Repeating the Viral Success of Kony 2012

Can viral success be achieved through careful, calculated steps?

PBS documentary Half the Sky hopes to achieve the same success as the Kony 2012 documentary produced by the organization Invisible Children, which became the most viral video of all time, despite never having been aired on television nor in cinemas. Taking notes from their success, Half the Sky has been using the same social media avenues.

Half the Sky is a two-part documentary which focuses on women’s issues across the world. It is originally based on a New York Times Best-Seller.

What steps are they taking?

- Using star power:

Actresses Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde both make an appearance in the documentary. They also have collectively, 1,450,000 followers on Twitter that they can reach out to promote the #HalftheSky hashtag.

The book’s authors: Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn also have major followings on Twitter as well.

- User Generation:

Kristof used Reddit AMA (Ask me anything), engaging users to post pictures and responses on a Tumblr blog in resopnse to the prompt “Women Hold Up Half the Sky Because…”

- Social Media Presence:

Half the Sky has a presence on all the major social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, Tumblr, Google+ and Foursquare… you name it. This enables them to reach out to all different kinds of audiences.

They even have a Facebook game, three mobile games, and a “30 Songs for 30 Days campaign” offering one song donated from a leading female artist for download each day.

- Having Ground Presence

Like Kony 2012, Half the Sky is also reaching out to high school and university campuses.

How are they doing so far?

During the release of the 1st part of its documentary, some 265 tweets per minute were generated mentioning the documentary. However, it remains to be seen whether they can reach the same heights as the Kony 2012 documentary which was mentioned in more than 12.5 million tweets in the month following its release.

Read more here.