cool”, and it’s the ones still sitting on the grass in bewilderment that look “odd”!

In one simple video, you’ve seen how things go viral, and you’ve gained a glimpse of the mechanisms that make it happen – the core idea, permission, social proof, creating a group, speed, critical mass.

Now go create a viral campaign. I did earlier today, and I’ll be kicking it off with a blog post about it later this week… for my campaign, it all starts with a simple report about Retweet Links which you really should be using on your blogs.

Or, just party like you’re at a music festival!

Twitter users, please click here to share this post with your Twitter followers and help them learn about viral marketing while watching a great video! You also want to follow the party at @paulhancox, which you know is the right thing to do.

You see, I just received a Twitter from Michel Fortin that said something like this…

@John_Ritz is giving away his popular website software Power Effects. Get it FREE: http://tinyurl.com/ctok3n (no opt-in required)

Quite frankly, I had no idea what Power Effects was, so I decided to click the link to find out. Turns out, it’s a pretty nifty piece of kit that enables you to create things like animated headlines, without having to know any technical stuff like Flash. (You can check it out here.)

However, here’s where I think John is really smart. He’s giving away Power Effects, but in order to receive the download link, you have to…

1. Follow @John_Ritz on Twitter

2. Re-Tweet this exact message:

RT @John_Ritz is giving away his popular website software Power Effects. Get it FREE: http://tinyurl.com/ctok3n (no opt-in required)

He says you must re-tweet the exact message above, with no changes, or this won’t work. He even provided a link which you can click, which pre-fills the message in for you, if you’re already signed in to Twitter.

Then, within about 10 minutes, he’ll send you a direct message via Twitter with the download link.

Now, I thought this was an incredibly smart method of utilizing Twitter as a viral marketing medium – it’s like the classic “recommend a friend” email, but without the risk of spam complaints, because those who are following you on Twitter have already “opted-in” as it were! And you don’t have the hassle of trying to figure out which 5 friends are going to be the poor suckers who receive your “recommend a friend” email.

Folks, in my opinion, John Ritz has done everything right to make his campaign go “viral”…

1. A truly great offer, i.e. great product, that he’s giving away,

2. A great viral marketing mechanism, in this case Twitter,

3. Minimum friction. He makes it super easy for you to re-tweet it. Basically, just copy and paste his message, and re-tweet. Even better, for those who are already logged in to Twitter, he provides a link which fills the message he requires you to send into the “What are you doing?” box automatically. All you have to do is press Update!

4. He’s reached the right “sneezers”, to use Seth Godin’s term. I got the re-tweet from Michel Fortin, who is one of the big sneezers in the Twitter and copywriting world. (And no, I don’t mean to imply he has swine flu! “Sneezers” is a metaphor used for one of those people who will pass on the marketing “virus” (the message) in a big way, because he has a big following on Twitter.)

So what does John Ritz get out of it? Well, he’ll be getting more followers on Twitter, and more users of his Power Effects. Plus, people like me will end up blogging about it, and re-tweeting the message to get hold of the product. Sure, he might not be making money directly from this, but he’s extending his reach and authority on the Internet, which will almost certainly make him more money in the future.

I don’t yet know how he is able to deliver the direct message (with the download link) automatically, within (he claims) the space of about 10 minutes. Obviously he is using some kind of software or script to do that, but I’m not sure what that is yet… I’ll do my best to find out and update this post when I know.

So then, what do you think of John Ritz’ strategy, and can you think of ways of improving it, or of ways you might implement something like this? Let’s discuss it in the comments below.