So if you shouldn’t be praying for viral video, what can you do to make video that resonates with online viewers?  Well the first thing you have to do is understand your audience and your goals. The video you make for your winery to introduce your new tasting bar is much different than trying to promote your body wash.  However, if your goal is to start a meme, that is to generate sheer volume of organic views then you need to understand the Internet Culture that decides what content becomes memes and what content dies in obscurity.  You need to speak the language, acknowledge, understand and respect cultural symbols and  create new content that resonates with the audience and encourages experimentation and remixing.  It’s not unlike becoming part of any other foreign culture.

So before you jump in make sure you understand what you’re trying to accomplish and who you’re trying to reach.

Here’s a great interview from Rocketboom at ROFLcon, the “industry” conference for “meme-making” that gives you some insight on what makes a meme:

Mashable then caught up with Ben Huh afterwards to get a bit more insight into what makes a successful meme here:

Veronica Belmont also gave a great Ignite talk on the do’s and don’ts of business meme’s: