A lesson in life and in viral marketing

Sometimes in life we celebrate a little too early on. The finish line is in site and it seems like success is a given. We take our eye off the prize for a second and everything falls apart.

This video is an example of a good viral video because it’s both funny and sad at the same time. We laugh at the failure because it reminds us that others also make mistakes and fail just like we do. On the other hand we also feel sickened by the failure because we like to root for the underdog and the moment things go wrong this guy becomes the underdog. If we were in that situation we’d want to imagine that we could jump back on our bikes and still make it.

The lesson we need to take from this is that even when our site or product or video seem like they are a huge success, we cannot take our eye off the prize. We can’t sit back and pat ourselves on the back. We need to make sure we accomplish our goals first and foremost and then there will be time for celebration. Keep your eye on the prize until you actually have crossed the finish line. Otherwise you may just find yourself on youtube for the wrong reasons. The numa numa phenomenon continues, but in this case it’s at the expense of someone else’s failure.